Budapest · Puli
Hungary opens its informer files – with a Puli, nobody has ever known where it is looking
Der Hündeler, Edition of Thursday, 12 November 2026
What happened
Hungary is opening the files from its years of communist dictatorship. The names of thousands of informants are now accessible. The move is seen as an attempt to draw a line under that legacy, but it is also raising new questions.
What does this mean for your Puli?
The Puli comes from Hungary and has spent its whole existence watching, though never discreetly. Beneath the long cords of its coat sit two attentive eyes; which way they are pointing cannot be determined from the outside. On the Puszta, the Hungarian plain, this was part of the job: the sheep never knew whether the herding dog was looking at them, so they stayed with the flock just in case. As an informer, however, the Puli would have been useless. Everything it sees, it reports at once, loudly, to the entire neighbourhood. In Switzerland its only file is held by the local council: microchip registered, dog tax paid, nothing further to report.
What you can do now: When in doubt, greet both ends of the Puli politely. One of them will look back.