Author: Mariah Mordecai

Our Thanagar dogs and owners have been keeping us busy! From the show ring to agility, dock diving, flyball, scent work, rally, and beyond, our dogs continue to prove that versatility is at the heart of our breeding program. We couldn’t be more proud of every owner who has put in the countless hours of training and competition to showcase these amazing Mudis.

Dune Earns Reserve Best Male at the NAMA UKC National Specialty

Congratulations to Dune and his mom, Marlo, on earning Reserve Best Male at the North American Mudi Alliance UKC National Specialty! With such a competitive entry at this prestigious event, we’re thrilled to see Dune recognized. Thank you to judge Katherine Short for appreciating our sweet boy!

A Huge Weekend for Strix & Soren

One of the biggest highlights of the season came at the East Idaho Spring Classic, where mother-son duo Strix and Soren absolutely stole the show.

At just seven months old, Soren earned Best of Breed and went on to claim a Herding Group 4 placement alongside his owner, Sophia. We’re incredibly proud of this promising young dog and excited to watch him continue to mature. He may very well be one of the youngest Mudis to ever earn a group placement in the United States.

Not to be outdone by her son, Strix earned an Owner-Handled Group 2 later that same weekend. She also completed her annual health testing in preparation for her second litter.

Seeing Strix succeed while watching her puppies begin their own competitive careers is incredibly rewarding. As the first dam we’ve retained from our own breeding program, she represents everything we strive to produce: versatility, work ethic, sound structure, and exceptional temperament.

Rain Shines at the 2026 World Dog Show

We’re also celebrating an unforgettable international accomplishment! Thanagar Mare Imbrium “Rain” traveled to the 2026 World Dog Show, where he earned the highest possible puppy rating of “Very Promising” and was named Best of Breed Puppy. Rain is one of only a handful of U.S.-bred Mudis to compete at this prestigious event, making his success especially meaningful. As a puppy from our 2025 Strix × Guba litter, we’re excited to see what the future holds for this very special boy and his family.

New Titles

• Kacsa finished her AKC Championship.
• Starling completed her Grand Championship.
• Flicker earned her DSX title and qualified for the NADD Regional Championships.
• Swift added her Rally Advanced (RA) title.
• Strix earned her DDB, OAJ, and OF titles.
• Nightjar earned his OAJ title.
• Merlin earned his BCAT title.
• Hoax earned her MBD and MBDX titles.
• Endor earned his RATO title.

Additional Accomplishments

• Hoot picked up both of his championship majors.
• Bison Bower earned his second major.
• Phoenix also earned her second major.
• Jackdaw made his NADD debut.
• Nebula is now running full flyball runs and continues making progress in agility.
• Paloma has begun her first sport puppy and flyball classes and is off to a wonderful start.
• Phoenix made her AKC agility debut and laid down her strongest ISC performances yet.
• Brí won the Beginner/Novice pentathlon at a local UKI trial.

Hoax Continues to Dominate Dock Diving

Hoax had an incredible dock diving season, earning NADD Regional invitations in all three disciplines. She also set new personal bests in both Air Retrieve and Hydro Dash.

Her event results:

• #1 Master Lap Distance
• #1 Senior Lap Air Retrieve
• #2 Junior Lap Hydro Dash

Festival Success for Nightjar

We’re incredibly proud of this team’s progress and thrilled to see all of their hard work paying off with such an outstanding performance.

Nightjar earned:

• Biathlon Jumping Reserve Champion
• Speedstakes Challenge Reserve Champion
• Master Series Overall Reserve Champion, along with a Master Series Bye
• Festival Overall Third Place

Not every moment worth celebrating comes with a ribbon or title, and we are beyond proud of the work ethic shown by Dune. This month, his family added sheep to their farm, and during their first week home they managed to get spooked and escape to several farms over. Some neighbors tried to help direct them back, but that only sent them running farther away. Then it was up to Dune. Despite not being able to even see the sheep in the woods, he immediately located them and calmly brought them all the way back into the barn. From his co-owners: “He helps move stock regularly, but this time he truly saved us — those sheep looked fully prepared to head back to the farm they came from. Moments like that make us incredibly proud of his instinct and working ability.”

