To the best of my ability, I have tried to translate an article about mudi from the Swedish Kennel-clubs Magazine "HUNDSPORT" 1-2 1997. Maria Venhammar.

HUNGARIAN SHEEPDOGS

While pumi and puli have found their place among the group of dogs who are pure-bred and "blue-blooded", the mudi only just has started its way there. The studbook is still open for the dogs who haven´t all generations in their pedigree, and yet the mudi is the dog of the countryside and it´s the shepherds choice before others. This doesn´t stand in the way for the mudis increasing popularity as working- and obedience-dog.

In the good old days, when Hungarian cynologist made an inventory of the native dog-population it rather soon appeared another breed, beside puli and pumi. It was spread all over the country and found in Transylvania as well as in Erdelyben and all the way into the Soviet Union of that time. The theory asserts that this kind of dog, who had distinct spitzdogtype, lived in former Pannonien (the plain that´s divided between Hungary, Austria and Yugoslavia) already during the Antique. In the year of 1936 FCI approved of the first mudi-standard.

The first really fervent supporter of the mudi was a director of museum, Dr Dezsö Fényesi, from the small town of Belassagyarmat. Among other things he named the breed. During 30 years he organised a studbook for mudi and carried on breeding. It´s even said that there exists a Latin name for the mudi: "Canis Ovilis Fenyesi"!

OPEN STUDBOOK

It has been a time-consuming work to survey and register mudi. The inventory isn´t yet in any way complete. To a large extent this depends on that the breed belongs to the rural areas. Farmers and shepherds, who are using mudis in the daily work with sheep, cattle and pigs, see no reason to show them on exhibitions. Today it´s still only a minority of breeders in Hungary who register their dogs. The total amount of registered mudi-puppies during 1995 was only 150 over the whole world.

The mudi-population in the native country is in reality bigger, but it´s not well known even there. The special-exhibitions, that gather hundreds of specimens from the other breeds, gather 35-40 mudis, at the best.

In Hungary the mudi-studbook still is open. This means that dogs from pure working-strains, bred by shepherds and cattlefarmers, after careful examination can be incorporated into the breedprogram, in spite of their unknown origin. Those dogs are placed in the so-called B-studbook.

This proceeding is surely of advantage to the mudi-breed in general, maybe necessary for its future, but there also is a drawback. The breed is very heterogeneous and the type is very varied. It exists a dog of pronounced spitzdog-type as well as dogs of pronounced sheepdog-model. The latter is at present time said to be the most desirable.

The mudi is, and has always been, a working dog. Breeding, as far as one have planned such, has been strictly pragmatic with the working-capacity as the principal base for selection. Big working-capacity has always been preferred above the exterior, which is one reason that breeders of today can be exposed to surprises in the breeding. Since many mudis have a pedigree with only 5-6 generations known, one cannot avoid occasional puppies with for instance pumi- or puli-blood in the veins.

In Hungary a sheepdog that functions in real life still is of great importance. The mudi is developed and trained very thorough, something that even the "Ministry of Agriculture" is said to subsidise. Authorities support, for instance, sheepdog-tests with money-awards.

NOTHING FOR THE NOVICE

The mudi is the most rough of the three Hungarian shepherd dogs. Even if the three has much in common, the mudi probably is the one that, to the greatest extent, shows what we usually call primitive behaviour. Bitches can show it during whelping, when you have to look after them throughout the twenty-four hours so that they wont sneak away and dig a den in the garden for their offspring. It´s also shown when it´s time to wean the puppies, and the bitch eructate semi-digested for to her puppies.

The similarity to primitive behaviours has many points for the owner who fully understands to benefit from it. On the other hand the breed hardly can be recommended for the beginner. It´s much to easy to go wrong and make the mudi develop just the characteristics that definitely not fits together with our society. The instinct to watch/guard, which regards as valuable in Hungary, has to be restrained and taken care of in time, in a correct way. Situations can occur which can be hard for an inexperienced dog-owner. A bag left on the floor in a corner can be something the dog takes responsibility for and guards. The car, that´s parked with the window open and the dogs resting on the seat obviously becomes something for the mudi to keep curious people away from. Mudi has sharpness to use when it guards and therefore there is every reason for trying to moderate that characteristic. In Hungary the mudi brings up so that those characteristics are strengthened.

