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			COMPARISON BETWEEN KUVASZ, CROATIAN SHEEPDOG,  MUDI
	2 - MISCELLANEOUS Detail   :   THE HUNTING INSTINCT
		Thanks to the FCI standards and some Hungarian writings, it's well-known that the Kuvasz has been used as a hunting dog in the past and has kept a strong hunting instinct, and that the Mudi is used for pest control and that he was used in wild boar hunting. I never found any writing about Croatian Sheepdog  and hunting abilities, but in fact the hunting instinct is overall the same in the three breeds : they are all excellent for pest control and any kind of game make their hunting instinct revive. Of course, some shows little hunting abilities, some other haven't lost an ounce of their ancient expertise. The observation of my own dogs taught me a lot of things about their hunting instinct. My 3 Kuvaszes and all my Croatian Sheepdogs showed me how they were "cleaning" the garden from any kind of animals ; I cast doubt on my Mudis, especially my two imported ones : once the bitch was at home, a mouse ran near her bed, she only turned the head and didn't move ...  She was following my cat as if she wanted to hunt him, but as soon as the cat stopped and turned back to her, she immediately turned back too and ran away ... I can imagine what she could have done if she would have been hunting a wild boar .... ! The bitch and my first male were living apart from my Kuvaszes, and once I heard some moan near them, a small animal was near them, I didn't know if it was injured or if only fear prevented it from fleeing away, but the two Mudis were staying there without trying to kill it, so I called one of my Kuvaszes who solved the situation immediately. I never saw the dogs of my Mudi litter with a killed prey, but maybe that they hunted too. One of them was in his new owner's home for about one month when he ran away, he was found about 17 months later while he was hunting hens in a farm ; this dog had got mental problems and was afraid of strange people, so I guess that he didn't search food near human beings but that he hunted preys in woods and fields to survive. It must be said that the Kuvaszes (my first bitch and my male) had taught them hunting : once I saw a strange behaviour of my Kuvasz bitch, she had a mouse between her teeth and seemed to try to do something with it, then she threw it away, the mouse was alive but couldn't run away, its hind legs weren't moving any more ; the Kuvasz male knew that he had not to react, and finally one of the Mudi pups took the mouse and killed it  - that was easy, but that was just the first lesson ! I saw a lot of preys killed by my Kuvaszes and my Croatian Sheepdogs, included some birds and hedgehogs too. Once in the garden, the kuvaszes had killed a huge rodent during the night, it was about 7-8 cm in diameter and 30 cm long (without the tail which was about as long) ; I wondered how a cat or a small dog (like Croatian Sheepdogs or Mudis) could do in front of such an animal, which of course try to bite and defend itself. Later my Croatian Sheepdogs gave me an answer : they are able to work together to hunt a big prey. My second Kuvasz bitch showed me their technique : once we were walking quietly on the road near my home, when she suddenly threw herself in the grass and in a fraction of a second a small animal (about 15-20 cm long) was flung down on the road, it was still alive and was moving its front legs, but the hind legs couldn't move any more, and so the bitch bite it a second time to kill it properly. This is so the technique : when a prey is too big and can defend itself and bite, the dog bite the hind quarters to paralyse the victim, then it's easier to kill with a second bite. All this happened in no time at all, that means that a great preciseness is needed. Once I found a mouse in a bucket of mine, it was jumping permanently to try to escape, but it didn't succeed ; I called my dogs, my first imported Croatian Sheepdog was the first here ; he watched the mouse during a short time, I think  he was estimating the situation, because the mouse was jumping permanently, and the result was that he plunged his head inside the bucket and in a split second later, the mouse was flung down on the ground near the bucket, moving it's front legs but once again the hind legs couldn't move any more, so the dog quietly bite a second time to kill it, and then he went away, the work was done. For mousing is for them a real work. I saw once another technique : my second imported Croatian Sheepdog was walking "quietly" in the garden, and suddenly he jumped (about 1 meter high and 1-1,5 meter long) to ground with his head near his front legs, ready to bite a mouse (or so). If the dog runs to the mouse, it got time to disappear inside a hole or under stones ; if the dog comes to the mouse by a jump, he saves time but also he makes less noise and has more chance of capturing his victim by surprise. I watched an odd thing, and several times. My first Kuvasz bitch was tracking in a field when suddenly she stopped and stayed without moving at all, but with one foreleg highly raised, exactly like a pointer does - all the dogs can raise a little a foreleg in some situations, but in this case, the bended leg was very highly raised, and the whole body stayed perfectly motionless, while the head was pointed out ... a prey ; the second time, the prey was nothing else that a poor cat who ran away quickly from the bush the bitch was pointing out ... So I was not surprised when, while my second Kuvasz bitch and I were just emerging from a little wood, my bitch suddenly stopped and stayed perfectly motionless with her foreleg highly raised : I could see in front of us a few deers ; I didn't dare move not to disturb them, and the bitch stayed motionless and always with raised leg during a long time, till I decided to turn back. In the opposite, I was really surprised when I saw the same scene (stopping and staying motionless with a foreleg highly raised) with my young Croatian Sheepdog bitch during a walk in town : she had seen a cat ! At this time, I hadn't any