Any experience(s) with Catahoula Leopard Dogs?

[irkenequine]

That describes ours perfectly. He is very intense and loves the cat chase. Smart beyond his years.

Ironically and in an insanely stupid decision that worked out wonderfully, the first puppy that was ever ‘mine’ was a catahoula my parents let me pick out for my 10th birthday. Now I would NEVER recommend one as a child’s first puppy (we’d only had adults prior in my life) but she was an off-beat one. Quiet, submissive, sweet as could be, didn’t have a chase in her. We lost her at 6 to an unknown heart defect, and I think that played into her low key personality. She was TOTALLY opposite of any other I’ve ever met.

[vacation1]

[QUOTE=wendy;5995127]
I suspect that 99% of dogs stated to be “catahoula” or “catahoula mix” dogs haven’t a drop of catahoula blood in them, they are just carriers of merle coloring from more common breeds like aussies, or even great danes. So if you’re asking because some rescue is listing a “catahoula-” needing a home, well, odds are it’s some other breed.[/QUOTE]

I share this suspicion, not least because in my experience, dog people who work in rescue (aka, those who do Petfinder ads) tend to be A) huge fans of pit bulls and B) prone to swooniness over oddball breeds, usually the bigger, more difficult ones. Combine many pit bill attributes with an exotic coat and eye, and presto, an otherwise inexplicable shelter population of a hound breed from one relatively small rural area.