As already known, from the year 2006 the required qualifications for breeding a dog can only be gained exclusively at breed inspections organized by HPK (Hungaria Puli Club) and no longer at shows. At our breed inspections we apply the new, descriptive judging process.
In the year 2006 66 pulis were presented by breeders and owners to the competent and experienced judges specialized in the breed. It is hopeful however, that based on 66 candidates the following were the results:
6 dogs Recommended for breeding
58 dogs Breedable
2 dogs Not breedable
Of the dogs recommended for breeding it can unanimously be said that with their outstanding positive attributes and ideal type characteristics they deservedly received the highest recommendation.
These were:
Vécsei Utcai Bogáncs, black, stud
Csaholó Borzas Cinkos, black, stud
Ludas Matyi Mufurc, masked fawn stud
Tanyázó Pásztor Hajnal, black bitch
Hamzabégi Cimborám Bodza, black bitch
Rasztari Duci Arany Kökény, black bitch
Based on the descriptive judging sheets and my experience the most regularly recurring faults in order of frequency are:
Head: weak skull in comparison to head ratio, tapering and longer than ideal snout, disproportionate head compared to body mass, rough head (not reflecting sexual characteristic), rough nose-button..
Development (height at withers, body mass): Too fine (fragile) and rough (rude) bone structure at the lower and higher size limit. As regards condition, I met under-conditioned, bad eaters (picks at food) and over-conditioned dogs. These extremities in type are always based on inheritance, as these dogs show differing conditions even under the same rearing and feeding circumstances.
Ear: Narrow based, set on high, small, mobile. In white dogs slightly twisted, lighter ears can be observed.
Rear quarters: Cow-hocked, narrow ground reaching limbs, with paws turned outwards. A frequent fault is a highly positioned, weak hock due to a lengthier metatarsus.
Colour of lips: Unfortunately more and more often we meet black dogs with medium lip pigmentation. Let us search and prioritise in every colour variant the tar-black, deep pigmentation because it is a significant stamp of the breed.
Sex Characteristic: Rough-boned and headed females with a male-like constitution, as well as fine-boned males, having weak bone-strength with a feminine appearance are also more and more often to be seen.
Teeth: A few cases of teeth significantly more worn with scissor and pincer bite occurred.
Tail/Tail Carriage In general it can be established based on the presented stock, that tail length leaves a lot to be desired. There are very few dogs with tails reaching the hock. Tail carriage can be said to be satisfactory in general. In case of some dogs uncertainty could be seen, but generally this was due to lacking socialization and show ring skills.
Hair coverage of the limbs: In general we were faced with chewn hair at the feet. In these dogs we observed a softer coat structure at the feet as well as some dogs being prone to chewing the hair.
Dental Arch: Unfortunately an often occurring fault is a tapering fang which is accompanied by a narrow dental arch. The teeth often pile up in a narrow dental arch which consequently results in an irregular arch.
Chest A narrow, not appropriately barrelled, „empty” chest is a significant problem of the present puli stock. Primarily we are talking about the location of the vital organs being an essential precondition for hard work, then again a deep barrelled chest is a feature of the ideal type (square-built, spunky).
Coat on the Body The quality and texture of the coat is very often softer, quantity of the rougher hair of the overcoat is below ideal. In some cases we have seen a more open coat at the withers.
Colour of Nose The colour of the nose is generally black, but the slit of the nose does not always show such deep pigmentation as we consider ideal.
The detailed, descriptive judging sheets provide us with a good picture regarding the young generation waiting to be bred and point out to us those critical characteristics each committed breeder must pay attention to, when choosing mates for their dogs.
Ferenc Antal
HPK Head of Breeding
Translated by:Zsuzsanna Ringelhann