About Us

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Our family became involved with Vizslas in 1993.  We were attending a Fishing and Hunting Demonstration when this beautiful red dog appeared.  We asked the handler what kind of dog it was and he said it was a Vizsla.  We watched the demonstrations that day, but all of us were drawn to this dog.  The owner said the dog had just sired a litter. We met with the breeder and she handed us the very well known book The Versatile Vizsla.  I read the book from cover to cover, and noticed that Vizslas like lots of company and liked to play all day.  Since we would be driving 2-3 hours to get to the hunting fields I asked my husband Jeff if we should consider getting 2 dogs!  Well, I don’t know too many hunters that when the wife asks if he can have 1 hunting dog or 2 he would say no.  To make a long story short.  We picked out two great puppies from really great breeders.  One came home at Thanksgiving and the other came home at Christmas.  Yep, 2 pups a month apart, every one said we were crazy.  Unable to get two girls we ended up with a girl and a boy. We had absolutely no intentions of breeding.  But, as it turns out these two individuals would be our foundation stock. Well 15+  years later we still tease Greg, who first introduced us to the breed,  we are still great friends, and tease him saying: “See what you started!”

Our initial interest was only hunting companions. We then joined the Vizsla Club of Illinois, Inc.  and started to attend their meetings.  The club was to have a guest speaker talk on how to train your Gun Dog.  Each meeting we went to the guest speaker never showed up.  However, by that time the club had embraced their new members.  We already had put Junior Hunt Test Titles on both of our dogs, and now our club had us taking a conformation classes.  These classes were taught by Cheryl Peterson.  Cheryl taught Jeff and I how to show our two dogs.  If it wasn't for Cheryl and her classes, we never would have showed our dogs. 

Our first dog show was a success.  Our male dog "Russlure" won his class and was winners dog for his first points.  Our female "Abbey" won her class, but no points that day.  We were hooked.  We finished our 2 dogs quickly: Russlure 3 and 4 point major wins and Abbey with 4- 4pt major wins.  By 18 months they were bench champions and junior hunters!  Not too shabby for our first dogs. Gee, we were on a roll.
Our daughters Alison and Christine started to show in junior showmanship and both ended up being ranked in the Vizsla Club of America rankings.  We are very proud parents!   Christine will later earn a college scholarship from AKC for her achievements with our dogs.   Christine is now a AKC Junior Showmanship Judge.

Onto the field events we embarked.   We entered the Vizsla Club of Illinois field trial to support the club.  We ran our dogs in a Derby stake.  Russlure and I won a 3rd place ribbon in a stake of 26!  After that I wanted to see more of what was required to win in adult dog stakes.  I attended a field trial in Ionia Michigan, and rented a horse, and rode all the braces all weekend. After watching these braces decided MY dogs could do this.   I worked very hard with our 2 dogs. I had to find birds to train with, drive 2-3 hours every other day to get to training fields where birds could be shot.  Bought a Missouri Fox Trotter, horse trailer and away we went. Training for fieldwork is a much bigger investment than for conformation.  Jeff ran "Abbey" and I ran "Russlure".  All the time meeting great individuals and seeing some awesome field dogs.  We received multiple Open, Amateur Gun Dog and Limited Dog stakes placements-and retrieving points.  Trailing became too time consuming for us with our family needs.  So we turned to the Hunt test program and earned a Senior Title and Master title.  Again, owner trained and handled by us.  Along the way we also became AKC Field Trial and Hunt Test Judges. 

Our dreams are to win our National Field Event and National Breed Competition.  And of course winning at Westminster! 

I also want to thank everyone who has helped us in our endeavor.

Our Passion to Breed the Best

Kathy & Jeff Engelsman
Gun Dog Breeders - Illinois Vizsla Breeder - Performance Dog