While we love the versatility and drive these dogs show across multiple disciplines, preserving the instinct and work ethic needed for real herding work remains first and foremost in our breeding program. Real-life scenarios and daily farm work continue to prove the intelligence, biddability, and purpose these dogs were bred for.

Phoenix attended Mudi herding camp in Colorado this month, and had some major breakthroughs together there. She also earned her first agility Qs and title (SSB) all while being run by a new handler because her mom had to work. We’re excited to see her grow as a herding and agility dog, and are so looking forward to seeing the puppies she and Dune will produce together in her first litter next year.

Duck earned his UKI Beginner Speedstakes (SSB) title this month as well, and we’re so happy for this team! Taz had a strong spring in agility, earning his NAJ title in April and following it up with his OA title in May. And after what felt like forever, Nightjar finally earned his IND – UKI Novice title! He also tested for and passed his CGC, CGCA, and CGCU.

Hoax had an especially exciting month, earning her Flyball Dog Champion Silver (FDCh-S)! She also made her debut in NADD Air Retrieve and Hydro Dash, picked up her first lap ELITE distance jump. She started her AKC agility career with a bang — going 3/3 with Qs and 1st placements in both JWW and FAST. We could not be happier with how confidently she stepped into every new challenge.

Strix earned her SSB this month and also picked up Qs with another handler, which we were thrilled to see. In the conformation ring, she went Best of Breed both days in South Jordan for points and a Champion defeat. Soren also officially moved out of BPUP, and Lily had the opportunity to handle him in the Bred-By class while his owner handled him in breed. He earned Best of Opposite along with some incredibly kind compliments from the judge — who also judged Mudis at Westminster this year — which made the weekend especially memorable.

Not to be outdone by her daughters, Swift also took to the agility ring! She picked up some UKI speedstakes points, and also made her debut in the AKC agility ring earning Qs and placements in JWW and Standard.

Condor, who is in Texas with his co-owner Renee Dougalas of Marvelous Mudi, finished his AKC Championship in early May with a Winners Dog/Best of Winners placement. Condor is maturing so nicely and loves both his NC and his Texas family – we are thrilled with this big guy’s go-with-the-flow temperament and of course he’s gorgeous!

Not to be outdone, Kacsa also earned her AKC Championship with a Best Opposite award at the Mid-Atlantic Herding Group Club of Maryland specialty show in Doswell, NC. This was an amazing show for our entire crew – Starling picked up her last grand champion majors, and Hoot earned his first points and a major as well!

We wrapped up the month in style with a huge showing at the annual Pups & Pride fundraiser! There were at least 14 Mudis in attendance – mostly our pups – and everyone had a super great time and played great.

We’re incredibly proud of all the dogs this month — not just for the on-paper achievements, but for the teamwork behind every one of these moments.

We are just blown away by Chirp! She has been making incredible strides in her agility career and showing up at all of the biggest events around the country, most recently at AKC’s World Team Tryouts in Southampton, NJ.

WTT is one of the most challenging agility events in the US, bringing out the most competitive teams to run on some of the most technical courses. Over the 5 cumulative rounds, Chirp showcased impressive skills and speed, most notably making her way onto the podium in 2nd place in Round 2 Jumping. She was ranked 7th overall in the 12″ class and was honored by being short listed for the final spot on the team. I mean WOW! Check out the video below to see some highlights.

From Dom: “This is the first time I’ve run just Chirp at a competition and it was exciting to pour all of my time, effort, and mental energy into just her runs. I can’t emphasize enough what a cool little dog Chirp is. At just 2 years old she is already blowing all of my aspirations and expectations completely out of the water. Sure we still have plenty to learn and many, many skills to polish. But her future is so, so, bright and I’m excited to be along for the ride!”

We could not be more proud of Dom and Chirp! It’s hard to believe she’s already accomplished so much considering she’s still a few months shy of her 3rd birthday. We can’t wait to see what they do next!

Chirp! is Thanagar His Dark Materials from our Swift x Prime litter.

