The yearly rhythm for a healthy adult Puli
A healthy adult Puli does well on one full routine checkup a year, and that single visit carries a lot of weight for a corded herding dog. Puppies need a run of visits in their first months for their early vaccine series, growth checks, and parasite screening, then settle into the annual pattern once they are grown. When a Puli reaches the senior stage — and this is a breed that often stays spry well into double figures — twice-yearly visits become the wiser rhythm, because age-related changes in the eyes, joints, teeth, and thyroid can move quietly in a dog who still wants to work and play. If your Puli is breeding, recovering from illness, or managing an ongoing condition, your veterinarian may set a shorter interval, and that tailored schedule always beats the generic one.
What the vet can find that the cords conceal
The Puli's cords are magnificent and they are also camouflage. A veterinarian parts them systematically to check the skin underneath for irritation, hot spots, trapped debris, and early growths that your fingers simply cannot reach during a normal cuddle. Ears deserve the same suspicion: hair and limited airflow under a heavy coat can let ear irritation build unseen, so the vet will look deep into the canals even when your Puli has shown no head shaking at home. The exam also covers the eyes — a breed point worth watching as Pulis age — along with teeth hidden under that beard, heart and lung sounds, joint flexibility in a herding dog built for quick turns, and a hands-on body condition check, because cords make a Puli look the same size whether he has gained weight or lost it.
Between visits: your hands are the early warning system
Once a year at the clinic only works if you are doing the quiet surveillance at home. When you separate and check cords during regular coat care, run your palms flat against the skin and learn what normal feels like, so a new thickening, scab, or tender patch registers immediately rather than at next year's exam. Weigh your Puli or at least check that ribs are findable under the coat with light pressure, since corded bulk defeats the eyeball test completely. Watch water intake, appetite, and energy on farm or family outings; a herding dog who stops volunteering for activity is telling you something. Note anything you find with the date you noticed it, because a vet can do far more with "this lump appeared about six weeks ago and has grown" than with a vague worry.
When a Puli should not wait for the annual visit
Some signs should move the appointment up, not onto a list for later. A sour or musty smell rising from the cords that bathing does not fix, repeated scratching at one spot, or a patch where cords are thinning can point to skin trouble that worsens under a damp coat. Persistent head shaking, a head tilt, or yelping when an ear is touched warrants a prompt call. So do cloudy eyes, bumping into furniture in dim light, stiffness that lasts well past the warm-up of a walk, unexplained weight change under an unchanged coat, or a drop in the tireless herding enthusiasm this breed is known for. Puppies who miss meals, seniors who start drinking far more, and any Puli who is simply not himself for more than a day or two should be seen rather than watched.
Keeping a Puli's checkups useful is mostly about carrying good information through the door, and KinsLe's Pet Passport holds this corded herder's records in one ready packet you can hand over at any visit.