Happy Dyngus Day, everyone! What, you’re not familiar with this?

Dyngus Day, which always falls on the Monday after Easter, is a Polish-American tradition that celebrates the end of the observance of lent and the joy of Easter.  To honor our Polish friends, let’s talk about the PON also known as the Polish Lowland Sheepdog, or as their creators called them, the Polski Owczarek Nizinny ((pronounced poll-ski ov-cha-rik nee-shinny, if you want to show off).

There aren’t many thing a PON can’t do, but the breed is a sheepdog, and the vast majority of them are born with a natural instinct. An uncanny memory makes the dog a quick study and fairly easy to train, but it’s probably the Puli in its ancestry that makes the breed so strong willed. Like its Hungarian cousins, as well as the Shapendoes, the PON uses a lot of barking and quick movement to get his charges to move, whether it’s an individual or a large flock or herd.  He is an upright and loose-eyed herder who works with confidence, and certainly possesses the boldness to work close to the stock, touching if necessary.  As companions, this breed needs a job to do, not just physically, but mentally.

After WWI, only 125 Pons survived, and were it not for a Polish veterinarian, Dr. Danuta Hryniewicz, who saved and reestablish the breed after the WWII ended and only 8 breed-able PONs survived, we’d likely not have this lively, appealing breed today. So happy Dyngus Day, everyone! Pass it along to your Polish friends, and the owners of Polish Greyhounds, Polish Tatra Sheepdogs, Polish Hounds, and Polish Hunting Dogs.

Our image was found uncredited on Pinterest and we’d like very much to credit the photographer and dog of this fabulous photo. Anyone?