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	She was the first Kuvasz of mine. I found her name long ago she left her native Hungary, and this chosen name has been her official one, written on her export-pedigree. Her breeder died when she was only a few weeks, and the Hungarià Kuvasz Klub seemed to have taken charge of the litter, because on her export-pedigree, the written breeder name was precisely : Hungarià Kuvasz Klub. Are these events a part of the reasons who made my Hungarian friend choose among this litter to send me a pup ? Lénidiège flew from Hungary to an airport near Paris. I went by train to get her there. The journey wasn't easy for me because she and her cage were rather heavy ! But in fact, she was the one who complained. Yes the weather was hot, she wasn't free, and all was unknown, she wasn't glad at all and she meant to make every one know it ... At last we arrived at home. I had then a lovely cat and 2 bitches, a Briard bitch called Damounia and a Newfoundland one called Etioline. The big Etioline was then regarding herself as the chief (of the animals, except me). When I opened the door of her cage, the impudent Kuvasz pup began immediately to come out, wearing high both head and tail, in a very dominant posture, she seemed to be simply going to go round her new estate, there was no ghost of a doubt that she was - naturally - the chief of all. But Etioline didn't agree, she growled and on her back her hair stood on end with indignation. Lénidiège went back, but immediately she came out to Etioline and Damounia, but this time with a gentle, friendly and even charming posture, and the two bitches accepted her easily. I thought then that this little pup was a crafty one ... The following day, I saw Lénidiège who was - already ! - pulling Etioline's hair, and I thought that the poor Etioline wouldn't stay very longer the chief ... As soon as she left her cage, she began to discover my house. My first cat, who had always loved all dogs, known or unknown (except the giant breeds), went to her to make her acquaintance, but when she saw him, she took immediately his nape between her jaws, the cat stopped to move any more but I was so afraid for him that I made a mistake : I gave her a little slap, rather a pat, so she let the cat go away ; she did, probably because of the surprise, but immediately she looked at me strongly with half-closed eyes : her message was very clear, blaming me, I was extremely wrong to have given her a pat ; I told her that she had made a mistake, then she opened normally her eyes and the incident was closed. She never did it again, and even she never bit my cat during her whole life. She had understood that I didn't want that the cat go out of the house (and then out of the garden, because many wrong things often happened to him) ; and several times, even during the first days, she jammed him up against an outer wall till I arrived and took the cat to make him return inside the house. From the beginning, she showed this inclination to make everyone obey and to enforce the law - my law, our home law, but too her own law ... She was the white knight of my home for every one, every animal of mine but also for me, because she considered that anyone had to respect the Law, even the chiefs, even me, and even her (but of course everyone could make some mistakes ...). If I would have lived in USA instead of France, I would probably have given the title : "The white sheriff" ... During her whole life, she managed to enforce the Law, her Law, the law that she made from mine but through a Kuvasz point of view ... I tried to educate her like I'd been taught in French dogschools. She began immediately to teach me that I was wrong. I wanted to teach her but she preferred to teach me than to be taught ... In fact, she really loved learning any new thing ; in this case, she seemed to be a perfect obeying pupil, but as soon as she had learned enough about this new thing, she began systematically to refuse any order, seeming not knowing what I was expecting her to do, as if known thing didn't interest her any more ; I was easily irritated by her behaviour, but later (too much later ...) I understood that more I was irritated by her behaviour, more she was enjoying to make me be so ... I understood, too much later once again, that in fact she got a lot of fun out of annoying someone - me, my other animals, but also anyone she could meet, human beings included. She didn't like orders except to learn new thing. I remember when she had got into the habit of barking systematically when she was going out of the house to the garden - and then, I lived in a small town, and she knew that I wanted my dogs not to bark ; of course, asking her not to bark would have both pleased her and encouraged her to bark more and more ; so, each time she was going out, I gave her the order to bark, bark, bark, while congratulating her because she was obeying ... She stopped immediately, being obeying was such a mortification for her ! I did it again each time she was going out, so she preferred not to bark any more, but I thought that she mistrusted me, because she tried again to bark while scrutinizing my reaction, I succeeded to congratulate "sincerely" because she was obeying, and then this habit disappeared definitively. So she taught me how to educate a Kuvasz, that meant I had to change completely my plans ! Nevertheless, I taught her the main exercises of obedience, and together we trained tracking too (1). She was a knight not only to enforce the law, but also to fight. She really loved fighting. Offering vigorous resistance to me was a way to "fight" with me, as a game of course, she had played her whole life, life was nothing else than a game for her. She liked to fight with my  two bitches, but she didn't want to attack them without reason : chivalrous mind ! So she was always searching a "good reason" that could justify an attack - for example, once she had killed a bird in