Swedish Vallhund Breeders UK: Advertise Your Kennel Free

Advertise your Swedish Vallhund puppies, litters and stud dogs

Do you breed Swedish Vallhunds? Canine Breeder is an independent UK directory where you can list your kennel, advertise Swedish Vallhund puppies for sale when a litter is planned, and promote a Swedish Vallhund stud dog to other breeders. Your listing can set out your health test results, registration details and waiting-list information, so buyers understand how you breed before they get in touch. Kennel Club figures show only four to eleven Vallhund litters registered in the UK each year from 2009 to 2019, so a clear listing helps the right owners find you.

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Is it free to advertise here?

Yes. A breeder profile and your litter and stud dog adverts are free. Premium profiles, featured placement and sponsored articles are optional paid extras; see pricing.

Do I need a licence to advertise puppies?

In England you need a dog breeding licence from your council if you breed three or more litters in 12 months or breed and sell dogs as a business, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes. Licensed breeders show their licence number and issuing council on every advert. Puppies must be at least eight weeks old before they go to new homes.

Is my listing already here?

We add licensed breeders from councils' public registers. Search for your kennel name; if it is listed you can claim it and edit everything.

About the Swedish Vallhund

The Swedish Vallhund is a small, sturdy herding dog from Sweden, placed in the Pastoral group by The Royal Kennel Club (RKC). It was developed to drive cattle, and the RKC says it is thought to be of Viking origin. The type came close to dying out, and in the 1940s the Swedish Count Björn von Rosen and his colleague Karl Gustav Zettersten set up a breeding programme to save it, using similar-looking cattle dogs they found in the Västergötland district. The breed has long been numerically small in the UK: Kennel Club figures in its breed health and conservation plan show that in most years between 1980 and 2019 no more than 60 Vallhunds were registered.

Size and build

The breed standard asks for a compact, strongly built working dog with a fairly long body, its height and length in a ratio of about 2:3. Dogs should measure 33–35 cm at the withers and bitches 31–33 cm, with weight between 11.5 and 16 kg. The ears are pointed and pricked. Some Vallhunds are born without a tail and others have one; the standard allows every length and carriage of tail, including none.

Coat and grooming

The standard describes a medium-length coat, with a harsh, close topcoat over a thick, soft, woolly undercoat. It accepts any shade of grey or red, with the outer guard hairs darker or black, and prefers the coat paler on the muzzle, throat, belly and legs; some white is allowed on the chest and legs, up to a third of the coat. The RKC suggests grooming once a week. According to the Swedish Vallhund Society the coat needs no trimming, but moulting can be heavy several times a year.

Exercise and temperament

The RKC puts exercise needs at up to an hour a day and says the breed can suit town or country life with a small to medium garden. The standard pictures an alert, energetic dog with a friendly, lively nature and a keenness to please. The Swedish Vallhund Society describes Vallhunds as sensitive and intelligent, closely attached to their owners and inclined to follow them from room to room, and says some are vocal. Many take part in agility, scent work and obedience. The society adds that the breed is slow to mature, reaching adulthood at around five years, and that very strenuous activity should be avoided while a Vallhund is young.

Swedish Vallhund health tests

The Swedish Vallhund Society regards the breed as generally hardy, and names hip dysplasia and retinopathy as the main problems it can be prone to. The breed's health co-ordinator ranked the same two conditions as priorities, and so did the Kennel Club's breed health and conservation plan.

Retinopathy in the Vallhund is a progressive degeneration of the retina. A 2017 study linked it strongly to an insertion in the MERTK gene: dogs with two copies had roughly a twenty-fold higher risk, the study found no evidence of extra risk in dogs with one copy, and signs first appeared at anything from about one to over twelve years of age. Because the disease can show late, a dog may be bred from before any change is seen, so the breed aims to DNA test all breeding stock as well as eye examining it. The Kennel Club formally recognised the DNA test in March 2017. The breed is also listed for PRA on the BVA Eye Scheme's 2026 list of inherited eye diseases.

Hips can be X-rayed and scored from one year of age, and the BVA advises breeding from dogs scoring below or close to the breed median.

On Breed Watch the Swedish Vallhund is Category 1: no breed-specific points of concern have been flagged for judges.

Tests and schemes the RKC lists for the breed

Good practice: prioritising genetic diversity
Best practice: DNA test for retinopathy
Best practice: eye testing using the BVA/KC/ISDS Eye Scheme
Best practice: hip testing (for hip dysplasia) using the BVA/KC Hip Dysplasia Scheme

Choosing a Swedish Vallhund breeder

A careful Swedish Vallhund breeder will have hip scored and eye tested both parents, DNA tested them for retinopathy, and will show you the paperwork. You can check the results yourself on the RKC Health Test Results Finder using each dog's registered name. The UK population is small, so a good breeder also plans for genetic diversity and can tell you the litter's coefficient of inbreeding compared with the breed average. You should be able to see the puppies with their mother, and expect to be asked about your home, your routine and how you will keep an active herding dog occupied. Puppies must be microchipped and registered on a database by eight weeks old. In England, anyone who breeds three or more litters in 12 months and sells any of the puppies, or runs a business breeding and advertising dogs, needs a council licence and must show the licence number in adverts.

Questions to ask the breeder

Can I see both parents' hip scores, eye examination certificates and retinopathy DNA results?
What is the litter's coefficient of inbreeding, and how does it compare with the breed average?
Can I meet the mother, and what is she like to live with day to day?
How much moulting and barking should I expect?
Will you take the dog back or help rehome it if my circumstances change?

Swedish Vallhund questions

Do Swedish Vallhunds shed a lot?

They can. The RKC suggests grooming once a week and the coat needs no trimming, but the Swedish Vallhund Society says Vallhunds moult heavily several times a year, when extra brushing and vacuuming are needed.

How big does a Swedish Vallhund get?

The breed standard asks for dogs of 33u201335 cm at the withers and bitches of 31u201333 cm, weighing between 11.5 and 16 kg. The body is fairly long for the height, in a ratio of about 2:3.

Are Swedish Vallhunds born without tails?

Some are. Vallhunds can be born naturally tailless or with a tail, and the breed standard allows every length and carriage of tail, including none.

How long do Swedish Vallhunds live?

The RKC gives a lifespan of over 10 years. Surveys summarised in the Kennel Club's breed health and conservation plan, including the Swedish Vallhund Society's 2017 longevity survey of 42 deaths, found a median age at death of about 14 years, though the samples were small.

Swedish Vallhund breeders