Mudi Colors

Colors of the Hungarian Herding Dogs | Colors of the Related Breeds | Color Genetics | Colors

COLORS OF THE HUNGARIAN HERDING DOGS

The small Hungarian herding dogs, Mudi, Pumi and Puli have a common history, common ancestors and lot of common genes. The color genes make no exception. Just 30-50 years ago the Hungarian herding dog population was not yet so clearly divided into three distinguished types. The genes flow freely in the population, differences between the breeds were not so dramatic and the same type of dog could be called a mudi, a pumi or a puli depending from the area where the dog was born. 

At that time, the breeds were not as fixed type as they are today, and dogs from one breed could be used in breeding of another breed. Puli was the first breed to be given a written standard, registry and pedigree numbers and isolated from the "wild population", but in the 70's some pumis have still be used for mudi breeding - and vice versa. The genes have flowed continuously in the un-registered herding dog population to these days, and still recently pumis and mudis from that material have been given pedigrees. The breeds are still closely connected, and every so often a perfect mudi puppy may be born from pumi-parents.

There are many colors mudi, pumi and puli share, some of them are accepted to all these  breeds, some are excluded in some breeds, and some of the common colors are concidered as fault in all these breeds. We can think that the colors -accepted and unaccepted ones- that are still today common to Mudi, Pumi and Puli are the "original" or "genuine" colors, because they were introduced to the gene pool long before the small herding dogs were separated to three breeds. Based on this assumption, the original colors are:

• black (fekete)
• white (feher) and
• fakó
• brown (barna)
• ash (hamvas)
• black and tan, black and silver, brown and tan
• maszkós fakó (sable with mask)
• wolf color or wild boar color (ordas)
• white spotting

All these colors are still present today in mudi, pumi and puli breeds. Three colors make an exception:

• cifra (merle), either blue- or brown merle. Only known in Mudi breed.
• albino, only known in Mudi breed.
• graying, only present in Pumi and Puli.

There's differences between what colors are accepted in which breed. The Mudi standard is most allowing, accepted colors are black, white, fakó, brown, blue and blue merle. Accepted colors of the Pumi are black, white, gray in different shades and maszkos fakó (sable with mask). Pumi's gray is always born black and the graying starts in early age. Also gray (ash) pumi and puli puppies are born, but this is not an accepted color. Same colors that are accepted for Pumi are accepted in the Puli standard. 

The standards of all the three breeds concider tan-markings, wolf color and white spotting as fault. In the Mudi breed the sable with mask is not accepted, though it's included in both Pumi's and Puli's standard. The Hungarian breeders seem to have been breeding for solid colored dogs only - solid colors were preferred and markings, such as tan-markings or spotting were disqualified. For example white markings in chest are only allowed as far as they don't exceed diameter of 5 cm.

The following colours have occured in Mudi. black brown, barna blue, hamvas fakó black & tan, black & silver, brown and tan maszkos fakó (sable with mask) wolf colour Blue merle (Cifra), Brown merle (barna cifra) albino (red eyed white) In pumi the known colours are black, white, gray (graying black) fakó, brown, blue, black&tan, silver&tan, maszkos fakó. In puli the known colours are black, white, fakó, maszkos fakó, grey (graying black), black&tan and silver&tan.

black white fakó ash brown merle light fakó brown merle isabella

Between 1958-1991 total of 1140 mudis were registered. From these 639 (56 %) were black (with small white markings), 277 (24 %) black with bigger white markings, 32 white (3 %), 34 (3 %) mudis were registered as "fakó és barna", which literally translates fakó and brown, but I would trust that the writer ment ordinary fakó dogs in their different shades. Also 37 (3 %) brown mudis and 63 (6 %) grey mudis were registered. During that time, also 5 maszkós fakó, 9 wolf color and 4 black and white mudis were registered. In case of 40 mudis the color was not known.

These figures date back to 1950's, so the "new" colors (added to standard in 2000) are not new at all.

[source: MEOE Tenyésztési Tanács - Konzultáció a mudi fajta helyzetéről, MEOE Breeding Council, Consultation about Status of Mudi Breed (A Kutya 92/5)]

COLORS OF THE RELATED BREEDS

Mudin, pumin and puli are no doubt closely related. They share common history, same purpose and geographical location. Crossings between the breeds have been inevitable. The Hungarian driver dogs, mudi, pumi and puli, were used also when transporting the sheep and cattle from Hungary to Germany, France etc. for trading. Crossings between the early Hungarian driver dog types and other herding breeds of the surrounding areas have taken place. There's still relating breeds and dog types living in the areas outside Hungary; breeds that share same purpose, similar history and are geographically located so, that crossing may have taken place.