The same goes for the vocal-powers of the breed. A mudi must early in life learn when, and at what, it´s allowed to bark. In-between it must be quiet, or at least very low-voiced. One will probably always hear a suppressed "moff" out of a mudi-throat when it sees something the owner should be noticed about. Without clear limits a mudi can become a "loud-mouth" all the time.

You all the time have to be ahead, to have fantasy and ability enough to imagine how different situations can make the mudi react. If you know nothing about dog-behaviour it´s difficult to forestall a mudi, who sees, learns and acts swift as a lightning.

WITH A SENSITIVE EAR

"When I sit in the sofa in front of the TV, thinking that it´s time for a walk with the dog, well, then he already stands by the door", one mudi-owner tells med. This statement is a good proof of the breed´s sensitivity for signals.

This involves the sensitivity for the atmosphere is the family. Angry undertones in voices the mudi observes and it becomes distressed by scream and slamming doors. Consequently it can have difficulties in understanding children’s noisiness and lively gestures. With a lot of children running around, the mudi can get a hard time relaxing and maybe the dog instead sees it as a duty to get the chaos straight again. The sheepdog-inheritance can make children playing touch-last or hide-and-seek unbearable, since a gathered crowd with order and method is very important. If the parents are wise, it´s possible for dog and child to find pleasure in each other.

The mudi has a natural shyness that must not be mistaken for fear or nervousness. The desirable behaviour in the meeting with strange persons is total lack of interest.

It is in many ways very much a one-man-dog, even if the whole family is included in its care. It seems as if the mudi, just like its tending relatives, has a talent for choosing friends as well as rejecting undesirable persons. The latter is many times forever and the antipathy against a certain person can start without any obvious reasons. You have to remember that you never, not even in a friendly way, shall try to force yourself up on a mudi. In the long run it´s better with patience.

DON´T NEGLECT TO SOCIALISE THE MUDI

To be spared from sniffing at an unknown, a mudi can take two steps back. To, through this, draw the conclusion that it´s cowardly, is a mistake. No, here we rather have to do with a courageous and fighting dog, who really would define both his owner and himself, if something happened. The place of the mudi is between the owner and the threat, and it will not step aside.

The toughness and hardiness can be seen when playing with other dogs. The mudi isn´t a fighter who picks up quarrel with the friend, but it like a hard way of playing. Make a noise with a mudi, and you risk some unintended wounds, caused by the alert and wild game.

The mudi belongs to the category of dogs where negligence in socialising the puppy is very negative, and where a god job at this point is indeed worth the trouble. The young puppy shall test everything, it shall meet with as many new things as possible, children and strange people, go to the vet, travel by car, go for a walk in the city etceteras. If the puppy shows fear it´s important that the owner holds to a daring and untroubled attitude, both with body and voice, showing that there is no danger. If the owner hesitates, the puppy hesitates - that´s the naked truth.

A well-socialised mudi becomes, when it´s grown up, a dog that´s adaptable and easy so handle and therefore easy to bring with, nearly everywhere. It´s excellent if the mudi can be together with its owner all the time, because the master/mistress is the centre of the world for the mudi. Compared to him/her all other dogs and persons are non-existent. If you don´t get on well with a dog that wants to be close to you at all the time and take part in everything you do - don´t buy a mudi!

A LIVELY DOG

The mudi is a working dog. In lack of tending objects in Sweden it has to be activated with something else. A to dull and uneventful life, maybe in combination with many long lonely hours, easily leads to trouble. The breed is, as said before, adaptable, but if life is TO calm TO long it will invent activities by itself. A mudi soon will let you know if its life is dull. More stimulation can be the answer.

The mudi is an all-round dog, bred to co-operate with man. Therefor a main demand is to give the dog meaningful occupation, one way or another.

