Our Puppies
We had an excellent experience with Metropolis Vizslas, and are thrilled with our (not so little anymore) pup. Robyn takes her role as a breeder very seriously; and it shows in the quality of her pups. She has provided us with invaluable information about the breed and raising her dogs, and had a thorough vetting process to make sure that both the owners and the dogs were right for one another. She provided almost daily updates as the pups were growing, and spent a lot of time with them doing behavioural training, loose leash walking and socialisation exercises. Her puppy manual has become our bible, and the toys and other products that she recommended have been fantastic. You won’t find a better breeder or someone more passionate about the Vizsla breed. Thank you Robyn.
Name witheld for privacy
Our Approach
Having seen how other breeders raise pups, we have used that as a baseline and then added on ideas that seem to be a good idea with evidence to support it. For example, we perform neurological stimulation exercises as undertaken by the US military to boost our pups’ immunity and resilience. We expose our pups to a range of noises and textures. We provide transparency to our families and encourage them to visit our pups at 6 or 7 weeks for a reality check before they take their pups home. Our mothers are here to be met. Some of our sires live here, some of our sires have been imported as frozen semen, or live elsewhere, or are deceased, so may not be available.
Most importantly, we are always considering the quality of life our pups and their families will have. This drives us to prepare them as well as we can for families who won’t know as much as we do about raising them, and to try to prepare those families as well as we can. We have a culture of continuous improvement, where if we see something done differently and in a way that we think will enhance how our pups are raised, we try to adopt it.
We are unapologetically particular in selecting families for our pups, and pups for our families. It is no favour to anyone to provide a person who will not manage a vizsla well with a vizsla, and it is no favour to the dog to put it in a family who won’t cater to its needs well. For this reason we do not breed from dogs just because they are successful in the show ring – their temperament must be suitable for a range of people to be able to interact with and manage them easily.
We prefer families who have researched the breed, and have put a lot of thought into how their dog will live and how they will manage it. The first step for anyone interested in one of our dogs is to complete and provide us with a questionnaire, to give us base information.
Training & Support from the very start
As part of our commitment to supporting our families, we include 2 Zoom sessions with a BarkBusters Master Trainer, Philippa Dakin, with each pup. This means that our families receive our detailed illustrated Puppy Manual, extensive information from us including real time reporting via a dedicated Facebook page, and in addition they receive access to an independent third person who works professionally teaching families to be more effective owners. It also means our families have a neutral person to support them if they feel self-conscious about needing support, and access to a very effective resource if they would like to become more effective owners and don’t have the benefit of being able to observe and interact with many different vizslas in order to learn from them.
We also include as many premium food puppy kits or samples as we can obtain with each pup. We do not claim to be nutritional experts, so we prefer to rely on experienced reputable companies who have successfully provided dog food for years. We recommend premium food for the simple reason that the quality of canine output (ie faeces) is much cleaner and easier to dispose of. Our pups are fed a range of raw foods as well as kibble in preparation for their new homes possibly feeding them a range of foods. We do not recommend anything unless we have tried it first.
Our Process
Metropolis plans its litters years in advance.
We prefer to meet with potential buyers and to compile a waiting list in anticipation of breeding. This enables us to ensure that buyers have sufficient information, and are properly prepared for providing a home for life to a Metropolis vizsla. It also removes any pressure or impulse buying associated with cute puppies, as opposed to the gorgeous adult dog you are likely to have for 12 – 14 years.
If you are interested in providing a home to a Metropolis Vizsla, please email metropolisvizslas@gmail.com with your completed answers to our Questionnaire. You can find the form on our Apply for a Vizsla page online.
Our Selection Criteria
- Homes that understand the vizsla breed. These may be people who have had a Metropolis or other vizsla previously. Note that different bloodlines behave differently, and much of what people tell us they have heard about vizsla behaviour does not apply to our dogs.
- People who have read expert literature.
- People who have had discussions with either the NSW or Victorian Vizsla Clubs, or Dogs NSW.
- People who otherwise demonstrate an understanding of the needs of the breed, including the balance needed between exercise, discipline and play for an intelligent animal bred to work closely with its owner in the field and be a companion apart from it.
- People who provide detailed responses to our questionnaire and are prepared to wait until pups are available. We are selective about our puppy homes because we care about both our puppies and their families having a good relationship and experience for life.
- People who understand that being a good vizsla owner requires daily effort to exercise, feed, maintain nails, mentally engage and interact with the dog. In this context, obtaining a pup should be expected to involve a bit of effort.
- Ability for Metropolis and puppy families to interact respectfully and communicate clearly. People who do not respect and value the efforts we invest in breeding and raising the best dogs we can are better not to apply.
We prefer not to publish photos of our pups until all have gone, or are close to going, to their new homes. When possible, we organise professional photographers to photograph our litters.
Photos on this site of our pups are generally of previous litters.
