A Leopard...Dog??

An amazing dog with a LOT of character and a strong yet trainable will, the Catahoula Leopard dog needs exercise like water! It needs something to stimulate his intelligence as well as this is a very smart dog.

A true American breed the Louisiana Catahoula Leopard dog has been around for a lot longer than many people would think.

There are reports of explorers sighting the Louisiana Leopard dog as for back as 1686, although it is said that the Catahoula Leopard was used as a fighting dog by the Spanish explorers...they abandoned their dogs and left...the native.

Americans saw an opportunity and took it...they started breeding the Leopard dog with domesticated red wolves....and there you have it: the Louisiana Catahoula Leopard dog.

Settlers soon found the dog and they put him to work, the Catahoula became a shepherd and a hunter. The Settler's loved pig meat but there were not any dogs that could accomplish the awesome task of herding the wild bore and wild pigs out of the forest.

The Louisiana Leopard not only brought the pigs out of the forest, he brought more than one with him! When the Louisiana Catahoula Leopard found a pig in the forest he would get into a fight with him...other pigs would be attracted to the noise and join the fight...the dog seeing that the odds were against him would take off with all the pigs running after him...the dog would run into a pen (set up by the farmer) all the pigs would run into the pen after him and the dog would jump the fence and the pigs were caught. This was just one of many things that the old time settlers used this great breed for! He was used to locate cattle in storms...they could find runaway cattle and hold them until their owner came. They were used to hunt raccoon and black bear as well.

The AKC does not recognize this as an official breed, nevertheless they should think of doing so, because that is the least that they could do for the breed that helped the American settlers in so many ways.

The Catahoula Leopard dog is a dog that is not for the person that just wants a pet to keep him company, this dog was bred for work and work is what he must get if he is going to be happy. This breed needs to get plenty of exercise or he can be destructive.

The Catahoula does okay with children but caution is advised...this breed can be aggressive with other dogs of the same-sex. When he is working, it is best to use him on wild animals because he can get a little bit rough, let's not forget that he has red wolf blood in him which makes everything that much different.

This is a dog that can get up to 110 pounds, so, early socialization and obedience training is highly recommended. These dogs love to work and because of the environment that this breed grew up in, their mind was set on one idea: "be strong and win or die trying"; because of this, the Catahoula needs an owner that is capable of the same kind of toughness and experience. This is an excellent guard dog; he is protective of his property and his family.

The Catahoula does not have a double coat and because of this, he needs a nice warm doghouse if he is to be kept outside during cold weather.

Give the Catahoula Leopard dog a lot of exercise and an activity or a job to do; these are very intelligent animals so they need something to keep them mentally stimulated. They are very trainable animals.

This breed has almost no health problems because of his origins...and because he is rare enough that nobody has been interested in messing his genetics up too bad as we see in many other breeds...the most common health problem is deafness, in either one ear or both. Many professional breeders euthanize deaf puppies to prevent the bad genes from being passed on...some people might say that it is a cruel practice but if we look at things realistically then we would realize that deaf dogs would have not had a chance back at the beginning of the breed. It is called survival of the fittest, and it is through such practices that a breed is kept strong.

The Louisiana Catahoula Leopard dog is the state dog of Louisiana.