We kick things off for April with UPDIF! Updog International Finals was held in Winston-Salem this year, which made it a local event for Thanagar. Updog is one of our favorite sports and this event did not disappoint. Beautiful weather, great competition, and lots of friends from near and far.

Making their UPDIF debut this year were Nightjar, Kacsa, and Nebula. Swift, Sassy, and Junco all returned to the field and played several games. It was great to represent mudis at this event and have so many successful rounds!

In conformation this month, Dune picked up his first Grand Champion points in Lumberton along with two Champion defeats. Starling was Select Bitch in Timonium, earning a Champion defeat and Grand Champion points. Strix took BOS both days in Lewiston, and her son Soren made an impressive debut, winning Best Beginner Puppy in Show his very first time in the ring.

Colibrí earned her UKI Novice Speedstakes title and made her ISC debut, running NFC Level 1 and 2 Jumpers. She handled the larger courses and a two-ring UKI trial in a new environment beautifully.

Hoax had a standout month, earning her Flyball Dog Champion (FDCh) title in NAFA and her Barn Hunt Novice title. She also picked up her first HIC in Open and began her NADAC Novice career with several nice qualifying runs and clean contacts.

In further agility news, Strix added her OA and NF titles, and Vortex earned his first CPE agility Q. Duck added several scent work milestones, earning his first Novice Exterior, Advanced Interior, and Excellent Buried AKC Scent Work qualifying scores. Rookidee earned her CGC, and Stratus graduated puppy class, earning his STAR Puppy title.

Swift took the next step in her rally career, earning her RN title and first Advanced leg. Phoenix also earned her RN, the first leg of her BN, and closed out April with her TKA.

Congrats to everyone on a wonderful April!

This month the home team has dedicated a lot of our time getting our youngsters in the show ring.

At the Danville Kennel Club show in Winston Salem, our bred-by Bourbon earned his first point by going Winners Dog on Friday. On Saturday for the Forsyth Kennel Club show, Condor earned a point going Winners Dog/Best of Winners, and Sunday our sweet Kacsa went Winners Bitch/Best of Winners for a point as well. Starling also showed Sunday and nabbed a point toward her GCH by earning Select Bitch.

The following weekend, at the Tarheel Cluster in Raleigh, NC, we had a big turnout with majors nearly every day! Our star of the show was Bison Bower – who nailed a 5 point major on his first day out! This puppy is only just 8 months old, but such a character who has never met a stranger a day in his life. We are so incredibly proud of him, and his mom Jamie who has done a great job with him already! On Friday, Condor picked up 2 more points going Winners Dog at the Durham KC show.

Congratulations to Donna & Hawk and Jenna & Balaen, who recently completed 40 hours of human remains detection training with LETS! While these boys are too young to certify, they still dedicated five full days of immersive SAR training and they absolutely ROCKED it. Hawk and Balaen are from our 2025 Junco x Szoda litter. These boys were specifically selected for their handlers as search and rescue prospects, and boy have they really shown out. I had the opportunity to watch a bit of their work during the seminar, and proud is an understatement- my heart is so full. Flicker also recertified in Land Cadaver Recovery this same week.

Chirp was amazing at her first ever tryout event, European Open Team Tryouts! Results on paper don’t do justice to the amazing skills she showcased in each run in such an intense environment on incredibly challenging courses. And she wasn’t done yet! Chirp and Dom attended the UKI Invitational and had an impressive showing, placing 7th in Biathlon and 8th in Pentathlon in an incredibly competitive 12″ class. This tiny gremlin has recently found a new gear and brings her completely feral mudi scream to every start line. We love seeing how much her confidence is growing at these big events, and and there’s so much more to come from this team. Enjoy this highlight reel from EOTT!

Nightjar attended the 2nd ever UKI DASH tournament, held in SC. He placed third in both events: DASH Steeplechase Challenge and DASH Triathlon in a large 16″ (s) class. All the hard work this team has been putting in is starting to show, and we’re so proud of their first ever podium appearances!

Lily and Strix earned an OH group 4! And a successful completed rally advanced pairs (188 points) and obedience brace (395.5 points) with her derpy “sister” Orchid.

