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As I wrote in previous texts (1), I do consider that Mudi and Croatian Sheepdog are really one and only one breed,
just with two different nationalities. So choosing between Mudi and Croatian Sheepdog could seem a very queer
idea ! Nonetheless, I think that some words have to be written.

First, the different nationalities can precisely be grounds for choosing either one or the other breed - and when
nationality is taken into consideration, that's often a
sine qua non.
Numerous reasons can make someone want a Mudi because he's Hungarian, or a Croatian Sheepdog because
he's Croatian or from the Balkans. Possibly some persons could prefer the Mudi because he is NOT from the
Balkans, or the Croatian Sheepdog because he is NOT Hungarian.

When the nationality isn't considered as an important thing, what are the reasons to choose one breed rather than
the other ?
A wide range of reasons can make the prospective owner be biased either against or in favour of one of the two
breeds, for example : having already one or several dogs of one of these two breeds ; knowing someone who have
one ; having heard or read things about one breed ; etc.

But if the person really doesn't get any reason to want one breed instead of the other - and if he wants only one
dog, so either a Mudi or a Croatian Sheepdog and not both - how could he choose ?
If you consider some breed or other, but with numerous enough breeders, the problem is the same : how will you
choose among the different breeders ?
Two cases must be differentiated.
If the prospective owner wants "only" a dog of a precise breed, the things which are taken into consideration are
"only" practicalities (price, location of the breeder, delivery or not, tatooing/microship and vaccines, etc).
If the person wants special things for his dog (about the colour, the height or the weight, the morphology, the
temper, the results in dogshows or in sport, etc), he must value the kennels one by one till he finds what he wants -
of course, except some characteristics which can be seen in a 2 months old pup (like the colour), no one can be
sure that the grown-up dog will get the features of his blood-line, choosing a bloodline with precise characteristics
increases the likelihood of getting them in the grown-up dog, but doesn't guarantee them.

That's the same in the Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi. When I got my Mudis (1994-1995), nearly all the dogs were the
descendants of 4 dogs, so the whole breed could be considered as one and only one bloodline, deriving from 4
dogs with unknown origin, and with just a few other dogs. I don't know about the current situation of the Mudi breed,
I just can hope that now there's several different enough bloodlines on a worldwide scale. Of course there's also
different bloodlines  in the Croatian Sheepdog, and the Mudi breed can be seen as several different bloodlines of
the Croatian Sheepdog breed - I want to say that some bloodlines of the sole (real) Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi breed
belong to the Croatian Sheepdog (official) breed and several other bloodlines belong to the (official) Mudi breed.
So if the perspective owner wants only a Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi dog (without any preconception), either he
considers only practicalities or he wants special feature(s), and in each case he will generally get either a Mudi or a
Croatian Sheepdog because of reasons other than the breed by itself. In some countries, it's easier to get a Mudi
than a Croatian Sheepdog, in some (less numerous) other lands, it's the reverse.
In many cases, the choice will be very influenced by the practicalities, when one and only one of the two breeds is
bred inside a country, only the persons who really want a dog from the other breed will get him. Like any other
breeds, some special characteristics can be found in some precise bloodlines, in the same way some special
features can be found more easily in one breed and more scarcely in the other : if someone wants a dog with a
natural short tail, he will find him in numerous enough Croatian Sheepdog bloodlines, while that proves to be scarce
in the Mudi ; many Croatian Sheepdogs get the "smiling face", which seems to be rare in the Mudi too ; in the
opposite, colours other than black are more frequent among the Mudis.
The two breeds prove to be similar, granted, nevertheless two
different standards have been recognized by the
FCI. Some of the few differences (real enough differences) can also be taken into consideration in the choice (for
example the colours other than black exist in the Croatian Sheepdog breed, but they are not allowed, the
semi-pricked ears exist in the Mudi breed but they are not allowed, etc).

But it happens too that people take dogs without choosing the breed - for example : being proposed a pup by a
friend or else ; searching a dog without wanted breed, possibly with wanted and not wanted features (height,
weight, colour, sheepdog ...) while a Mudi or Croatian Sheepdog is offered among the adds ; etc
Getting a Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi is not always due to a choice !  




(1) See especially "
The sheepdog of Ðakovo" and "A third breed"


17/01/12
Isabelle Coquinot