cat at home, but when I got my kitten, this young bitch never made harm to her, and she became one of the cat's best friends, playing a lot with her. Mousing is a farmdog work, and most of the sheepdog breeds had been used in pest control in the past. My first dog was a Briard bitch, she was getting excited very easily, and hearing or smelling a mouse (or so) in the garden or inside the house made her very fidgety ; I never saw her catching a mouse but one that my cat had crippled, it moved slowly, but my cat didn't want to kill it, it was no more interesting, I called my Briard who killed it by one bite. My dogs generally don't eat the rodents, moles etc, except when they dig inside a mouse hole to kill all the litter, and the young mice seems to be better than grown-up ones ! They eat easily birds too, at least small birds, or young birds. Cleaning the garden (and possibly the house) of pests is a real work, they don't kill for eating but only as a work, to prevent pests to cause damage. It could seem cruel to encourage dogs to kill mice and rats, but is it worst than poison which make them die little by little by internal bleeding ? I always saw my dogs kill the injured prey, it was not always the same with my cats. Nature is so that some animals must be killed (and eaten) to avoid an overpopulation, and man put a lot of poison in fields, gardens and houses ; using dogs in pest control is a natural mean without the danger of rat poison. It's really an useful work. People often use the word "work" about the dogs they train in obedience or any kind of sport. I do distinguish between training and working. First a real work is useful for the owner's life ; but above all, a working dog knows the aim he has to attain, then he thinks by himself and decides how he must act to achieve this aim ; the owner can intervene by giving the aim, but not in the action of the dog. In the opposite, in sport and any kind of training except searching/tracking, the owner teaches the dog what he must do, the dog didn't decide according to each situation, but obey the orders. Training a dog to make him do an exercise in a precise way needs repetition, that is to say conditioning, and more the dog is conditioned, less he's able to decide by himself. I don't want to say that people must not teach things to their dogs, but I want to discriminate between obeying orders and working. For me a good working dog isn't at all a dog who is at his owner's beck and call and/or who knows to carry out perfectly an exercise, but the dog who, knowing the aim he must attain, knows to think and to decide HOW he can act to achieve the aim, according to the specification of each situation. Killing pests is a real work ; there's some techniques, according to the situation the dog decides what he had to do : digging to reach the mouse, jumping to catch it by surprise, killing it by only one bite if the prey is small enough or only breaking it's hind quarters at first bite if the prey is thought to defend itself, etc. Dogs use all their senses to locate their prey  : eyes, nose, ears. My Kuvaszes are especially efficient to locate a prey far in the plain, while the smaller Croatian Sheepdogs stand on their hind legs to try to see above the vegetation. This work needs a great accuracy. The prey is generally moving, the biggest can also bite the dog, but as my Kuvasz bitch and my Croatian Sheepdog male showed me, the first bite is enough to paralyse the prey. They must forestall the movement of the prey to bite exactly at the right place, or to ground nearly it after a jump. Of course they can also fail now and then ! My dogs are able to get excited when they enjoy something very much, of course, but when they work, they are perfectly still, thinking and on the watch. Excitation is incompatible with efficiency, and the excitation of my Briard alerted the mouse, while my Kuvaszes and Croatian Sheepdogs stay perfectly still till the right moment comes to act. I can imagine my Briard in front of a mouse inside a bucket : she would have tried to bite it without watching the situation, after a lot of attempts and good luck she would have probably succeeded to kill it - except if she had tipped over the bucket because of her excitation, excitation leads to uncoordinated movements. In the opposite, my Croatian Sheepdog stayed quiet, took time to watch and think, and the result was that only one bite and a fraction of a second were enough to achieve the aim, that is to say to make the prey unable to escape. Of course my dogs didn't learn these techniques and that expertise, I think that the word "instinct" can be used. Nonetheless, I'm afraid that all this could disappear little by little if the dogs can't hunt pests in a garden. That's one of the reason why I require absolutely that the pups of my kennel live in a house with a garden. Unfortunately, all the breeders in the world don't require a garden for their Croatian Sheepdogs or Mudis, and I wonder whether my imported Mudis had already begun to lose their mousing abilities ... For years the Hungarians say that the Mudi can live in a flat, and they even write this on the FCI standard. I'm  afraid that the Croatian Sheepdogs are already on the same way ...  No sport, no training activity would ever be able to take the place of a simple garden to make Croatian sheepdogs and Mudis not only keep their expertise in pest control, but also sharpen their wits, make them think and act by themselves, and WORK by themselves. Kuvaszes generally live outside in Hungary, but not always in the other lands, in any case the worst thing is when a dog live in kennels ; the dogs must be free in the garden to develop their mental and physical abilities. Of course the owners must also share time with their dogs, and "gentle" training is a mean for that. Nevertheless, it must not be alienating, the dogs must stay able to think, decide and act by themselves. I conclude with only one request : THE kUVASZES, CROATIAN SHEEPDOGS AND MUDI MUST KEEP THEIR HUNTING INSTINCT AND THEIR EXPERTISE IN PEST CONTROL. A word to the wise is enough ... 30/11/10 Isabelle Coquinot