With the rise of Mudi breed fame recently, the myths that circle the Mudi breed enthusiasts are more rampant than ever.
I have been involved with the Mudi for 20 years, I live in Hungary for almost that long. I am married to a native born Hungarian that has been in the Mudi for even longer than I have.
I personally submitted the application to the AKC FSS for the Mudi breed in 2003. The Mudi was accepted to the AKC FSS in 2004. I have the documents to prove it.
I could fill a book about my adventures in the breed, as I am sure many with even more years in the breed could as well. Even with all this time and breed knowledge I have acquired, I still do not consider myself to be a breed expert, even though it has been my main free time concern for these past 20 years. Living in Hungary has certainly provided me with great access to Mudi breed information and Mudi breed experience, that many other Mudi owners have not had an opportunity for, yet it does not seem to deter them from scattering ‘romantic tales’ regarding the breed wherever they go. I understand that most people do it out of love and excitement for their new found breed, but spreading misinformation is not often beneficial. I think we all learned what harm misinformation can do in these last two years.
Retirement is long overdue for some of the more commonly shared 'legends' about the Mudi, so let's get on with putting these myths to rest.
A Pumi, a Mudi and a Pumi-Mudi. Which is which?
Myth #1: The Mudi was created by crossing Pumi, Puli, Spitz and almost any other breed or breed type together.
Truth: The Mudi was not created, it is a landrace that occurred naturally, from breeding together the local herding dogs used in the area for many hundreds of years, which eventually bred true to a recognizable type by the late 1800’s, at the latest.
Additionally, the majority of dog breeds only started to become recognizable and officially named and entered into stud books in this same time era as the Mudi, meaning the ‘breeds’ claimed to be behind Mudi creation were no more official or widespread than the Mudi was itself. How likely was an official breed of any kind to be found, in the very remote countryside’s of Hungary in the 1800’s?
Furthermore, even in the last 20 years, Puli and Pumi litters have Mudi puppies born into them, rarely, but it has been documented within the Pumi, I even met with one in Hungary and have seen several others in pictures, and I saw a picture of a Mudi born into a Puli litter as well in the UK. Whereas Mudi litters never have Pumi or Puli puppies born into them. Which begs the eternal chicken-egg question, which came first?
Please stop the many versions of Mudi creation stories circling the globe. The Mudi is a landrace and deserves that recognition, not romance novel tales.
Myth #2: The correct plural for Mudi is Mudik.
Truth: The correct plural of Mudi is Mudis or Mudi’s, when speaking English. I wrote to AKC years ago about it, it was even published in the Gazette, but they refuse to do the needful and quit this fad. When I see in the AKC show catalogs the breed name is listed as Mudik, I want to run with scissors. It is not Hungarian Mudi either, it is just Mudi.
If I had a dollar for every person that asked me what is a Mudik? Is it some variety of Mudi? I could buy a new computer.
The Hungarian language does not capitalize proper names as English does which means to use mudik correctly, the m should be lower case. Therefore, using Mudik is incorrect. So ok, then why not just use mudik?
The use of the Hungarian plural - mudik - is only used by Americans. Europeans when speaking English do not use this term ever!
Native English speakers do not use the plural forms of dog breeds originating in any other country, just the Hungarian breeds. Why? Trendy misappropriation. It is simply disrespectful to take terms and items from other cultures for an avantgarde purpose.
It is not understood by Hungarians, why Americans have incorporated only this particular word (mudik) when they speak English. But cannot use the correct spelling of Hungarian names with their proper letters (á, é, í, ó, ö, ü, ű for example). I often wonder if mudik was spelled müdík how many would be so inclined to toss it about.
When speaking Hungarian, you do not pluralize a noun when you indicate a specific number, for example, when speaking Hungarian, you would not say you have 3 mudis, you would say you have 3 mudi. Which means whenever English speakers that use Mudik say they have 3 Mudik, it is painfully obvious they are clueless about the true usage of the hijacked mudik term.
Please stop using mudik and give respect to the nation that gifted this breed to you, by not using their language inappropriately. It is Mudis, or Mudi’s when speaking or writing the English pluralized form of Mudi.
Myth #3: Shepherds that used the Mudi were not concerned with the look of their dogs, it was all about their working ability.
Truth: The shepherds were very interested in how their Mudi looked, and we interviewed several professional Hungarian shepherds and met with many others that all required their Mudis to have certain looks. Some wanted tails and others preferred tailless. Some even had favored colors. All shepherds we met liked bigger sized Mudis, not the ‘szoba Mudi’ - ‘room Mudi’ they called the small show and sport type Mudis being produced in the last 20 years.
The shepherds and the people living on the farms and in villages lived very colorful and decorative lives as seen in the local embroidery styles, ceramics, lacework, wood carving, woolen clothes, household goods, and in the shepherds vests, which were one form of competition they had amongst themselves. They even had ornate crooks and fancy collars for their dogs and more.
