P is for Puli dogs

So, I took a look at my blog statistics and it looks like the search term that brings in the most people is puli dog (go figure, I don't even remember when I wrote about them). So, because they are one of my favorite topics within the broad realm of "Hungarian curiosities", here is a post about puli dogs.

(Picture on the left features a puli mid-jump. The lolling pink tongue signifies the front end.)

Puli is a Hungarian breed; they are basically mid-sized hyperactive bundles of barks and hair that look like the result of an affair between a mop and a rastafarian. They are highly intelligent, bred for herding sheep and barking at things in a very loud high pitched voice.

Puli have recently gained world-wide fame because Mark Zuckerberg (yeah, the Facebook guy) owns one. His name is Beast, and he is a white puli with his very own Facebook page and 7000+ followers. He looks very fluffy on his pictures; as rastafarians no doubt already know, the awesome dreadlocks actually need a lot of work.

I had pulies before it was cool. My grandparents used to breed them so when I was growing up there was always one white mother dog and litters of tiny dogs around. My grandparents still own one, her name is Morzsa and she is a rare brown colored puli (puli dogs usually come in black or white).

There is a Hungarian folk legend that says that when Jesus walked the earth, the only person who gave him water to drink was a shepherd. His sheep were scattered all over the place but he still took the time to go to the well and bring some water, even though he did not know who the weary traveler really was. In return for his kindness, Jesus picked up a bone, tossed it into the air, and turned it into a puli dog that started barking as soon as it landed, and ran to herd the sheep.

If you have ever been on a family hiking trip with a sheepdog involved, you know exactly what I am talking about.