Catahoula Leopard

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Catahoulas are not good pets, but they are great working dogs. We have had a few and everyone would get very possessive of their yard, truck, or master. They will bite people, but never had one bite a child. I used them for hunting and tried them on cows just to aggressive for me. For a family dog in my opion, you will have trouble if their not penned up just a matter of time. Good Luck
 
Catahoulas can be good pets if you know how to manage them. My catahoula isn't my first one. Main key is to keep them exercised good and train them to do mental exercises (obedience...after you exercise them, they listen better). I've even considered buying a dog treadmill for the long dreary winter days just to keep my dog exercised to the point he won't think about chewing stuff up. I live in the suburbs but my dog works hogs. They can decide to learn how to climb fences like my dog has so I am having to invest in a coyote roller to install on the fences here. If you have kids and you spank them once in a while, keep in mind, the catahoula isn't going to like you spanking the kids either and will tell you otherwise...same problem if your kids' friends come over and try to play wrestle with them. They get wound up thinking the kid is hurting their kids. They tend to wander much less after age 2 because by then, their bodies and minds have completed maturing. I had problems with socializing my dogs...so what I did was take them to places where there are many people around and walking the pup around (that's when they're under a year old). It really helps because they can be somewhat sensitive to strangers to the point that they act like you beat them or they act like they're gonna bite strangers. Keep in mind, lots of them become dog aggressive when they get older because part of their duties is to kill or drive out trepassing animals and that includes strange dogs.
 
Pair of my Catahoulas. They do a tremendous amount of work for me.

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Good thread , I have one we got as a pup . We were out on a ranch 50 miles from town so our dogs aren't real social . I needed something to help the heelers to get the cattle out of the willows in the creek bottoms . The dog did the trick , down side was with 2 years of bad calf prices we got layed of and place we ended up at doen't have enough horse back and dog work to really make a good dog . So ours has turned into my wifes 95 pound pet . I'll use him every now and again to gather the bulls , but the country is different and the cow herd is smaller and pretty easy to work . He is protective and is the biggest lounge lizzard in the world . I would really love to go south and work with some hand that run them everyday . For one I'd like to see some different country and learn some different ways to handle cattle , second to learn how to train bay dogs .
 
ndncowboy":34g8tmk8 said:
If you have a bunch of slow moving, feed sack chasing cattle, Catahoulas may be too much dog.
I have sack-broke cows, and Bailey - my 8 yr old female catahoula - is my pet first, mediocre cow dog second. She has way more drive than I have need for, but she makes a heck of an alarm system on our farm and is a good balance of friendly and protective. She's good with the brood cows, but I don't trust her with the calves. Once they're old enough to wander off from mama, it's more temptation than she can stand. She'll catch and release a calf to death if it gets separated from the herd.
She is gentle as a lamb and great with kids, but it took TONS of effort to get her that way. Meanest puppy I've ever seen, and I'm not kidding. She would try to attack me if I walked behind her while she was eating when she was so tiny she still had milk teeth. And if my husband tried to put her in the kennel as a pup, she went after him. I trust her completely now with our little girl though, and she is a great companion animal - just took a lot of work to get her where she is now. I would never recommend one to somebody who can't put in substantial time with it.
 
We've got 6 Catahoulas, and a litter on the ground right now. Use them for penning cattle at our place, do a bit of catching for some neighbours when they need help. Coon hunt them this time of year, and take them south to hunt and bay-pen a little bit.

They're a handful, but they've saved me so much time and BS over the years it isn't funny. My wife works in a hog barn right now, but as soon as she's out of there I'm building a baypen at home so we're more prepared when we go south to compete.

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Penning yearling steers is just too much fun.... we need a few more of these guys around every year.
 
I have only used an australian (shepherd) and seen australians work, and I like the way they work with the cattle. These dogs you talk about seem to be fiercely aggressive. I expect a cattle dog to work quietly within/around/behind the cattle. I see the pictures and I am imagining panic, fear and confusion with the cattle ~ complete chaos, at just the sight of the dogs in the pasture. I hear you say it works for you guys, but I cannot even imagine unleashing these dogs on a herd and expecting things to go smoothly. Like I say, I haven't seem them work so maybe I am off here, maybe they can work without whipping everything into a froth?
 
well i love the catahoulas.but i havent had 1 in years.we had a young pup back in the 80s that was trained very easy an she knew her commands.we honked the horn or beat on the side of the truck door to get her attn.she would stop an watch your arm waving all over the cows.an only going after the 1 or 1s you stopped your arm on.an she was never to rough on the cows.
 
I can understand why you would think that. :D truth is if you know the history of the catahoula and the blackmouth cur (remarkably similar background except they were developed in different parts of the country)....is that they evolved to herd wild (feral) cattle without biting them too excessively (botfly was a serious problem back then) and to hunt feral hogs as well. Basically once cattle have been herded by catahoulas..they become what is called dog broke. They calm down faster in presence of those dogs and I've heard that dog broke cattle actually start bunching up automatically at the sight of the dogs coming. Cur dogs work as a living fence..the rancher or the rider rides from behind. The overpowering instinct of the dogs are to STOP action and to keep the livestock bunched together. The feral cattle like to fight and the dogs know this and will go to any lengths to stop them from doing so. Pictures make it look rather dramatic and sometimes it is! The dog broke cattle are less likely to fight the dogs so really it is not like that all the time. I have yet to find a good video on Youtube on catahoulas or blackmouth curs working cattle. I will go and check to see if I can find one.
 
I graduated High School in spring of 1967. At that point in time I owned an International Harvester pickup truck year model 1958, an 1100 lb bay horse ,five leopard cow dogs and 2 -35 foot plymouth nylon ropes. I got paid $7 a day to pen and work cattle or$12 to catch a wild cow. That was only time in my life I was realy foot loose and free. There are a long line of dogs and horses behind me now,Wish I had some of them back. Best one I ever owned was half leopard an half Airedale.
She had no quit in her. Rode off and left her for dead in a pasture 30 miles from home,she got hot an passed out. Couple days later she was home. Found a note on my door from a friend .Note read" Heres your dog. Found her headed this way along the road.Stopped and hollered at her ,she jumped on truck. I got her here got out to leave this note and she bit me!
Tommy.
Tommy is long gone now too.
To those of you used to cows that come to cubes and see you regular,It is hard to understand south Texas cow handling.Some of those cows see a human maybe twice a year. The brush is so thick a man on horseback is hard pressed to pen cattle. A good dog is worth 3 men on horses in the brush. The dogs bunch the cattle and keep stragglers and loners in the bunch. It has been my privilage to have had many good leopard dogs. I hold them in high regard.
 
I used to help a neighbor that ran cows in the woods ... He had curs when the cows saw the dogs or horses they bunched up . I don't think the aussies and healers could handle the humidity and the eared cattle that only see people once a year ...
 

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