Breed: At the first glance it would seem, that there is nothing common between Hungary and Tibet. Indeed Budapest and Lhasa are very far away from each other. Seriously far away, especially if the whole journey must be done mostly on foot, and even with a lot of stops - to feed the sheep, to give birth to the children, to scare the local population (just in case) and many other important things to stop for.

However, there were the ancient tribes, that were not at all afraid of the long distances. And then one day they (probably) went down from the mountains of Tibet, and started to move slowly towards Europe. Among their quite modest belongings this tribes had with them their dogs - small pooches, but the nomads were quite satisfied with those pups. On the way those dogs, apparently, very much reminiscent of the Tibetan Spaniel, were successfully getting acquainted with the ancient Persian and other Asian Shepherds. However, everything could happen completely different way, there are no witnesses left, so now we can only speculate about the way this funny dogs - all covered with the thick, matted in dreadlocks, coats - appeared in Hungary about a thousand years ago.

Small Puli were faithfully grazing sheep , as well as goats and whoever else they were asked to graze - as most of the Shepherds, this dog is always happy to provide any service to their masters and to do anything that they may ask for. As a result, nowadays they work not only as shepherds, but also serve in the police. Well, also as a companion dogs Puli are simply irreplaceable.

Some owners even claim, that this Hungarian shepherd is able to hunt ducks. But this is really hard to believe, because this very special coat, that Puli has makes him almost helpless, when the dog is wet. The wet coat of Puli is very heavy and even after a bath sometimes this dogs can hardly move without help. So hunting  duck may be quite a difficult task for this lovely pooch.

General Features: Puli in the prime of his beauty is covered with a million quite tight dreadlocks flowing around the running dog, which makes it sort of difficult to locate the dog's head (or tail, depending on what needs to be found). And in general, to get to the Puli through all this hair is a difficult task, but as for the Puli himself - his hairstyle is not disturbing him. He runs very fast, he is a great jumper and in general this dog is very agile, which helps Puli to win in the different kinds of dog sports. And if anyone thinks that with his hair it will be too much trouble, he is mistaken: the owner will be fussing seriously with the Puli's coat only once in the dog's life - when your Puli will be a year and a half old, and his teenage fluff will dump into the dreadlocks.

If you let this matter take its course, the matted hair will not have the right shape and you will have to cut it, so at this time it is a lot better to take your Puli to the experienced groomer, who will fix your dog's coat right and after that it will grow by itself in the right direction. And after that is done, the Puli's owner, will only have to continue, what was started by the groomer - and that is already not very difficult. But from the other side Puli requires no brushing - in this breed only the puppies are getting brushed. It is not excluded that, if a dog was brushed and groomed all his life and his hair did not form the dreadlocks, Puli as an adult will remain just a fluffy ball of fur - but in this case it will not be possible to take this dog to the dog show: Puli must be covered with cords of coat - this is the standard of the breed.

As for the colors, Puli may be white, black, gray, pale yellow, gray. White, of course, looks more elegant than the other colors, but the white Puli get dirty faster too. And then you will have to wash a dog, which is not so easy - or rather, it is not difficult to wash, but only you have to dry your Puli for hours. But the tightly curled coat of our hero does not shed - or maybe it fades, but does not drop out and is not lying around the house. This kind of coat is warming the dog pretty good, but still not enough for Puli to live outside of the house in any climate - the Hungarian winters are not so cold as it seems.

And under the Puli's coat the careful archaeologist can detect a shiny nose, lovely brown eyes, a tail curved in a wheel and a sweet natured dog, adoring his owners, always ready with to do absolutely everything together with "his" people - long walks, jogging, climing the mountains or just relaxing for hours on the couch - you name it.

Temperament: Most of Puli are energetic and tireless, so this dog is more suitable for those people who lead active lifestyles. But in the company of lazy TV fans the cheerful Puli would be most likely bored. Besides, this shepherd  with his thousands years of experience just need a good exercise. And also those people, who are planning to spend a long time outside of their home should think of another - more sleepy - breed. Puli is from this kind of dogs, that really need the owner, after whom they would go everywhere like a shadow, and whose wishes they would try to guess and fulfill.

In the nature of the Puli there are connected completely different qualities - so he's very agile and playful, and at the same time remarkably calm, patient, never prone to the unmotivated aggression. He is very kind - but only with "his" own people: strangers put sensible and vigilant Puli into a state of some sort of a light meditation, so this dog is not from those who are willing to greet friendly the first comer. Puli can even protect the master's property - though little Puli is not able to seriously bite the thief, but he can raise the alarm, due to his quite serious, not at all high-pitched barking. And if one can not see Puli, so by only his bark he can make a conclusion that there behind the fence is hiding someone terribly big and dangerous.

With the children most of Puli are just great. They make the perfect partners for gaming, even the most vigorous. This sturdy dog ??????has enough strength to bear all the infant venture, and she is not big enough to accidentally press down or drop the master's child. Also Puli is able to respect the owner's child enough and take him as a "little master", so even if your kid is not so big yet, he can still take Puli for a walk - this dog will obey to him without question. Of course, we are talking about those Puli, who's owners took the trouble to teach them something - the untrained Puli will behave the way he believes is right.

Well to be honest it is not difficult to teach Puli how to behave well, because normally this dogs are perfectly manageable. Just do not put to much of a pressure on them - Puli do not like rudeness and sometimes they even may pretend that they did not understand what exactly was ordered, and in general for what reason the owner started to yell.

With the other animals Puli gets along just fine - cheerful and calm, he is ready to play even with the cat. As for all kinds of hens and pigeons, he just does not pay attention. Veterinarians and injections Puli are usually taking stoically, because they think that if the owner is doing something with them, then it is correct.

Tender but not sticky, sweet, smart, adventurous, obedient, cheerful - Puli, in addition to all his merits, is not greedy - he differs with quite a moderate appetite and he is not from this kind of dogs that are ready to sell the home for a piece of sausage. With regard to health, the millennium of natural selection has turned Puli into a strong dog, capable to live up to 15 years, and all these years to please the owners and enjoy their company.

Health problems: Puli is a remarkably healthy and hardy breed. Still some dogs of this breed may be prone to the hip dysplasia and some eye issues.

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