Croatian Sheepdog (hrvatski ovcar) is probably the closest relative to Mudi. Even for an expert it's almost impossible to tell apart the Croatian Sheepdog and Mudi. Also in the surrounding areas of Serbia ( Vojvodjanski Pulin, Voivodina Pulin), Romania and Austria there are still similar dogs to Hungarian mudi. In Germany there's still many different types of old German herding dogs, varying from long-haired and puli-like Schaftpudel to the more mudi-like Fuchs, Tiger and Schwartzen. Probably distant relatives can be found also from the French lowlands.

Most of the Croatian Sheepdogs are black, but also white, fakó and tan-marked are being born, even today. The German Fuchs - type herding dogs are mostly red or cream (mudi's fakó), brindle striped, sable with or without mask, but also wolf colored Fuchs' are being born. The Schwartzen type dogs are - as the name tells- mostly black. Gelbbacke type driver dogs are black with tan markings, and dog type called "Tiger" are merle-marked. Dogs of German Kuhhunde variation can be found mostly in red, sable and masked red color. More information (in german) and pictures can be found from the website of Altdeutscher Hütehunde - organization.

The variety of the colors in the breeds that are geographically and historically linked to the mudi, pumi and puli exceeds the imagination. Pan-European herdingdog type dogs have come in all the colors the mudi, pumi and puli still have in their genepool, and therefore it's no wonder that the unwanted, non-standard colors have not yet been abolished.

COLOR GENETICS

Before going into the color genetics, let's think where the color comes from. The dog coat colors, all of them, are basically produced with just two types of pigment, black (eumelanin pigment) and tan (pheomelanin pigment), or by the partial or total loss of these pigments. All the different patterns and produced by small genetic "switches" that either allow or don't allow black, tan or neither of these pigments to be present in the individual hair. Basically, there's just two colors, but you wouldn't believe that when looking at all the varieties of the colors and patterns in the dog breeds.

In the chromosome there's different loci's for different genes, that each determine one single quality. There can be several different alleles of same gene, and for each gene, there's two alleles in the chromosome (genotype). These two gene alleles together define which will be the individuals phenotype, according to the dominance order of these gene alleles and what other genes may or may not be present.

To get a deeper overview of how the color is produced in the coat, I recommend you to read Sue-Ann Bowling's genetics page.

There are some different theories of how to arrange the dog's color genes into different loci's. The most commonly agreed theory is Little's theory, though it has it's own little claps. The dogs coat colors present in mudi, pumi and puli breed are presented below according to Little.

COLORS

A - agouti 
B - brown
C - albino series
D -dilution
E - extension
G - graying
K - dominant black
M - merle
S - white spotting

AGOUTI

ay - sable (also known as dominant yellow). Gene produces a mostly tan-colored coat with some black shading. Most sable dogs have dark (black or brown) shading, that might become lighter or disappear later. Usually the whiskers of the sable dog are black, even if the dog is very light colored. This helps to determine if the dog is sable, or recessive red. It's been assumpted that homotsygote   ayay  -dogs have more black shading than ayat -heterotsygotes.
The Maszkos Fakó color of mudi is in most cases sable with mask.

Maszkos fakó aka sable with mask. Mask is produced by another gene from E-loci.

at - tan points, aka black&tan is recessive. If dog is black&tan, it's genotype is always atat . Tan points are visible above the eyes, around the lips, in chest, feet and under the tail. Dobermann or rotweiler has typical tan poin coloration. At the same time with tan markings dog may have other color genes that are visible at the same time. Variations of tan pointed dogs are for example tan marked white spotted ("tricolor") or tan pointed merle.

Black&Tan mudi, with clearly distinguishing marking above the eyes, in the cheeks, under the jaw, in chest and in the feet. (c) Maria Venhammar

aw - wolf color Wolfcolor is in the same loci with tan points and sable. Examples of typical wolf colored dogs are for example the Norwegian Elkhounds. Sable and wolf color mix up easily, but where the sable dogs individual hairs are tan colored with dark tip, wolf colored dog's individual hairs are banded. Wolf colored dogs often have "eye glasses", lighter areas around the eyes, like the dog below.

Wolf colored male (c) Maria Venhammar

BROWN

Brown is recessive color, and marked with b - letter. The b- gene will turn the black pigment of the dog into brown in the coat, nose, lips and eyerims. Also the eyes are often lighter than black dog's. Brown is one of the rarest mudi colors.

Example, where both parents carry Brown color. BB homotzygote black, Bb black carrying brown, bb brown sire Bb dam Bb BB Bb Bb bb Approximately 1/4 of the puppies are brown.

