Dancing with Mudi 

Written by: Piroska Hanga
​Pictures by: Csilla Csukárdi


Hungary is one of those few countries, which can take pride in having nine native dog breeds, more or less ancient ones. But there probably is only one among them, which still has the possibility to become a modern sport and working dog, capable of serving all needs of agility, dog dancing, obedience fans and people who simply want an intelligent and versatile canine companion. This is undoubtedly, the Mudi. Many breeders like talking a lot about the glorious history of the breed, but there are voices louder and louder, saying that it is high time to think over the Mudi’s future! Luckily enough, our favourite breed has not yet fallen prey to the money guided fashion, so, apart from some sad cases, the Mudi is still a highly viable breed. In our country, there have been some promising attempts to find new jobs for the Mudi such as herding sport and a local competition series called „Age-group Working Competition for Hungarian Herding Dogs”. But many of the Mudi owners think that they should also take part in modern dog sports already existing, such as agility, obedience, (possibly IPO or Search and Rescue) and of course dog dancing. Dog dancing is a very young sport and even younger in Hungary. The very first competition was organized by two enthusiastic agility fans in May, 2003. The call for the first Hungarian DD championship claimed that we are all beginners, so everybody is invited, whose dog can do any tricks. Eighteen determined competitors took part in that championship among which there were two of us Mudi owners, sporting five wonderful specimens of the breed, our “most loved kids”: Csikómajori Táncos, Szélvigyázó Garabonciás Cseles Tajna, Baromállási Nille Íjász, Szélvigyázó Garabonciás Cseke Tilk and Szélvigyázó Garabonciás Botond Dart. I dare say, we defeated nearly everybody, only the Musical Freestyle category favorite, a talented bearded collie could get more points from the judges than we did. So the first Hungarian DD championship became a celebration of the Mudi, but also made us draw some consequences. (Statistics and DD competition results updated see below in Appendix) According to the first experiences we found that the Mudi is probably one of the most perfect breeds for DD, mainly because he: - basically is a herding dog, so he can not live without work - is keen on listening to, and understanding his master - has a very high motivation level (optimal case) – it is so easy to make him cooperate - reacts very fast - loves challenges - has a very nice and funny way of learning – when you think you failed to make him understand a new exercise, next day you will notice that he is doing extremely well, as if he had “jotted down ” the main points and then practiced secretly - middle sized Besides the advantages of the breed we also found some weak points, or simply points, which need a lot of care and attention: - Today, the Mudi is becoming rather a soft dog. Although as a herding breed he was to deal with attacks by predators or robbers (certainly not on his own, but the Mudi should not run away in panic and look for shelter when there is some “action” around) his strong heartedness necessary for this job seem to be fading (or even getting lost in some lines) through the descending generations. A few Mudi owners still describe their dog as someone who is unaware of his “moderate” size and thinks himself a huge and powerful pasha, but the tendency is definitely not that. This is not necessarily a problem, because a hyperactive, workaholic dog is impossible to live with but the balance between working abilities and the adaptability needed for city life is very delicate. In connection with DD, this means that the handler has to be extremely careful with training methods, because the Mudi often gives a very bad reaction to any “par-force” element in teaching. A strict handler can make him lose his motivation and he finally gives up cooperation. - Some Mudis with expressed fighting spirit (described above) tend to get overexcited during the training and a soft handler could have very serious problems in gaining control over the dog. - As a herding dog working mainly with his “voice”, the Mudi tends to respond to frustration with barking. A fully developed barking habit distracts the dog’s concentration and is very difficult to cure On the basis of the experiences we have gained so far, we could claim that dog dancing is one of the sports that definitely fits the Mudi. Of course careful and responsible breeding and determined, enthusiastic owners are all needed to make the Mudi an easy going pet, and at the same time a healthy, competitive and popular sport dog breed.

​Piroska Hanga