The breed isn´t hard to bring up, on condition that you do it the right way. If you praise him at the right moment he learns quickly. He gets confused and does wrong if the message is unclear, for instance if the dog misunderstands the body-language of the owner. The mudi shall be trained with small means, one only need a low voice and small gestures. Never ever one is allowed to loose temper and shout, act abruptly or clumsy. The conclusion is that the mudi as a workingdog has a small margin of error but large ability for precision.

The difficulty with mudi can be its swiftness. It happens that competing dogs don´t have time to wait for the owners reaction but instead carries out the moment by itself. The mudi has another drawback. It sometimes has difficulties to keep quiet. The mudi very much wants to work, life is a game, and one has to forgive a little bark out of pure enthusiasm sometimes. Other manifestations of joy during competing, like extra jumps and clown-tricks just because it´s fun, can be hard to the owners competition-nerves. But in the long run this only is one more of the positive points of the breed. It´s a resource for the owner if he has a bit of humour.

Obedience-judges sometimes get the impression that the mudi isn´t concentrated. The mudis instinct to watch/guard makes him all the time want to keep control over the surroundings at the same time as everything that´s happening, the attention paid to the owner never lacks and the obedience is immediate.

The real "pros" have so far not discovered this rather small and inconspicuous breed, but many other have tested to compete in tracking, searching etc in Sweden. In Finland many mudi-owners compete with their dogs, specially in "search". Our neighbour-country to the east also has the possibility to officially mentaltest their mudis. The Swedish mudi-family is lucky to contain a trained and approven rescue-dog.

If you don´t want to train traditional obedience, track, search etc, can for instance agility be an alternative. Several mudis train agility and the breed have the qualifications to be successful in this sport. The speed is impressive, as well as the sensitive ear, mobility and agility.

To an ambitious master/mistress with dog-knowledge there are a lot of opportunities to have real fun in many ways with their mudi! The capacity of the dog is said to be nearly immense.

EXERCISE

The daily activities are the most important for the mudi to fell well. Furthermore a sufficiently amount of exercise. A walk in the forest every day, while the dog can run free in the terrain, jump and bustle about, is excellent. Normally a mudi wont "leave the shepherd" but some of them can find out that it´s fun to hunt wild animals. The hunt normally don´t last long, the dog is back after some minute. One mudi, from one of the first litters in Sweden, was with success used for elk-hunting. Probably this is an exception. Hunting or excessive interest in wild animals isn´t typical for the mudi, most of them can be without leash nearly all the time. It doesn´t contact other people or dogs. The attention is always on "the centre of the universe": the owner!

SPITZEARS - SHEEPDOGBODY

The mudi is, according to the breed-standard, a middle-sized dog with a sprightly temperament. The height at withers is 35 – 47 cm. The weight stays between 8 and 13 kg. The mudi has a longish head that narrows towards the muzzle. The ears are erected like the ears of a spitz. The body is rather of the sheepdogmodel, the backline is even and the loin is muscular and longer than the loin of a spitz. In the native country it´s said that puppies are born with bobtail, if not most of them are docked. In Sweden, since several years, docking isn´t allowed and a muditail ought not to be kept over the backline in rest.

The coat is 5-7 cm, wavy and curly, shorter on the head and on the frontside of the legs. On the ears the coat are long and fringed, the legs have furnishings. The coat is shiny and repulses dirt. The mudi doesn´t need trimming or a lot of coat-care, a brush now and then is enough. It´s out of coat at regular intervals and dogs who live indoors can molt a little all the time. Approven colours are black, white or black/white. Pigmentation is always black, that is: nose and pads are dark even with white dogs.

The first Swedish mudi was imported 1979 from Finland by Inger Wallin, Kennel Wulcanos. It was a bitch called Catamount Okker Alice. Together with the male Kikerdi from Hungary she got the first Swedish mudi-litter 1982.

Breeding has trough the years been rare and this also goes for the number of registrations. New breeders have with great energy started up, and the co-operation with foreign countries is good. Now it remains to see if the mudi is able to make a room for itself among the other breeds in Sweden. Its appearance might be inconspicuous, but if the mudi is allowed to show what it CAN achieve, its future will be safe.