the garden, she had put it just in front of the door and then she "mounted guard" near the prey, no one was allowed to approach it ; I didn't see the bird, and I let Damounia and Etioline go out in the garden : inevitably, they went near the killed bird, too near, and Lénidiège had a "lawful" reason to attack them ... Of course that was always a game for her, but not always for the victims of her games ... Kuvaszes get a real might through their eyes ; when they look at someone with half-closed eyes, it's really a threat, but they don't need to get half-closed eyes to make their look be a threat for anyone. Some neighbours told me that they were feeling afraid while seeing her, though she never made any harm to anyone in the neighbourhood. The wolf head of the Kuvasz can be too a part of the cause of such a thing. Lénidiège made my other animals obey while only looking at them (and it's a normal thing for a Kuvasz, this breed was used to protect cattle) ; once, my parents were at home, Lénidiège was lying quietly in the living-room, where my mother was sitting too ; then my mother wanted to join me and my father who were in another room, she began to get up but sat down immediately : Lénidiège, who "wasn't sleeping as much as she seemed to do", my mother said later, Lénidiège looked at my mother and my mother didn't dare to move anymore till I came back in the room ... I had always to be careful when I was out for a walk with her, always on a lead. She could be very delightful and even charming with someone, human being or animal, that she enjoyed, and from unpleasant to attacking with someone she didn't like - and why did she liked or didn't like such and such a person or animal ? Only her could know ... Once, we were travelling by train ; in a station, we were waiting for the train among a few persons ; Lénidiège seemed to be quiet and even delightful with the few people around, and a woman came to us to sit on the bench we were just in front of ; then I heard a shout, a shout of a terrified women, and I saw her going away : Lénidiège suddenly feigned to attack - I use only "feign" because I've always thought that she wanted to only intimidate and not really to injure the person ; I understood (and explained to the woman) what had happened : I had put my bag on the bench, near me, and Lénidiège let anyone come to us, with a friendly look, but ONLY TILL  A CERTAIN DISTANCE from the bench, or more precisely from my bag ; she was friendly with anyone beyond this limit, and guarding inside a surface around the object - how could the poor woman have guessed ? It's naturally thing for a Kuvasz to guard, but that's not always easy for the owner ... I went several time in dogshows with Lénidiège. In her cage she was guarding "ferociously" the slightest object of mine, or even nothing, no one was allowed to go near her cage and look at her ; like everywhere, she could be pleasant or unpleasant, even attacking, depending on whether she liked or not the dog or the person, included the judge ; once, a judge wanted to see her face, and her ears, and he was searching to look her right in front of her, she understood what he wanted so she managed to turn her head as soon as he could have succeed to see her as he wanted, she turned right and he went right, so she turned left and he went left, so she turned right and he went right, etc, I guessed how much fun she was having while annoying him ...  In general, she was the only Kuvasz in the show, but twice there was a male, and once there was both a male and another bitch ; the bitch was in front of us, and the judge began to examine her first ; at a moment, she made a noise with her lips to make the bitch be watchful (and see how her ears were in such a case) : Lénidiège considered that it was a provocation, and although it was meant to the other bitch and not herself, she "answered" by intimidating the judge with a semblance of attack ; then the judge came to us to examine Lénidiège, my bitch understood immediately that she had succeeded to frighten her, and she continued to frighten her during all the time that the poor judge stayed near us - of course I put my own fingers in Lénidiège's mouth so the judge could see the teeth, and although it was an obvious thing (for me, not for the judge) that Lénidiège was only playing and having fun, I took care that she made no harm to the woman, because a bite "only for fun" could have easily been a part of Lénidiège's game ... Once, I travelled by train with her and my Mudi male, Kristàlyos, far away from my home, in the aim that my two dogs took a kind of behaviour test. Lénidiège was into a cage while Kristàlyos took the test, she emitted a large set of different sounds, and when I opened the door of her cage, she stood up on her hind legs, putting her head on my breast with a kind of deep sigh which could have come from a woman. I knew how she was theatrical ! Later, she was the one who was taking the test, of course she was very glad that a lot of persons were looking at her ! Looking at her and no more at our Mudi while she was inside a cage ! She was playing a part all the test long - although the judges didn't see anything else than a good behaviour ! The highlight of her show was "the defensive action test" : behind a high enough fence, a man seemed to threat the owner with a big stick, possibly striking the fence ; of course any dog could realize that it was only "for fun" and Kirandàly didn't react first, when he did, he was simply irritated by the man ; Lénidiège loved too much both fighting and playing a part to let such an opportunity slip ! She played a splendid defence scene, which was perfect for the test (and she succeeded with A), but in reality that was all an act ! Of course, if someone would have really tried to make me harm, she would have attacked immediately, but she was too much intimidating for anyone ! The test happened in a field far from the station, and a man was kind enough to drive us to