While working ability was a main concern, how that Mudi looked like was also very important to them.
Don’t breed the Mudi based on working ability alone, breed the Mudi for its traditional physical characteristics as well, as this is what the shepherds who developed the breed did and still do today.
This is not a Mudi, it is a Sinka.
Myth #4: The Mudi should be small so that it can jump on the backs of the sheep. Especially when it is needed to move them out of the burning barn! <Warning! Gruesome situation description ahead!>
Truth: I almost wanted to leave this one off as it is ridiculous on so many levels.
Are barn fires so common that anyone would specifically and selectively breed for this reason? No.
I am not a shepherd, but I have had to escape a burning building and instinct drove me to get out fast. I would venture a guess that if you open the barn doors, the sheep will come out on their own too, if they are able. Sending in your dog to a burning barn to chase out dead, dying, burning sheep is a pointless waste of a good dog’s life that I doubt most shepherds would be willing to risk.
Is the Mudi required to jump on the backs of the sheep for any reason? No. And even if it were, other larger herding breeds can back sheep, so making a smaller Mudi is not relevant to that task. Actually, a taller Mudi would find it much easier to back a sheep than a small one, especially when caught in the middle of a flock of sheep that are a much larger and heavier than the Mudi.
This is just a rubbish fairy tale, do not take it as any serious reason to make smaller Mudis, especially as the shepherds preferred them larger in reality.
Myth #5: The Mudi was used to herd large flocks of Racka sheep and that is why it is sharp and reactive.
Truth: The Mudi was selected to herd all kinds of sheep, not just Racka. Also the Mudi was used for cattle, pigs, ducks, geese, kids, whatever needing tending. The Mudi is the fence that protects and keeps the flock of whatever, together, and away from danger. A sharp reactive Mudi would be a disaster in this type of fenceless environment.
Racka sheep are not that common today and possibly weren’t in the previous two to three hundred years either. When the merino and other domestic wool sheep breeds came to Hungary several hundred years ago, their benefits outweighed the Racka’s benefits in many ways and quickly the domestic wool sheep became the main sheep breeds in Hungary, as well as much of the world. The Racka, while lovely to look at, is an almost feral type of sheep, and herding with a sharp, reactive dog would cause them to escape by any means possible, even to the point of doing themselves and others harm. Damaged sheep are a big problem, not tolerated by any shepherd. For Racka, you need a very cool, calm, biddable dog. Not all Mudis can herd Racka, they can be very aggressive with a dog they know is weak.
The Mudis kept by professional shepherds that used them on various sheep breeds that I met, were neither sharp, nor reactive. The Mudis used on cows weren’t either.
Sharp and reactive terms often mean different things to different people. However, a Mudi should not be sharp or reactive in any meaning of the words when it comes to livestock herding. Fast, agile, smart, biddable, able to control the flock without inflicting damage, absolutely, this is what is required from a herding Mudi.
Stop making excuses for Mudis with poor temperament from imagined purposes.
Myth #6: Mudis come in all colors and patterns and should be allowed in all colors/patterns as the breed standard originally mentioned them. And to exclude them would hurt the gene pool.
Truth: First let’s make it clear what is color and what is pattern and what is allowed under the original Mudi breed standard and the current FCI breed standard.
Color is the base color of the dog, pattern is the addition of markings that can be white, brown, black, tan or mottle/mix the base color.
Colors allowed by the FCI include: black, white, yellow, brown, ash
Colors not allowed are only one: albino
Pattern allowed includes only one: merle
Patterns not allowed are any other pattern occurring in dogs, but most commonly: black and tan markings, brown and tan markings, ashbrown and tan markings, black and silver markings, merle and tan markings, white markings or patches (except for a very small chest patch, on solids or on merles), saddle, mask, brindle, sable, agouti/wild/wolf, and any mixture of these with or without merle.
What was originally chosen for the Mudi is any solid base color and merle. The current FCI standard, which comes from Hungary, does not allow or disallow ashbrown, it is simply ignored in either the allowed or disallowed sections of the standard. This also applies to brown merle, ash merle, ashbrown merle and white/yellow merles – these are simply left out as they did not exist in the days when the FCI standard was written. In those days merle was extremely rare, not like it is today. And ashbrown dogs were considered to be light brown.
I have the original breed documents and standards and they do not claim the breed is acceptable in all patterns, nor did all patterns have historical acknowledgement. Not to mention the genetics known behind colors was non-existent till more recent times, meaning here, that colors and patterns were often incorrectly described and misunderstood how they occurred. For example, merle was often described as black and white patches mixed. Think about it yourself, how would you explain merle coloration to someone that never saw it, keeping in mind it is different on every dog.
