Hi all, sorry to add clutter here (though they are more pics of my cute dog), but I am wanting feedback on breed, because I don't believe this is an Aussie mix....and so I have some questions. I posted a question on a couple of email lists, but couldn't get the pics to upload, so I posted them here...but hey, it's my blog :)
Thanks.
11 comments:
He looks like he might have some black lab in him. He is a beautiful dog.
Kirken,
Thanks. It is a possibility that he is an Aussie/Lab mix (or a Heinz 57 for that matter). There are a lot of labs around here.
But one thing I'm finding is that his herding style, his body type, and the merle pattern that he has seem to be very close to a breed that's kind of popular down south called a "Catahoula" or a Catahoula Cur or Catahoula Leopard Dog (for the spots) They are kind of an all purpose dog. Very intelligent, love to hunt, track, herd cattle and pigs.
He's bigger than an Aussie (he grows every day at alarming rates!) and I think he may end up being a little bigger than a Lab. He also has even more webbing between his toes than a Lab does.
So I posted the pics here and linked to it for a couple of Catahoula breeders/lists, and so far, their belief is that is what he is - at least a mix.
I could care less if he is a mix, but I do want to have some idea what I might be in for temperment wise and size-wise. He's going to be a BIG dog.
Hi,
I read your email on the Catahoula digest. He looks like the "newer" 'Houlas, more slender muzzle. My Teddy, now at Rainbow Bridge, had a square muzzle, blue merle and eyes of crystal blue but the same markings as this gorgeous baby.
Houla's are very intelligent, sensitive dogs, big time chewers even after teething. They're protectors, angels and confidantes. Teddy was my soul and I miss him desperately, all 90lbs of him.
I wish you and your family the best.
BTW, I have bunnies too. 5 dogs, 1 cat, 20 birds and always room for one more.
Cheers,
Lexi T.
Lexi,
How does your 'Houla treat your bunnies...I haven't let Scully near one yet without being on a leash. He snapped at it a bit, but in that puppy play way (but we are working on that!) My border collie just would sit and keep an eye on them.
Scully looks like an adorable purebred blue leopard Catahoula! I have a red leopard Catahoula and he is just fantastic. Protective when necessary, but he passed his Therapy Dogs International test and is very gentle with the elderly and kids. Enjoy your new little one!
Leave it to me to go to the pound to purposely mutt and come home with a purebred (again).
I do think Catahoulas have a really interesting history to them, though...and so mix or purebred, I think its cool that it crossed my path. Three days ago, I'd never heard of them.
(the history is that it is believed that they descended from a mix between the war dogs (greyhounds and mastiffs) that Hernando DeSoto brought with him into the Louisiana territory and the semi-domesticated red wolves that the regiounal Indians used for hunting, making them the first truly native breed of dog
to the United States. Then, when the French occupied the Louisiana Territory, they admired the dog and crossbred it with the Beuceron, and thus came up with the breed of Catahoula Leopard Dog that currently exists.)
As a history nut...I think this is kind of cool.
Pretty Pooch!
I think that I see a blue healer in him. He reminds of my grandparents cowdogs. Theirs were a little lighter in color.
Thank you...whatever he is, I think he's gorgeous!
I live in a semi-rural area and we see abandoned or runaway critters here fairly often. This one looks a bit like one we own. Our vet guessed that it was a blue heeler cross with, perhaps, a setter. Whatever, he's got bird dog mannerisms but a beaver's appetite for wood.
LOL...yeah, this one has a penchant for eating sticks, too.
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