Brown and black mudi puppies (c) Keijo Laitinen

ALBINO SERIE

• Highest in the serie is C, normal coloration, most dogs are homotsygote CC, normal colored, not carrying any albino genes.
• cch , chinchilla, when this gene is homotsygote, it "erases" mose of the pheomelanin, but doesn't have much effect on the black pigmentation of the dog. For example wolf colored or brindle mudis or sable pumis who have silver colored coat with black shading or pattern instead of reddish brown coat with black shading may have chincilla gene. 
• ce extreme dilution, it's been suggested that this gene together with recessive red will produce pure white dogs with black pigmentation. Extreme dilution will "bleach" the red coat to white and leave the pigmentation untouched.
• Last in the series c, red eyed albino, that has been found in Mudi.

DILUTION

dilution gene d affects to eumelanin and pheomelanin, diluting both black and tan coloured areas. The color is recessive.

Ash colored mudi puppy. The blue eyes will turn to amber brown later. Isabella colored mudi male (c) Kati Timar-Geng

If a dog who's has two copies of b-genes in it's B-loci, and two copies of d-genes in it's D-loci, these genes together will produce a dog who diluted brown, or isabella colored. In Hungary the color is called "hamvasbarna", ash brown.

EXTENSION- serie

Fakó and white are both produced by the same basic gene, recessive red, also known as ee-yellow. Homotsygote e can cover underneath it any color or pattern that can be found in A-loci. Recessive red dog has only pheomelanin pigment in it's coat, and any color or marking that needs eumelanin pigment won't be visible - including merle.

Below few examples of different shades of white/fakó.

 Em dog has a mask, like for example a Belgian Tervueren. This gene replaces the tan-color with black color in some parts of the coat. Other factors effect on the size and opacity of the mask. The mask can be only a thin lining around the lips, or it may cover the face, ears and part of the chest and legs. At it's largest, the mask may cover the tan-markings the dog has. These "black" dogs that are actually "hidden" black&tan's are called Pseudo Black. Pseudo Black dogs are rarely born in the Tervueren and Leonberger litters,  and it is possible that this kind of dogs have been born also in Pumi and Mudi litters.

Brindle with mask (c) Maria Venhammar

Graying

Dog that has been born black (or brown or ash colored) turns lighter and lighter by the years, typical examples are the grey (or "silver") colored poodle, Old English Sheepdog and Pumi and Puli. Graying is different from the age related graying. It's likely that the G-gene is dominant, and that it won't become visible unless the dog has similar hairtype as the example breeds mentioned. Mudi doesn't seem to have G-gene, or it's not visible.

"K-loci"

K - dominant black. Dog might have white patches or it may have other markings that follow from the other color genes the same dog has. Dominant black dog doesn't have tan-color in it's coat.

The basic "dominant black" may also have brown or blue phenotype.

MERLE- Blue Merle - Brown Merle

Merle geni produces a random, marbled efect in those parts of the dog where the gene is active. Merle is dominant gene, Mm dog appears to be merle, mm normal colored and MM is so called double merle, also called "lethal white". Homotsygote MM dogs often suffer from partial sight loss or they can be partially deaf - or both. Merle-Merle matings are not recommended in most breeds where merle color is accepted.

Merle produces a random pattern in black, blue or brown background. The merle areas may be extensive, or almost invisible. Merle gene only works on the "black" areas of the body, and it won't be visible on the tan-colored areas, so it's very difficult to determine if a sable or brindle dog has herited also merle gene. Merle won't come visible on white or fakó dog either. 

From the Hungarian breeds mudi is the only one where Merle color appears. It's unknown in Pumi- and Puli breed. Merle - or Cifra - is told to be ancient mudi color, but almost every present merle mudi is descendant of the B-registered female called Picur, that was registered in Hungary in late 1990´s. Merle has become a popular color very fast, and it's the only dominant color from the "new" mudi colors that were accepted. 

Blue merle and Red merle

Most merle mudis are ordinary blue merles (merle pattern on black background). The color is called blue merle, though black merle would be more correct. There's also been already few brown merle (barna cifra) mudis being born, and in the internet there's photographs of probable ash merle (or real "blue" merle) female mudi. The brown merle and ash merle variants are not FCI recognized, though it's very likely that these colors will be popping up now and then. In Hungary a brown merle female won the Fenyes Deszõ Mudi Club Specialty Show few years ago, that giving the message the color is accepted in Hungary.

S- WHITE SPOTTING

• S- solid colour, dog may have small white patches. The only accepted phenotype in the Hungarian breeds.
• si , irish spotting, the neck, chest, belly, legs and tip of the tail are white. Typical coloration for border collie. This color has been found in the Hungarian breeds, but favouring the solid colored dogs has slowly pushed this allele aside. The last proof of a black&white mudi I have is from the Köpenhagen World Winner Show in 1989. The BOS mudi was female Szavalaki Kedves Lepke (picture below). In the same show BOB and World Winner was black&tan colored male.

Big white chestspot and typical irish spotting pattern on a black mudi female.