Catahoula Leopard Dog

The King of the stock dog breeds, most enduring... stamina is their middle name... CATAHOULA LEOPARD STOCK DOGS outwork and outfight all other breeds of stock dogs when protecting their master, livestock, and property. They are the largest and most aggressive of the cattle dogs, bred to handle wild cattle and hogs in the roughest, most remote country. Catahoulas will also hunt coon, bear, or whatever else they are introduced to. These dogs are not good city dwellers... they need several acres to roam to be happy. A farm or ranch is really their element.

Catahoulas are bred to go and find livestock in swamps, hilly canyons, thickets or forests, or mountains. They will trail, nose to ground, but prefer to throw their heads up and "wind" their prey, taking the shortest route to find, gather up or bunch, and circle and bay the quarry until their master
can reach them to take control.

Preferred size from 20-26", weight 50-90 lbs, with a few individuals larger although most males average 60-70 lbs in lean working condition, & about 24" tall. Short haired, long tail, natural flop ear (like a Dalmatian ear), they come in every color of the rainbow, but are best known for a blue/grey base with black/liver spots ("blue Leopard"), tan legs and face, white toes and chest. Many variations on this general pattern. Spots occur in all colors. Blue/glass or parti-colored "marbled" or "cracked"eyes are common in every litter. Often a dog will have eyes of two different colors.

Catahoula Leopards are extremely agile and athletic, territorial, protective of "their property". They are more primitive psychologically than most breeds and need consistent obedience reinforcement. The owner must understand the Alpha concept and stay in control at all times, but still be loving to the dog. Very loyal, loving, intelligent and independent... they really think for themselves.

Leopard dogs are the only known domesticated native North American breed of dog... developed by our Native American Indians and early settlers, and kept pure to the present day by folks who use them to work livestock, hunt game ranging from squirrels to coons to bears, and as guard dogs. Leopard Curs, Catahoulas, Blackmouth Curs, Mountain Curs, etc., are all branches of the same root stock, but since there is no absolute documentation of the chronological history and precise ancestors involved, much is left to speculation on exactly when and how these several varieties emerged. We probably will never know their exact heritage until and unless DNA samples from today's dogs and their suspected canine relatives are tested. What we do know is part archaeological fact, part excerpted from diaries and letters written by early day dog fanciers, and part legend.

Archaeological facts: An ancient breed, the Xoloitzcuintli, is known to have existed in Mexico 3,300 years prior to the arrival of Spanish explorers, and the Peruvian Inca Orchid had been living with Peruvian citizens for several hundred years before the Spaniards landed on North American shores in 1539. It is only reasonable to assume representatives of these breeds made their way North through the hands of various native peoples into an area which later became Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, and perhaps even farther North. French explorers invaded the area in the late 1600's, and most certainly would have brought their dogs... one of which, the Beauceron, is still known today and displays leopard (merle) coloration. The Carolina Dog is a feral relic of antiquity, directly related to the Australian Dingo, African Jackal, and New Guinea Singing Dog, and has been only recently discovered surviving in uninhabited areas of our own Southeastern United States. The Carolina Dog was most likely the "Indian dog" base stock which interbred with dogs brought in by Spanish explorers, producing the ancestors of what we now call Catahoulas.