We’re grouping the rest of our brags for the month because there is SO much to highlight! Phoenix competed in her first ISC trial running for competition and did great! She showed so many good skills. We are also thrilled that both Phoenix and Nebula (Puffin x Mahomes) had their OFAs done and everything looks great! Both are OFA Good, Normal Elbows, Patella, Shoulder and LTV0 VA0 SP0. Junco raced full time in two back to back flyball weekends and put up times pretty close to his PB. Duckduck picked up two shiny new scentwork titles: AKC novice container and advanced buried.

Bourbon had a blast at his first official ASCA trial! He did a great job and earned his Novice AND Open jumpers titles and had 2 Qs in Novice Regular and 1 Q in Novice Gamblers. The confidence is growing in this boy for sure.

Bourbon also had a great barnhunt weekend last month! He debuted and earned his Novice title and 2 Open Qs, and all his Qs earned him High in Class. He played CR8 for the first time and earned 250 points over the weekend.

Colibrí, went to her first agility trial where she consistently ran for competition and did her first weave poles and teeter in a trial setting. She was amazing – completely knocked it out of the park! Her twin sister Hoax debuted in flyball and was fantastic! She earned her FD and FDX titles. She also got her first Novice barnhunt Q with HIC, and ran in her first full UKI trial. Kirk, the fourth puppy from this litter, also raced multiple weekends in flyball this month. We’re blown away by these fabulous young Mudis!

We’ve kicked off 2026 in our favorite style – importing “new blood” from Hungary! Recently, we  welcomed this tiny little man to the USA! Say hello to Szeles Vadűző Eraviscus “Ptarmigan”. Ptarmigan is just under 8 months old and is settling in quickly and already having a blast with our other young dogs. He is a little guy – as in, somehow he is smaller than Swift. We are excited to have invested in a puppy who may help keep dogs on the smaller side in the breeding program. Plus isn’t he just so handsome?!

To our knowledge, he is the first from his kennel to move to North America. Ptarmigan is related to Goldfinch and Junco through some Mudis that are well known for their excellent temperaments. We have been longtime fans of his sire, Királytanyai Lelkes, and we’re so honored that Ptarmigan’s breeder trusted us with one of his beloved Mudis. Prospects are just that – not guarantees – but we are so happy to have this little man with us and can’t wait to see how he matures.

The last puppy from our Moonwalkers litter has flown the next. Rain is the first puppy we have exported overseas to a buyer. He left Dulles airport in a blizzard and arrived in beautiful Italy. Rain was an amazing traveler and has taken this whole adventure in stride. He’s so special and just a super Mudi puppy, we’re so excited for all the adventures he will have in his new home.

The Thanagar crew showed up at the Winston Salem show and had great results!
Friday Bourbon Winners Dog – first point!
Saturday Condor Best of Winners – 1 point
Sunday Kacsa Best of Winners (1 point) and Starling Select Bitch (1 GCH point)

Hoax and Bourbon (Swift x Baza) have been taking some big steps as they start their agility careers! Hoax debuted in NADAC and qualified in 7/8 runs and put up some smoking fast times. Bourbon is making strides in CPE and has picked up 4 new titles. He also did a great job at his first ASCA trial, earning his Novice AND Open jumpers titles along with Qs in Novice Regular and Gamblers.

Duck (Puffin x Mahomes) did his first NW1 and earned a Q in containers and a pronounced Q in interior. Rooki (Junco x Szoda) is doing great baby dog things in her flyball lessons. Bri (Swift x Baza) earned her TKN title. Balaen (Junco x Szoda) continues to be a good boy at SAR training.

We’ve had a busy start to 2026! Our Gamers litter (Sas x Zapi) celebrated their 4th birthdays! Hard to believe our first litter is already so grown up. We’ve also been busy sending off our most recent Moonwalkers litter (Strix x Guba) to their new homes. We’re so excited to see all they accomplish in the years to come.

Currently, we have no breeding plans for 2026. We expect to have our next litter in mid 2027. This year we plan to focus on our fledgling youngsters and spend cherished time with our older dogs. We will watch how our previous litters mature, and build plans for the coming year. This is always subject to change, and if we decide to have a litter sooner we will share those updates. Feel free to contact us for recommendations of other breeders we love to work with, if 2026 is your year to bring home a new Mudi puppy.

