Other less common coat colors are white, gray, or cream (off-white or fakó in Hungarian).

Despite their bulky appearance and very thick coat, Pulis are very fast, agile, and able to change directions rapidly.

When restricted to closed spaces for long periods of times, they grow restless and may develop unwanted personality traits, such as becoming hyperactive or, instead, increasingly aloof and lazy.

As a livestock guarding dog, they are fiercely protective of their territory and flock, and, despite their relatively small size, will fearlessly try to scare and drive any intruder away; however, they very rarely inflict any real injuries.

Every Puli is a natural shepherd and instinctively knows how to herd a flock of sheep or livestock even if they have been raised as a family dog and have never been trained to do it.

The Magyars probably brought the Puli to Hungary[12][13] in the 9th Century when they invaded westwards from Siberia, and it has been a sheepdog on the Hungarian plain since then.

[13] The Puli would commonly work together with the much larger, white Komondor, a Hungarian breed of (solely) livestock guardian dog.

When wolves or bears attacked the livestock, the Puli would alert the pack and the Komondors would come and fight the intruders.

Pulis can be good at fighting off wolves, because the thick coat protects their skin from being bitten.

The Komondors usually rested during daytime but at night walked around the flock, constantly moving, patrolling the area.

Nomadic shepherds of the Hungarian plains valued their herding dogs, paying as much as a year's salary for a Puli.

Travelers brought the Puli with them to the Carpathian basin, to help organize the flocks and herd the stallions of the area.

Around the beginning of the 20th century, a real turning point for the breed came when it was rediscovered but no longer used much as a sheepdog; extensive shepherding was replaced by intensive farming.

Although their traditional duty was kept, they started to fulfil jobs that were convenient in the circumstances of their owner: they became house dogs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture imported four purebred Pulis in 1935 to Beltsville, Maryland as part of an experiment when trying to help American agriculturists concerned with the problem of herding dogs which sometimes killed the animals to which they had been entrusted to control.

[15] In 1978, a Puli called Cinko Duda Csebi won the world exposition organized by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale.