ABOUT US

Welcome to TopStock Vizslas. We are Doug and Teresa Horn. Our introduction to Vizslas began in 2004. We wanted to add a dog to our family and began watching dog shows to create a short list of what we each liked and wanted in a pet. Teresa had grown up with a variety of dogs, generally terriers or mix breeds. I had similar experiences but after college purchased my first AKC dog, a Beagle.

After watching a few dog shows and hours of searching on the Internet, we identified four breeds. The Cavalier King Charles (a lap dog for Teresa), Portuguese Water Dog, Welsh Springer Spaniel, and the Vizsla. The last three met my criteria for a medium size dog and sporting in nature.

After additional research on each breed and to celebrate Teresa’s birthday, we did a road trip to a dog show in Perry, GA., where we decided on the Vizsla. We visited with a local breeder, but she did not have any puppies. We were referred to Carol Sommerfelt, and were fortunate she lived within 30 miles of our home. Once we contacted Carol, we found out that she had one male ‘show’ puppy left from the last litter. That evening we went home with “Nasdaq”. Hence, this was the start of our lives with a Vizsla as a major part.

Since Nasdaq was ‘show quality’ we had agreed to show him, thus another stage of our Vizsla lives was started. Teresa agreed to take on this process and started training Nazzy and learning about the show ring for herself. We met with a professional handler and hired her to show Nasdaq. We were blessed with early wins and were encouraged we would have a champion soon.

We had met another Vizsla owner in Maryville and she invited us to a Vizsla training weekend in Cedartown, GA. Nasdaq was only 7 months old and on our way there, Atlanta had an ice storm so only about half the expected number were able to make it. We had never worked Nasdaq in the field and I was not sure if he knew what a bird looked like!

When it was Nazzy’s turn, the trainer had placed a couple of quail in the field and he asked us to turn Nazzy loose. We expected him to take off to the tent to play with the other puppies. But, he immediately put his nose to the ground and started searching for the quail. It was only a minute and Nasdaq went on point. When the trainer flushed the bird, it took off and so did Nasdaq. Since it was so cold and wet, Nasdaq was able to catch the quail when it landed and he brought it back to the trainer.

At this point we were hooked! During the next year we participated in a field trail and hunt tests and Nasdaq earned his junior hunter (JH). To watch him in the field was amazing. After earning his JH, Nasdaq earned his championship shortly thereafter.

When Nasdaq was nearing 3, we started considering adding a female. We once again turned to the Sommerfelts and found out that CH CMF Leitz Camera Action had been bred to Rudy, Nasdaq’s sire. While we would not be able to breed Nasdaq to a female from this litter, we felt the quality of breeding was something we should consider. About 9 weeks later we came home with Lorac-CMF Penny Stock of Value.

Outside of our Vizsla world, both go to work with us. Teresa and I work together at my financial planning firm, Quality Financial Concepts. www.qualityfinancial.com I founded the firm in 1983 and Teresa and met and married in 1997. Originally located in Dallas, Texas, in 2001 we moved home and firm across the country to Maryville, TN. The move was our attempt to slow the pace a little, avoid much of the congestion of Dallas, to gain four seasons, and to recover some of our day lost to commuting. Clearly Maryville, Tennessee has provided the qualities we were seeking. However, like any small community it is difficult to go unnoticed and thus easy to become over extended.