Border Collie

SCRAPS Breed Profile LOUISIANA CATAHOULA LEOPARD Stats Country of Origin: United States Group: Herding Use today: Working farm/ranch dog, watchdog, herding, (large game) hunting, companion. Life Span: 12 to 13 years Color: Coat color is a merle or black/tan pattern. Coat: The short, single coat can be course, but most are short and tight. Grooming: Since the Catahoula is a short, single-coated dog, the grooming needs are minimal. They should have a bath a couple of times of year (unless they get into something and get filthy) and a good brushing once a week. The nails should be trimmed regularly and the teeth kept clean. This breed is an average to light constant shedder. When nervous or stressed, they have a tendency to shed more, especially when you are petting them. Height: Males 22 - 26 inches; Females 20 - 24 inches Weight: 55 – 80 pounds Profile In Brief: Catahoula leopard dogs are distrustful Temperament: The Louisiana Catahoula of strangers and should be socialized as Leopard Dog is independent, protective, and puppies. These dogs are extremely loyal and territorial. Loving with their family and all people affection toward their owners, however, and they know well and reserved with strangers (this friendly with people they know. Both would include strange children). They need to independent and dominate, leopard dogs need a make up to a person, not a person make up to firm, experienced owner. They require daily them. Of course there are temperaments on exercise. Jogging or other high impact activity is both sides of this, but this is for the average required for at least an hour each day to keep dog. They mature right around 2 and it is as if a these dogs healthy. Extremely agile, leopard light goes on and they say to themselves "I am dogs also enjoy exercising in ways that use their an adult now and I need to act grown up." This agility. Activities such as playing catch with a breed's reservation with strangers should not be Frisbee may be a good way to exercise the dog noticed in a pup, but will show as the dog without exhausting the owner. matures. Although affectionate with his master, the Catahoula is not recommended for the casual pet owner who is uninterested in allowing Description: The short, single coat is colored in the dog to function in his intended capacity. For a merle or black/tan pattern. Some coats can be the right owner, this is a protective yet course, but most are short and tight. Color is an dominating canine. Signs of timidly on a leash especially notable feature in this herder: eye should not be taken as cowardness, but the color and coat color working in a very intolerance for strangers. This breed needs a complementary and expressive way. The skull is dominant owner who shows strong leadership. broad and flat. The legs are solid and strong boned. The deep chest provides for good heart and lung capacity. Health: Prone to hip dysplasia and deafness. But, they are not a high energy level dog, as Along with the deafness (both ears or just one) seen in Border Collies, Jack Russell Terriers, this breed can have eye problems (tunnel vision, Fox Terriers, Aussie, and some of the hunting eye won't open all the way, pupil is abnormal, breeds such as the German Shorthaired Pointer. etc.). As a breed they are relatively free of a lot The Catahoula should have daily exercise of diseases. Some older dogs are known to running free in a fenced in yard or safe open have gotten cancer. area. They love going for a jog, hike or participating in agility. Living Conditions: Some do well in apartments while others do not. It all depends on the lines of Origins: The Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog the dog and how much time an owner spends is believed to have originated from Nordic with the dog and how much exercise it receives. Wolfhound being introduced some three to five Catahoula need attention. This is not a dog that hundred years before the Spanish arrived - can be tied to a dog house, fed, and ignored. However, no one will really know for sure. The Chaining and or ignoring a Catahoula will either state of Louisiana is cited as the point of origin, make them shy or aggressive. They need particularly the area of Catahoula. In 1979, the human companionship. This does not mean breed was designated the state dog of they need to live in your pocket and cannot be Louisiana. The Catahoula was named after a kept outside; this breed needs direction, training, Parish in Northeastern Louisiana and after the something to do, people, attention, etc. If they mottled spots on its coat. At one time this breed are kept outside where it is really cold, they was used to round up feral pigs and cattle -- need a good warm dog house, preferably one livestock that had escaped, and was living in that has an entrance and then a turn into the woods and swamps. It involved team effort that sleeping quarters. That way they are protected is highly coordinated and organized, fast paced, from the elements. They need to be kept inside dangerous, and a marvel to watch. The ideal in really cold weather, as they are a single dog team usually numbers three, and they must coated dog. work together. Otherwise, the one pig can kill all three in a matter of minutes. Each dog has to be Exercise: When the Catahoula plays they can aware of what the pig and the other two dogs be very noisy and physical. People need to be are doing and react accordingly. Hunters careful and teach the dog to control their play. sometimes used the Catahoula to trail and tree When playing with this breed, one needs to be raccoons, but this dominant breed is more at careful that they are not hurt by the dog running home acting the thug with obstinate boars. This into them, jumping and bumping them. They do dog is used particularly on the difficult task of need exercise and will start getting into trouble driving and rounding hogs and unruly cattle. chewing, digging, barking etc. if they don't get it. Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service 6815 E. Trent • Spokane Valley • Washington • 99212 (509) 477-2532 voice (509) 477-4745 fax www.spokanecounty.org/animal .

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