Mudi

Herding dog. Because of his courageous disposition he is very popular with the shepherds for the use of herding large and difficult livestock. He is even used for the battue of wild boar. Excellent guard and companion dog. A dog used for searching out drugs. Watch and alarm dog. Excellent agility dog, lovable house pet. Because of his relatively short coat and his excellent adaptability, it is no problem to keep him in the house.

FCI-Standard N° 238

MUDI

Origin: Hungary.

Utilization:

Herding dog. Because of his courageous disposition he is very popular with the shepherds for the use of herding large and difficult livestock. He is even used for the battue of wild boar. Excellent guard and companion dog. A dog used for searching out drugs. Watch and alarm dog. Excellent agility dog, lovable house pet. Because of his relatively short coat and his excellent adaptability, it is no problem to keep him in the house.

FCI-Classification:

• Group 1 Sheepdogs and Cattle Dogs (except Swiss Cattle Dogs).
• Section 1 Sheepdogs.
• Without working trial.

Brief Historical Summary:

• The breed came into being during the 18th to the 19th century from cross breeding Hungarian herding dogs most probably with various prick eared German herding dogs.

General Appearance:

• Medium sized herding dog with a wedge shaped head. Prick ears. Body topline is distinctly sloping towards the rear. The head and the limbs are covered by short, smooth coat. The other parts of the body have a somewhat longer, very wavy to slightly curly coat. There are different variations of colour.

Important Proportions:

• The body length is approximately equal to the height at the withers.
• The depth of the brisket is slightly less than half of the height at the withers.
• The length of the muzzle is slightly less than half of the total length of the head.

Behavior / Temperament:

• The Mudi is extremely able to learn, of lively temperament, courageous, watchful, keen to work, alert and adaptable.

BODY STRUCTURE

1. Head

• The most striking part of the Mudi is undoubtedly his head. To the observer it should give the impression of an alert, always energetic, cheerful and intelligent animal without any trace of timidity or aggressiveness. The head is wedge shaped, tapering towards the nose.
• CRANIAL REGION:
• Skull: Skull and forehead are slightly domed. Occiput not pronounced. Superciliary ridges only slightly developed.
• Stop: Barely pronounced.
• FACIAL REGION:
• Nose: Narrow, rounded at front with moderately wide nostrils. In the colours black, white, fawn and blue-merle, the nose is always black; in the other colours the nose harmonises with the coat colour; e.g. the nose in a brown dog is brown and blue grey in a blue grey dog. Brown (liver) coloured dogs have brown eyerims. Blue grey dogs have blue grey eyerims.
• Muzzle: Moderately strong. Bridge of nose straight.
• Lips: Tight-fitting to the teeth. Corner of mouth slightly jagged. The lip pigment corresponds with the pigment of the noseleather.
• Jaws/Teeth: Complete scissor bite according to the dentition formula. Regular teeth of medium size.
• Eyes: Narrow, slightly pointed at inner and outer corners, set slightly oblique, thus having a “dare devil“expression. The eyes should be as dark as possible. Only in blue-merle dogs, wall (white or blue) eyes are not faulty. Rims of lids are tight, close-fitting to the eyeball and evenly pigmented.
• Ears: High set prick ears which are of a reverse V-shape and covered with abundant hair reaching beyond the edges of the external ears. The response of the ears to stimulation is very lively. The dog can turn the ears independently of each other like a radar screen. Ears are approximately 10 to 15 % longer than their width at the base.

2. Neck

• The slightly high set neck forms an angle of 50 to 55 degrees to the horizontal. It is of medium length, barely arched and well muscled. Without dewlap or pronounced neck ruff. In male dogs there can be a barely developed mane; this must, however, never be noticeable.

3. Body 

• Topline: Clearly sloping towards croup.
• Withers: Pronounced, long and muscular.
• Back: Straight, short.
• Loin: Of medium length. Firmly coupled.
• Croup: Short, very slightly sloping, of medium breadth, muscular.
• Chest: Forechest slightly curved. Ribs somewhat broad and rather flat.
• Underline and belly: Sligthly tucked-up.

4. Tail

• Set on at medium height. In repose, hanging, with lower third raised almost to horizontal. When alert and during active movement, the tail is carried in sickle shape, higher than the topline. Docking of tail is undesirable but is not regarded as a fault. If the tail is docked, two or three of the tail vertebrae must be visibly left. Dogs born without or with a natural stump tail are rare; this is not regarded as a fault. The tail is abundantly coated; the hair on the underside can even be 10 to 12 cm long.

5. Limbs

• FOREQUARTERS:
  • Shoulder: The shoulder blade is moderately sloping and well muscled. The forechest is curved, the point of the sternum only slightly protruding.
  • Upper Arm: Of medium length. At 45° with the horizontal.
  • Elbow: Close-fitting to the body.
  • Carpal joint: Firm, dry.
  • Pastern: Steep.
  • Forefeet: Round with well knit toes. Little hair between and under the toes. Pads springy. Nails slate grey and hard.
• HINDQUARTERS:
  • General appearance: The hind legs are a little overstretched beyond the rear.
  • Upper thigh: Long, well muscled.
  • Metatarsus: Short and steep.
  • Hind feet: Like front feet. Dewclaws not desirable.

6. Gait / Movement:

• The Mudi’s characteristic movement are mincing steps.

7. Skin:

• Tight, without wrinkles.

8. Coat

• Hair: Head and front of limbs are covered by short, straight and smooth hair. On other parts of the body, the coat is uniformly very wavy or slightly curled. It is dense and always shiny, about 3 to 7 cm long. At some spots, cow-licks and ridges are formed. The coat is longest on the back of the forearms and the upper thighs, where it forms pronounced featherings.
• Colour: Fawn. Black. Blue-merle, i.e. black speckled, estriped, -brindle or -spotted on lighter or darker bluish-grey primary colour. Ash coloured (blue grey). Brown. Only slightly extensive white markings are tolerated but not desired. A white patch on the chest, less than 5 cm in diameter, and small white markings on the toes are tolerated but not desired. White. 

9. Size and Weight

• Height at withers:
  • Dogs: 41 – 47 cm;
  • Ideal height 43 – 45 cm
  • Bitches: 38 – 44 cm;
  • Ideal height 40 – 42 cm.
• Weight:
  • Dogs: 11 – 13 kg.
  • Bitches: 8 – 11 kg. 

10. Faults

• Any departure from the foregoing points must be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and its effect upon the health and welfare of the dog. 

11. Disqualifying Faults

• Aggressive or overly shy.
• Any dog clearly showing physical or behavioural abnormalities shall be disqualified.
• Flesh coloured, liverbrown or spotted nose in black, white, bluemerle, fawn or ash coloured dogs. Flesh coloured or spotted nose in brown dogs.
• One or more missing teeth (incisors, canines, premolars 2-4, molars 1-2). More than two missing PM1. The M3 are disregarded.
• Over- or undershot mouth, wry mouth. Gap of more than 2 mm between upper and lower incisors.
• Yellow eyes in black dogs.
• Drop ears.
• Short, smooth, flat coat on the whole body; long hair on the head. Coat tending towards matting.
• Wolf grey colour, black and tan with yellow to brown markings.
• Height at the withers below 38 or over 47 cm.
• Albinism. 

N.B:

• Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.
• Only functionally and clinically healthy dogs, with breed typical conformation, should be used for breeding. 

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