If the breed allows brown and ash, it must allow ashbrown. If the breed allows merle, it must allow merle in all colors. Why? Because breeding together the allowed colors can create other colors +/- merle, you cannot, not produce them by normal breeding of the allowed colors. It is a tough concept to explain, but it is genetically sound.
For example: If you breed a black to a black merle and both carry brown, you can produce brown merles. If you breed a brown to a white/yellow, you can produce white/yellow with brown pigment if the white/yellow parent carries brown. Technically this is a brown dog with white/yellow fur. These colors cannot be avoided as they are made by breeding of the allowed colors.
There is only one color exception and that is albino, which is not allowed due to health reasons. There is no DNA test to help avoid it yet.
The founder of the breed chose all solid colors and merle as the pattern as this is what he found to be most common and probably also preference had a part as his favorite Mudi was a merle. As the discoverer of the breed, he has the rights for deciding what it should look like. The breed is named for him as well. In his writings all other patterns were to be removed from breeding stock. It was not implied they should be killed, just not used for breeding. This is the tradition we must uphold today and for the many generations of Mudis to come.
Every breed has a recognizable physical and behavioral recipe (called the breed standard) that enable its members to be identified as belonging to that breed. Allowing, or choosing, to breed with not allowable colors/patterns changes the recipe for the breed. You cannot change ingredients in traditional food recipes and still call the dish by the traditional name. However breeding dogs is much more serious than cooking a meal.
Who among us has the authority to change the recipe for the Mudi made by the founder?
The occurrence in the Mudi of unrecognized color and pattern is very rare considering the number of Mudi puppies born. While it may appear there are a lot of these Mudis around, appearances can be deceiving. Most of the Mudis in these unrecognized patterns are from very popular owners, that place many pictures to social media, and these are in turn shared by others, it makes these non-recognized patterns appear to be more common than they really are. Old picture examples also make the rounds from time to time.
No one has said these unrecognized pattern Mudis do not deserve good homes, they do, of course. Owners are welcome to sport with them and make them beloved family members and companions, but do not breed them and do not pressure the other breed owners, breeders and Mudi clubs to change the standard to accept your Mudis unrecognized pattern that you chose to bring into your life. There is no justification for allowing a very small percentage of a breed’s population to call the shots.
There are plenty of recognized color/merle Mudis that can be used for breeding and not allowing breeding of this very small portion of non-recognized patterns will not limit the gene pool as is constantly suggested. In practically every case the unrecognized pattern Mudi has littermates that are of recognized colors that can be used for breeding. If the littermates did not get such a popular owner to show off their greatness, it does not make them less worthy for breeding.
If you want a Mudi for companion purposes, don’t select a puppy mainly based on color. If however you have even for one second entertained the thought of possibly breeding or winning dog shows, then make sure to choose a Mudi in a solid color or typical merle pattern, with no white markings, except for a very small chest patch. Beware that there are breeders out there that will sell you not-recognized patterns for breeding and showing purposes, knowing they are not allowed for that purpose in their own country and maybe even the country of destination.
Myth #7: There are less than 600 Mudis in the USA; less than 3000 worldwide.
Truth: Depending on what these statements are trying to point out specifically, that is, 600/3000 ever? Or currently?
The worldwide Mudi population is currently about 5000+ Mudis alive today. Since the beginning of the official stud book in Hungary and export and breeding in other countries, there are more than 11,000 Mudis known to have be born. There could be much more than that as not every country has an open database that I can harvest information from and not everyone shares with me their litters, exports, imports, data etc.
In the USA there have been more than 700 Mudis in residence since the breed first started to appear in the 1990’s. The current estimate places more than 600 in the USA alive today. The increase in numbers began in 2004 in the USA, with most being born there or imported, mainly in the last decade.
All of these estimates are on the conservative side.
Other Mudi breed folklore that makes the rounds:
- The Mudi was used as a vermin hunter. Weren’t most farm dogs capable of this? Either as free time entertainment, or a source of food. It can be a value added trait for some shepherds, but I would not count on it being in the true nature of most Mudis as I doubt it was selected for over herding ability, it was just not selected against. Therefore it may or may not be a trait in the Mudi sitting next to you.
- The Mudi was used to hunt wild boar. They did not hunt them, but chased them towards the hunters. A wild boar could easily kill a Mudi, so this was not something many professional shepherds would risk their right hand Mudi for. In any case, there are other breeds more suited to this task and it was probably more of a whim that a Mudi got to go along for the event, than it was actively selected for this task. In any case, running after animals is built in to a herding dog, but running amok in the woods is not something a Mudi would be likely to do as they were selected to stay by the shepherd and flock, not wander around the pastures. This is why most Mudis are very good off leash.