Our Thanagar crew is out in the world accomplishing big things all the time so we’d like to take a moment each month to highlight what everyone is up to!

To start us off, Strix (Swift x Spider) received an invite to the 2026 AKC Rally National Championship! She’s happy to be back home with her mom in Idaho after raising her litter in NC, and she hit the ground running with a very successful scentwork trial: 5/6 advanced Qs for her SCA and SBA titles. Balaen (Junco x Szoda) is taking his Search and Rescue Prospect job very seriously. At just 18 weeks old he is already independently searching for and alerting on source! Duck (Puffin x Mahomes) played FastCAT and earned a new PB of 8.044, and also earned his scentwork ORT.

Quite a few of our mudis are out there playing agility! Taz (Swift x Prime) picked up his NA title and is working on his novice jumpers and open standard titles (check out video here). Crash (Sas x Zapi) got to try out CPE tunnelers and LOVED it! Nightjar (Sas x Zapi) picked up his first two Champ level speedstakes legs to begin working on his first UKI championship title (check out video here). He also snagged his second rally QQQ with quite a few points towards his RACH.

One of our Mudis cleaned up at the UKI West Coast Open – check out Chirp! These two have been battling out with some of the best all weekend at the UKI West Coast Open, and landed two podiums: 2nd place Speedstakes finals and 3rd place Pentatlon finals.

Chirp! just turned 2 this summer and you would never believe these are some of her first real agility trials. She and Dom are a fabulous duo and they have SO MUCH ahead of them! Congratulations Dominique and Chirp!

This past weekend we made the trip to West Springfield, MA for the very first MCA Regional Specialty, and our crew made us incredibly proud!

Kacsa had a phenomenal first specialty — she won Best Puppy in Sweepstakes, and also earned Winners Bitch both Friday and Saturday, picking up her first major in style! Kacsa is such a happy, outgoing puppy with beautiful structure and movement, and we are so honored that she was picked out of a beautiful group of young Mudis. Kacsa is Luminary Duck The Patriarchy, bred by Samantha Van Buren and co-owned with Katie Meyers.

Starling shined in a beautiful lineup and brought home an Award of Merit at the Specialty. What an honor! She was the only bitch chosen for AOM, and we are so happy that our lovely little Irish lady gets such recognition this young. Star is Regerastace Europa, bred by Toni Saunders.

Bower joined the fun in BPUP – his first show! – and pulled off a Group 3 in a huge entry. Such a promising start for this young pup. He was a wild man but this puppy knows no strangers and is 100% his authentic self no matter where he goes. Bower is Moore’s Easy Gives You Wings, bred by Mandy Moore, co-owned with Mandy Moore. Bower lives in a guardian home with Jamie and Scoute, and they definitely deserve a shoutout as well for their hard work.

We’re so grateful to the judges, the organizing committee, our friends, and the exhibitors for making this inaugural Regional Specialty unforgettable.

The Mudi Club of America recently held their National Breed Specialty in Greeley, Colorado, and our kennel was represented by a few of our sweet pups.

Strix showed out as usual, earning:

-1st Place for Advanced, Excellent, and Master Rally for Mudis, securing High Combined and High Triple as well.

-High Combined for All Breed and her RAE2! She is THREE Master points from her RACH!

-1st Place Agility Novice Q’ing in 3/4 runs and earning her NAJ title!

-Earned her AKC HT title (herding)

-Earned her AKC FCAT title (fast cat)

-2nd Place out of 6 for the working dog class (conformation)

-Earned her Versatile Mudi Excellent, a breed club award for versatility This is the second highest level and hopefully we can get the highest next year!

-Top 5 in the breed for both Rally and Obedience

We would like to say a HUGE thank-you to the organizers of this year’s national specialty.

Strix is (pending AKC) OH Group Placing GCH CH Thanagar Caiman Crocodilus CDX BN RM2 RAE2 NAJ HT FCAT CA DJ DS DM RATI RATN SWN CGCU CGCA TKE VHMP VHMA ATT FTN. She is co-owned by Lily Snow and ourselves.