First, let me thank all of you for your wonderful help and support for the past few months. You've been very kind in your advice, warnings, and expertise.
I was deeply attached to my last dog, Tristan, who I lost to lymphoma at age 4. Though he was with me only a short time, he helped me through the most difficult period of my life. It's not uncommon that I think of him and thank him for enduring my faults, forgiving my stupidity, and the boundless grace he gave to me when I had no one to turn to.
Deciding to get another dog wasn't easy though I started my search last year and decided I would like two dogs. They would be at least a year apart in age and one of them would be an LGD. The other would be... something else.
In my search for a companion to the LGD I decided upon, a komondor, I looked at what other owners of the LGD breed had. Universally, they had pulik. Puli are fantastic herding and agility dogs. I live on the family farm and we have 400 acres and 80 head of Holstein. Any medium-sized dog or larger would do well. My biggest concern was the coat. Could I deal with two corded-coat breeds? I work from home but even then it's a lot of work.
I came across another breed, related to the puli, that didn't have a corded coat and lo and behold, there was a breeder near me. She had pumik. I had seen them in a dog encyclopedia, but didn't know much about them other than they're a combination of the puli and a now-extinct German terrier breed. Pumik have been around since the 1600s and yes, they breed true to form. They're also great herding dogs but in their native Hungary the puli is the farm dog while the pumi has become the city dog. Like their cousin the puli, the pumi is still an excellent herder and agility dog and yes, in Hungary it's not unusual to see a komondor working with a few pumi.
I had found my dog! The problem was finding one. I worked with the American breed club and everyone there is fantastic. One breeder was planning a littler later this summer, but there weren't any around just now. That's ok, I could wait.
There was, however, another breeder here in the US who is getting out of the breed and focusing on another entirely. Due to family issues, his wife was taking the bitch and he wanted to find homes for the sire and the three pups. He needed to find homes for them now. I spoke to the breed club about it and I discovered that there was some competition for the males. Because the coloration doesn't conform to breed, this line shouldn't be bred, but they would make good pets. The one bitch in the litter was given to a friend as a pet and the sire went to another woman who breeds dogs. That left the two males. Now the breeder was looking for homes for these dogs and made a post on a forum stating they were available. That post was immediately responded to by a someone who, the breed club suspects, runs a mill. It was get these two now or risk one or both of them ending-up someplace unpleasant. I made an immediate offer, which was accepted, and this afternoon I became the owner of two 8-week old pumi pups. Millers would love to get pumik into their stock. They don't shed, they're fairly small. An adult dog would be 17" at the withers and 23-28lbs, bitches are a tad smaller.
The breed club estimates there are fewer than 100 pumi in the US. As such, the AKC has them in, "foundation stock," status. These boys will bring to five the number of pumi in New York. I have no intention of breeding them and plan to get them neutered as soon as possible depending upon the recommendation of my vet.
Yes, two dogs are difficult, two litter mates even more of a challenge but I didn't relish the prospect of them ending-up someplace other than as pets in a good home so I took the plunge. Tonight they're in the same crate but tomorrow I'm going to start separating per the recommendations of the forum members.
I have no names for them yet as I'm still trying to get a handle on their personalities, but I do have a few ideas. In the mean time here's a picture of my boys and a link to a page where you can see what they look like as adults.
Again my thanks to everyone here. Knowing I have the support of soo many is a great comfort to me and I hope to reciprocate in kind when I am able.
Gallery from the Hungarian Pumi Club of America.
I was deeply attached to my last dog, Tristan, who I lost to lymphoma at age 4. Though he was with me only a short time, he helped me through the most difficult period of my life. It's not uncommon that I think of him and thank him for enduring my faults, forgiving my stupidity, and the boundless grace he gave to me when I had no one to turn to.
Deciding to get another dog wasn't easy though I started my search last year and decided I would like two dogs. They would be at least a year apart in age and one of them would be an LGD. The other would be... something else.
In my search for a companion to the LGD I decided upon, a komondor, I looked at what other owners of the LGD breed had. Universally, they had pulik. Puli are fantastic herding and agility dogs. I live on the family farm and we have 400 acres and 80 head of Holstein. Any medium-sized dog or larger would do well. My biggest concern was the coat. Could I deal with two corded-coat breeds? I work from home but even then it's a lot of work.
I came across another breed, related to the puli, that didn't have a corded coat and lo and behold, there was a breeder near me. She had pumik. I had seen them in a dog encyclopedia, but didn't know much about them other than they're a combination of the puli and a now-extinct German terrier breed. Pumik have been around since the 1600s and yes, they breed true to form. They're also great herding dogs but in their native Hungary the puli is the farm dog while the pumi has become the city dog. Like their cousin the puli, the pumi is still an excellent herder and agility dog and yes, in Hungary it's not unusual to see a komondor working with a few pumi.
I had found my dog! The problem was finding one. I worked with the American breed club and everyone there is fantastic. One breeder was planning a littler later this summer, but there weren't any around just now. That's ok, I could wait.
There was, however, another breeder here in the US who is getting out of the breed and focusing on another entirely. Due to family issues, his wife was taking the bitch and he wanted to find homes for the sire and the three pups. He needed to find homes for them now. I spoke to the breed club about it and I discovered that there was some competition for the males. Because the coloration doesn't conform to breed, this line shouldn't be bred, but they would make good pets. The one bitch in the litter was given to a friend as a pet and the sire went to another woman who breeds dogs. That left the two males. Now the breeder was looking for homes for these dogs and made a post on a forum stating they were available. That post was immediately responded to by a someone who, the breed club suspects, runs a mill. It was get these two now or risk one or both of them ending-up someplace unpleasant. I made an immediate offer, which was accepted, and this afternoon I became the owner of two 8-week old pumi pups. Millers would love to get pumik into their stock. They don't shed, they're fairly small. An adult dog would be 17" at the withers and 23-28lbs, bitches are a tad smaller.
The breed club estimates there are fewer than 100 pumi in the US. As such, the AKC has them in, "foundation stock," status. These boys will bring to five the number of pumi in New York. I have no intention of breeding them and plan to get them neutered as soon as possible depending upon the recommendation of my vet.
Yes, two dogs are difficult, two litter mates even more of a challenge but I didn't relish the prospect of them ending-up someplace other than as pets in a good home so I took the plunge. Tonight they're in the same crate but tomorrow I'm going to start separating per the recommendations of the forum members.
I have no names for them yet as I'm still trying to get a handle on their personalities, but I do have a few ideas. In the mean time here's a picture of my boys and a link to a page where you can see what they look like as adults.
Again my thanks to everyone here. Knowing I have the support of soo many is a great comfort to me and I hope to reciprocate in kind when I am able.
Gallery from the Hungarian Pumi Club of America.
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Good luck with them, and post more pics soon 
