Just got a card from some old Ca. friends, telling me they are raising these dogs,never heard of them,have you?

i know a couple ppl up here who use them as lion hounds

Oh yeah...best dogs ever bred. Kinda like a pit bull, but smart.

Stock dogs,also used for hunting.

Yep...hunting ANYTHING but birds.

http://www.catahoulaleopard.com/homepg.htm

State dog of LA.
Is it normal for a state to have an official dog, or is it just us?

I don't know, but I'd think yours should be the Waterdog. I'm in Washington, and in the winter ours should be the [bleep]

Hey Bulletbutt, did you guys have any Ice down there this morrning? Here it rained last night and froze this morning, made for a interesting drive to work.

We call 'em cow dogs around here.

A lot of em are meaner than he!!

Several states have them (I looked it up) and the list can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_mammals

BTW, I never heard of "Blue Lacy" before now.

I hear you must take care the "Alfa" status!

Chesapeake Bay retriever for Maryland. But that just makes sense

Arizona's must be the Chihuahua!!!

Texas State Dog...Blue Lacy

Grew up with several Catahoulas, they are good all-purpose dogs. Lots of folks around here use them for hog-hunting and as catch dogs. We had one female that was half Catahoula Cur and half Black-Mouth Yellow Cur from hog-hunting stock. There was actually a picture of the dam and sire pinning down a hog.

Our dog was stocky and gritty with a tremendous prey-drive. I do know of several "duds" that lacked the hunting drive and were good family pets. Old Jip was very good with kids but too aggressive to be a yard dog as she bit a few folks (not badly) and chewed up several neighbor dogs. You could sic her on anyone or anything, but it wasn't something we taught her. Squirrel hunting was were she excelled, and it was nothing to collect a few hundred tree-rats during a season when following her through the woods. We even loaned her out to friends for hunting, and as long as they showed up wearing camo and toting guns, she was their best friend and would happily stay with them and hunt hard for them.

Good breed, but some can be quite aggressive.

We have a Catahoula Leopard Dog. She is just about a year old now, and about the smartest dog I have ever seen. She has an incredible knack for problem solving. She is really good with our kids although very "lickey" sometimes "mouthing" your hand(not biting at all, but just gently holding your hand in her mouth like some Vizsla's), and she jumps quite a bit. So far she is not very friendly with other dogs, not real aggressive just very standoffish. Like many other dogs she is very suspicious of strangers, but if a member of our family is with the unknown person she could care less about them or loves on them non-stop.
From the other Catahoulas I have seen they all seem to be chewers ours included in that, so we keep her very occupied with kong type toys and kenneled up at night or when we are not home.
Another odd thing is that "real" catahoulas have completely webbed feet. Webs all the way to the tips of their toes on all four feet.

"I hear you must take care the "Alfa" status!"

you better believe it ...

but wow, incredibly smart, flexible canines.

Dave, Dennis what parts of Az are you gents from? I live out in Maricopa.

Sorry, thought the thread said "Cathouses". Would have been able to offer some insight there, but know nothing of "Catahoulas"

Now thats just funny 257!

A rodeo stock contracter near hear had a pair of them years ago. If he had a new bull that was hard to catch or would not leave the practice pen he turned the dogs on him. The fight would be on. They would eventually get them broke to catch or leave the arena after they had finished bucking.

I have seen a few on ranches here in Texas but most ranchers seem to prefer Blue Heelers(which i own) or Border Collies or a cross between the two.

A lady here at work has a Catahoula but she had the vet neuter the poor thing at three months old and he's nothing more than a fat porch dog now.

just testing a picture post. This should be a photo of our catahoula Danni

I'm in Mohave county,Kingman! Dave.

Nice I used to get up that way often. Haven't been up there in a while though.

Place has "groan" a bit!

What is the typical color for this breed

My only experience with Catahoulas was hog hunting, and if I was in the hog hunting business I'd have a few. I liked them and the ones I was around were very friendly....except to hogs.

Don't be too sure about the birds.

Sold a female named Mariah one time, who would tree turkeys on the roost after dark, and when daylight.

Always figured she would have made a heck of a dog to do a scatter for the Fall hunting. Not legal here, nor where the guy lived who bought her.

She took to it naturally for some reason.

Cabarillo - Here is link from one association, giving color standard. Search for Cathoula or Leopard Dog will give pics of different colors.

The spotting on spots you see is from the merle gene. It is lethal. Causing daylight blindness, and deafness, and eventualy loss of reproduction. The solid colors are needed to keep the merle gene from becoming dominant, and the breed viable.

Some history has the Catahoula arriving on this continent with the introduction by Spanish and their "War Dogs"

http://www.catahoulas.org/index.php?page_id=9

edit-typo

Catahoula / Lab mix. Very intelegent pup and loves people.