Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog

The Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog is a very beautiful dog who's name comes from the Catahoula Parish, in Louisiana. Its aliases include Catahoula Leopard Dog, Catahoula Cur, Catahoula Hog Dog, Catahoula Hound, Catahoula Leopard Hound, Leopard Cur, Leopard Dog, and Louisiana Catahoula Cur. It used to be called simply Catahoula leopard dog, but was officially renamed later.

Appearance
This breed has perfect body structure for their occupation. They have a flat and broad skull, solid and straight legs, and a deep chest. This breed's eye and coat color varies to the extreme. Eyes may be amber, light brown, light blue, green, gray, or tri-colored. Coat colors are often spotted with various colors, hence the name Leopard Dog. Coat colors may be blue and red merle, brindle, brown, white, gray, black, black spotted, silver, patch worked, or tri-colored. Most breeds are various in color and spotted or patched, which is where the etymology originates. Their coat is typically smooth, coarse, and singular. Catahoulas have a long whip-like tail, and very prominent webbing between their toes, more prominent than that of a Labrador Retriever or a Newfoundland. They stand at a 20-26 inches in height and weigh in at 40-90 lbs.

Behavior
Leopard dogs are independent, but loving dogs. Leopard dogs are independent and territorial, but protective of their owners. They are also very loving with those of whom it knows, but those they don't, they may be reserved and suspicious. Catahoulas are very intelligent and are fairly easy to train. Due to this breed's energy, it needs daily exercise and mental stimulation. If not given these requirements, it may resort to chewing household items and digging holes. They aren't aggressive, but rather assertive to dogs or to people. They enjoy being in charge. However, if they are a family job, they view it their occupation to protect the family from doom. This quality makes this breed a good family dog, if put in the proper and firm hands. But be aware, for they are alarm dogs, and won't hesitate to bark if there is suspicious activity.

History
Nobody knows for sure what this breed originated from, but most people hypothesize that they are hybrids. But people do know that this dog did originate in the Catahoula region of Louisiana. In 1979, it was declared the state dog of Louisiana. In the past, this breed was used to round up escaped livestock and feral cattle and pigs in the marshy areas of the state, where the webbed toes came to great use. Other times they used this breed to trap raccoons in areas that the hunters could obtain them, but leopard dogs were more at home rounding up boars and cattle, also where the name Catahoula Hog dog originated. In 2007, it was voted to be the school mascot for Centenary College of Louisiana.

Work
They mainly hunt and track. Some of the animals this breed has been used to hunt include squirrels, raccoons, deer, boar, pumas, and black bears even! Leopard dogs have been introduced in Australia to hunt boar there, but the numbers of the dogs there has not been determined. Due to their primary use of herding abilities, they were recognized by some clubs as a herding breed.

Top Names

 * 1) Scout
 * 2) Bosco
 * 3) Skip
 * 4) Annie
 * 5) Lizzy
 * 6) Toby
 * 7) Buster
 * 8) Rocket
 * 9) Mason

Poll
Do you find these dogs beautiful Absolutely gorgeous! Oh my! Hehe, sure Meh Nope No way! I've seen a sewer that looked better than this! >:(