the station ; he opened the door of his car and I sat inside with Lénidiège and the Mudi ; then he wanted to sit down for driving : Lénidiège growled to him, as if he was stealing "our" car ! We were inside a car, so the car became ours, and the poor owner wasn't allowed any more to come in ! So Lénidiège was the almighty chief of my home - just with me the things were more complicated, I wouldn't dare say that she considered me as her chief, I'm sure that it would be perfectly wrong, but, of course, she wasn't my chief too. In fact, she was very helpful ; as soon as she had guessed I needed something, she managed to help me, but on one condition : I wasn't allowed to ask her something - worse : to give her an order ! For example, If I called my cat who, as a good cat, was always pretending not to hear me, if I was really searching him, Lénidiège always showed me where he was hidden ; but if, in the aim to make her "work" (we were training tracking together) I asked her to search the cat, she systematically pretended not to have heard me ... Cats have always thought that they are above any human laws, and my cat used to act as if he didn't understand - that is to say not to act at all -, but my white knight never could accept that cats didn't respect the law ; and when my cat turned a deaf ear to me, Lénidiège always came to him, without doing anything, and the cat always did what I had asked him ... But when the cat was trying to steal food on the table, sometimes he continued even when she had gone near him, in this case she growled and he stopped ; however, once, the temptation was so strong that he didn't obey to her even when she was growling, and he was still moving his leg forward to the plate, he was moving SLOWLY while Lénidiège was growling, but she wasn't fooled and her teeth chattered just twice at about 2 cm from one of the ears of the cat : a strong shiver shook the cat who stopped moving his leg and didn't try any more. Lénidiège searched any "good reason" to attack the other bitches, but she never bit the cat, because she knew that she could make him too much harm, and her helpful - and chivalrous - mind made her protect any of us ; yes she had a lot of fun by annoying and even attacking but she didn't want to injure, and even when real fights happened later, especially with Damounia, she always managed not to injure the inferior animals, while she didn't with the Kuvasz male, who wasn't at all inferior. For Kirandàly came in her life when she was nearly 3. The Kuvasz male pup showed immediately strong and dominant character - as any good Kuvasz ought to do ! Of course Lénidiège was more or less jealous, but I wondered whether she could already be afraid to lose her first place, her chief place. She began to pretend to ignore him and not to accept him, but in fact she was taking care of him. When he grew up, she began to provoke fights with him, I thought she wanted to prove him that she was stronger than him and so that she was meant to stay the chief ; she was really stronger than the young Kirandàly, but that didn't last long, Kirandàly turned into a strapping fellow who became able to win the fights. Then Lénidiège admitted that she wasn't the stronger any more, and she began, not really to avoid fights, but rather not to provoke them any more. The relation with Kirandàly was very complicated, they were really very close, but they were fighting very easily, arguing over nothing. (2) Overall, I would say that if Kirandàly was the strongest, Lénidiège was the leader, coping to obtain all that she wanted by cunning and no more by force. In front of her tricks, Kirandàly tried to defend himself with his strong force - "might is right" characterized Kirandàly, while Lénidiège "laughed up her sleeve" in front of his might. When my Mudi bitch delivered 5 males pups, Lénidiège, who had often got phantom pregnancies, was very interested by the pups ; but when they were 1-2 months old, I put them in the garden, so with the Kuvaszes, and Lénidiège growled so they didn't approached her ; little by little they dare approach her, while Kirandàly had always been their great friend. Then Lénidiège, helped by Kirandàly, managed to separate the pups from me, and only after that (a kind of emotional weaning), she began to really educate them - in particular, I saw her teaching the pups to kill a mouse, and if she always loved fighting, she never accepted that the pups searched to fight together, and she intervened immediately to prevent fights or to stop them. (3) Lénidiège could seem to have been nothing more than a nuisance, but in fact she was a very engaging dog, and she was too a really loving one. It must be granted that living with her was not bed of roses !  She played her life, always having fun "on someone's back" - and first on mine ! If I wanted to obtain something from her, she was having fun in refusing systematically ; but as soon as I really needed something, she tried immediately to manage to give me what I needed ; she was the "warder" with all my other animals (except Kirandàly of course ...) and she had always her heart set on getting things square. And when, while she was only 6, she died quickly because of a cancer, it seemed that a pillar of my home had just fallen down. First, she was paralysed in both hind legs, but her mind was always perfectly strong, and she seemed to walk "normally" when I held her hindquarters ; I tried to make the vets cure her, I was sure that her very strong mind would make her win and that she could walk normally again if the cause was over (the vet had thought of a slipped disc) ; unfortunately, the cause was a malignant tumour which was already too big, the operation wasn't possible anymore ; she didn't came back home. (1) See "Searching and tracking with my Kuvaszes" (16-18/04/07) (2) See "Bear or Teddy Bear" ( 05/12/06) (3) See "My Mudi litter"  (19/06/06) 24-26/06/08 Isabelle Coquinot
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