- Mudis bark a lot. Mudis are dogs and dogs bark. If you don’t like barking, don’t get a dog, get fish. Some Mudis bark quite regularly and seemingly at nothing, and others not so much. The amount of barking in the parents does not seem to be related to the barking habits in the puppies, you can guess how I know this. However, dogs in general do seem to feed off of each other’s behavior, so having a barky dog at home of any kind can create a barky Mudi companion you introduce. Other barky dogs in the neighborhood can cause a canine bark fest to break out as well. Luckily, as the Mudi is quite trainable, it is possible to quell some of the barking with training. But if you cannot tolerate any barking, then the Mudi is not a breed for you as they were selected to herd by barking at the flock and to be observant of trespassers of the human and animal kind in their territory and this observance translates to barking to inform the shepherd and their family. This is not something breeders should breed away from as this is part of their purpose.
- The muzzle should be short and the stop on the head angled to prevent cow kick damage. The inventers of this theory obviously know nothing about physics and cows. If your Mudi, or any dog, is kicked in the head, the length of its muzzle or angle of stop is not going to prevent it from being in a world of hurt or dead. What prevents injury and death is a dog that respects the feet of the cow for the weapons they are. Any size muzzle or any angle of stop is going to take on some serious damage from a kick, from even the tamest of cattle or horse. I had horses and my neighbors had cows, dogs that don’t respect them will pay a high price even when they have finely tuned heads. Should we be breeding dogs that can, in theory, take a kick to the head or should we be breeding Mudis with livestock common sense?
The Mudi is not a breed for everybody. There is no dog breed out there that would fit everyone’s wishes or needs. The last thing the Mudi needs is for people in the breed for 5 minutes deciding that the breed should be changed to accommodate the needs and wishes of today's dog owning public. I’m not sorry to say that the Mudi is not for J.Q. Public and it was never meant to be. The Mudi was invented for a purpose, it is a shepherds dog, and if breeders start to mess with that purpose to make it a quieter, stranger friendly, sport star, then very quickly the Mudi will become something no shepherd would want or recognize. Yes there are not so many sheep to herd anymore, but you cannot replace sheep with weave poles, jumps and frisbees. The outside world should not dictate the purpose of the Mudi. The purpose of the Mudi made it what it is today, but I see changes to the Mudi breed being promoted and planned that are not what the founder of the breed would want or be proud of, nor would any shepherds.
The Mudi is a very versatile breed, but that versatility is often challenged by the modern world. The breed was selected to work on a very quiet pastureland with one shepherd. There were no guns, no noisy sport halls, no crowds of people. Is it any wonder that some are not tolerant of the modern life we have imposed on them. Humans invented sports and then try to convince their dogs to do them, but as we learn more and more, dogs have preferences too and your choice may not be theirs. A good Mudi will do what you ask, but they may not excel in it. That is not the breeds fault.
Choose a Mudi because your lifestyle fits to the requirements of the breed. Do not try to make the Mudi fit to your needs, it is a recipe for disaster.
Choose a Mudi for a companion because you like how it looks, you like the basic temperament setting, and you are willing to compromise on the activity you want to take part in with your Mudi.
Do not get a Mudi with the hopes it will like your friends, and be accepting of strangers, get a Mudi for you, no one else, then you will not be disappointed as almost every Mudi is strongly attached to their owner.
Do not get a Mudi as a companion for your other dog, it may not work out as you hoped, due to different play styles and the Mudi not being a ‘pack’ selected breed. Shepherds did not have hordes of dogs at home, they had just a few at most. So if the Mudi will be your 2nd or more dog in your home, don’t expect it to be happy with the situation. Mudis are not hounds and I hope that owners and breeders will remember this when adding a Mudi to their home crew.
If you cannot spend a great deal of time with your Mudi, the Mudi is definitely not for you. The Mudi was with the shepherd almost all the time and that is what it was selected for. I realize that in today’s world, the Mudi cannot accompany the owner everywhere and some Mudis will be ok with this while others will let you know this is not acceptable. This is not a fault of the breed, as it was selected to be very owner centric. If you cannot have your Mudi with you for most of the day, get another breed that is more tolerant of owner separation.
Choose a Mudi based on the breeds traditional temperament and behavior, not because someone else says it is like X breed, as it is very difficult to accurately compare breeds, but even more so with the Mudi as it can have quite a range of acceptable behavior and temperament.
Choose a Mudi because you want a unique individual that is not likely to be a clone of others in the breed. The diversity of temperament and behavior is due to many things and it is just not possible for any breeder to make guarantees. If you have very specific needs and wishes, this is not the breed for you.
Choose a Mudi because you want to be a good shepherd to the breed and keep it on the path the Mudi was selected for, not the path you, others or J.Q. Public want it to walk.
Professional Shepherd Competition, Hortobágy, Hungary
