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			COMPARISON BETWEEN KUVASZ, CROATIAN SHEEPDOG, MUDI
		2 - MISCELLANEOUS Every nation is disposed to consider that its breeds are its own personal property. So people like to think that the ancestors of their breeds have always been theirs - and so the ancestors of the Kuvasz would have been brought in the Carpathians basin by the first Hungarian in Arpad's time ; the ancestors of the Croatian Sheepdog would have come in the country with the ancestors of the Croatian ; only the Mudi is given another birth history : he would have appeared "spontaneously" from the Puli, the Pumi and some other sheepdog breeds. Of course, we (people of the whole world) will never be able to maintain anything. We can just be supposing. However, some assumptions seems more realistic than some others. The Kuvasz standard dated 1966 and the one dated 2000 both write (in their Hungarian version) that the Kuvasz is an ancient, primitive breed. That could be said too to the Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi. The 3 breeds reveal the primitive dogs morphology, or I would rather say : the wolf morphology - especially the head (triangular when it's seen from above, with almond-shaped and slantwise eyes and with a stop that MUST be gently sloping), but also the coat (short hair on the head and the legs excepted behind, longer hair on the body, the tail and behind the limbs), and too the general look (dry, tall, rather narrow and light, all the body is made for endurance run and speed). Of course a lot of differences can be discovered between the Kuvasz and the Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi - and very few between the Croatian Sheepdog and the Mudi, they appear to be nearly the same breed. This is only a hypothesis of mine, but I do consider, at least for the time being, that Kuvasz and Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi originate from the same type of primitive dog, a primitive dog that would originate from the wolf, of course, but in a Sighthound type direction. I do think that this type of dog was already in the Carpathians basin and all around before both Hungarians and Croatians (and others) came there, but of course the dogs could appear quite different from one to another, it was only a "type" of dog. The Hungarians consider that the Kuvasz in the Arpad's time was about the same that now, because they discovered a skeleton with the same head that the one of the current Kuvasz, and this skeleton has been dated of the Arpad's time. Then, they consider that the Hungarians brought these dogs to the Carpathians basin and didn't find such dogs there, because in this time (the Arpad's time), the Slavs who were living there didn't need at all any big dog to protect their cattle : their pigs-boars were so wild and harsh that they could defend themselves without any help ! (source : "The Kuvasz", Jozsef Hodosi, 2000, Hungària Kuvasz Klub) Yes, but ... First, this kind of dog was probably used for hunting, as Sighthound type, so it could live in the Carpathians basin but also all countries all around ; then, if the pigs or boars were so harsh, and if the Slavs didn't need a strong dog to protect them, it can be thought that smaller dogs could be useful to herd : and this smaller dog could simply be the ancestor of the Croatian Sheepdog ... But why such dogs would have been kept only in the Carpathians basin, or only in the area of a Slav ethnic group ? I do think that such dogs would have spread in a large region. Of course, all dogs didn't look all the same, but they could all originate from the same wolf-sighthound type ; then, their different use could have shaped their bodies. People everywhere needed dogs to hunt, Sighthound-type dogs were rather used in plains ; the elongated and rather narrow Kuvasz is still a dog for plains, (as the present Hungary is). However, Kuvaszes are strong enough to fight against wolves etc., and they were used to protect all cattle during centuries. The Kuvasz has still an important hunting instinct, and in the past he has been used for hunting too. In the opposite, the dogs that were used to herd were selected to be smaller and smaller, and generally their colour was selected too to be dark, while the dogs used to protect cattle were selected in lighter colour. Use, and so selection in this aim, could explain the main differences between the Kuvasz and the Croatian Sheepdog (while the dogs used for hunting were selected in the Sighthound type direction, with any colour). The Hungarians say that they brought with them, in the Arpad's time, their own cattle, and so they needed dogs like the Kuvasz to protect it during their moving from north regions. I think that they met the wolf-sighthound type dogs in the countries before the Carpathians basin, but they can also have brought a big dog to protect their animals, such a dog would have mixed with the ones already living in the Carpathians basin. Only later the Hungarians needed herding dogs. Then the Puli appeared. From the Puli, they mixed several other sheepdog breeds to get the Pumi. Nowadays, they say that the Mudi originate from the Puli, the Pumi and other breeds, especially the ancestor of the German Sheepdog. It can be understood that they want a Hungarian origin for a breed that they want to be Hungarian, but how could it be imagined that luck would have created a dog from the Puli, the Pumi and others, while that dog is nearly the same that the Croatian Sheepdog, that is bred for centuries in the same region? Before the First World War, the current Croatia was a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. During centuries, the presently called Croatia area and the Croatian ethnic groups were mixed with Hungarian land and its inhabitants. How could dogs have not mixed all together ? How could the Mudi's ancestors not have met the Croatian Sheepdog's ones ? That's for me nothing else that an obviousness, the Mudi is a Croatian Sheepdog that  wasn't bred as a breed by the Hungarians, and so he's a little more mixed than the Croatian Sheepdog, but the few differences between the 2 breeds are only artificial differences : in both you can find smaller or taller dogs, short or long head, short or long muzzle, short or long body, and even other colours than black, etc ; man can decide that a breed is so and so and that the other is exactly the opposite, that's just artificial thing. Their use is exactly the same, so their body is about the same, the wanted differences between the 2 breeds are nothing more than normal differences between a dog and another in the same type of dogs, when human selection hasn't yet too much worked. In his book "A Magyar Pasztorkutyàk és a Külföldi Rokonfajtàk " (Budapest, 1936), Csaba Geyza Anghi wrote that sometimes a Mudi-type pup could born in a Puli litter ; in the seventies/eighties, some Mudis were born from Pumi parents. Although that isn't correct in a scientific point of view, I would say that the Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi type seems to be "recessive" compared with Puli and Pumi types. Of course, that doesn't mean that any hereditary feature of the Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi is "recessive" compared with Puli and Pumi - in particular, some big and very rounded skull that can be met in these breeds could originate from the Puli, but also from any other breed or it could be too spontaneous evolution. If the Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi type is overall "recessive" compared to the Puli and the Pumi types, that could explain that the Puli and then the Pumi had spread in the Carpathians basin, while the Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi type was more and more scarce, excepted  where it was bred as a real breed, by the Croatian ethnic group. If use shaped the body of the dogs during centuries, it shaped in the same way their personalities. Of course Kuvasz and Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi appears quite different in this point of view, because they are expected to work differently. Nevertheless,  they've got several things in common. The hunting instinct is still very strong, not only for killing rats and mice in the garden, but also for bigger preys. They are all watchdogs but if some Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi aren't made for any attack, some others wouldn't hesitate at all to risk their life to defend their owns and their properties, like any Kuvasz ought to do. They are always ready to do a service and to assume a responsibility, and the 3 breeds are still versatile. Kuvaszes are generally disinclined to obedience, while Croatian Sheepdogs/Mudi accept better any kind of obedience. The Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi are generally more "always on the move" and more noisy too  than the Kuvaszes. The Kuvaszes have still some aggressiveness or even ferocity because of their protecting work in the past, while Croatian Sheepdog/Mudi have generally none or only a little. Kuvaszes were used to protect cattle and also houses and persons, but in the past, they were used for hunting too. Croatian Sheepdogs/Mudis were used as versatile farm-dogs and then herding sheepdogs. Their versatility make them be worthwhile dogs for any kind of work, possibly for some sport too, although  Kuvaszes aren't  always easy to handle ... 03/07/07 Isabelle Coquinot Back to "About Kuvasz, Croatian Sheepdog and Mudi" Contents Back to Home