The Puli was introduced into the United States as part of an experiment by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to find a herding dog that wouldn’t harm the very stock it was entrusted to protect, and to that end, the Department imported four purebred Pulik in 1935 in Beltsville, Maryland. The Pulik were bred among themselves and crossed with the GSD, the Chow Chow and perhaps with two Turkish sheepdogs which were quartered there at the time. “State of the art” intelligence tests were given to all the dogs, and where other herding breeds scored in the  range of 12 to 14 on these tests, Pulik scored, on the average, between 75 and 85. Sadly, tests were suspended when WWII broke out, the Pulik were auctioned off to professional breeders. It’s thought that the beginning of the recorded history of the Puli in the United States was from these four dogs and their progeny.

White Puli by Alpen Designs. This print is available for purchase here.