Catahoula Leopard Dog or Rhodesian Ridgeback?

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Why not get another boxer or boxer mix? Have you checked with any boxer rescues to see what they have? My avatar (Lucy) is part boxer and part random dog. She's a GREAT dog! I got her from the Bluegrass Boxer Rescue in Kentucky. You never know what you might find.

 

[muddyhorse]

I have a catahoula and a weim. cats are not for the faint of heart. My fathers would go out and "retrieve" coyotes. they are a header dog meaning they go for the face. yes they look cool but are stubborn. Lessie has killed chickens they have an extremely strong drive. go meet a real breeder and visit their dogs before you get a cute pup.

 

[IcarusSomnio]

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I'm not too fond of Boxers themselves...I just don't like the face. I've met several and they are some of the sweetest dogs around, very beautiful...but the face!

I like big noses, what can I say?
I've been looking!

I saw a LabxBoxerxPit mix...but I really don't want anything with pit in it. There are some fine pits around, but the ones I've seen around here are in need of some serious attitude adjustments. Labs are fun and adorable, but too chunky.

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If I can find one around here I definitely will, they LOOK like strong willed dogs! I was working Hazel today when one of my Dutch rabbits got out, there is no stopping her when she gets it in her head to bring something down. I pinned her (the rabbit was playing dead) and she STILL snagged the darn thing and tried to drag it over so she could break the neck!
Bunny was fine-just slobbered and a little shook up. Turns out she decided to go diggin' under the tractor. I didn't have time to move the tractor yesterday and didn't think to move it today when I was working Haze. Bunny rebeled

I'm certainly not looking for a 'cool' or 'fashionable' dog. I want a working with a prey drive, energetic, loyal, and trainable dog....with a nice body type

I don't like chunky dogs, I prefer dogs like Catahoulas, broad, deep chests, big hindquarters, muscular shoulders, longer snouts, and strong jaws. I had Hazel going back and forth over the chain link fence in the backyard and doing laps around the house. Did a quick mock-hunt after we caught the rabbit, she was pretty tuckered out by then (it's almost nine o' clock at night and she's ready to go running again! XD)

I'll probably wait until I'm on my farm (I'm going bug nuttery here, and I'm on the OUTSIDE of town) before getting another pup. Unless something really irresistible shows up

Hazel would probably love a playmate she can really run with (she usually terrifies Duke) but it seems like I'm keeping her busy enough.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I'm with you on the face thing. I like the longer snout. Both of mine are boxer mixes and both have a longer "normal" snout. I'm wondering if blending the boxer with anything gives a long snout. It would be interesting to know if the smushed up face is recessive.

Face shot of both-

 

[Beekissed]

Can't imagine why you aren't considering a Lab? Easy to train, energetic, high energy, slick coat if you get the right breeding, bird dogs extraordinaire. And...at the end of the day...Labs are just the best family dogs around. I've owned three and haven't got a bad word to say about them.

 

[Brindlebtch]

Sound like Hazel has quite a bit of prey drive. If you get another dog with fierce prey drive, like a cat, to run with her, then the whole dynamic is going to change. It won't be you and Hazel, but you and a "pack", which is much harder to control. You would probably have been looking at an exploding rabbit and not just a slobbery one.

 

[mom2jedi]

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That's a very good point. Definitely something to consider. I'm starting to wonder if my Catahoula is an anomaly. Absolutely fantastic family dog. Happy to sit around the house with us, loves riding in the car, will do his laps around the yard, etc. He would herd when he was younger but only people, we would have to lock him in our room whenever we had birthday parties for the kids because he would try to keep track of all the kids running around and would end up looking panicked after 15 minutes, it was like he was saying "they won't stay where I put them!" He's calmed down significantly since then. I've never had a problem with my chickens or any of they other small animals we have. Could be he was raised with cats that put him in his place if he got too rough. Also could be my 7yo DD was only 6 months old when we got him so grew up with her too. He'll alert when someone walks in the front door, and happily goes back and forth with us bringing in groceries from the car and I never worry about him running off.

He is protective of his house though, I was outside watering in the front yard and he was lounging in the sun behind me, when all of a sudden I heard him take off like a shot. By the time I turned around I just barely saw him dash around the corner of the house heading down our property line. When I reached the corner of the house, he was already at the corner of our property (100' or so) with his hackles raised just standing there. What I figured was, one of the neighborhood cats must have come around the corner (they cut across our front lawn sometimes) and got spooked when they saw the dog. He probably wouldn't have chased it if it hadn't ran. As it was, he only chased it to the end of the property, as soon as I called him he trotted back over stopping to remark the side yard once or twice on the way.

So I wonder if he's an exception to the breed, hardly anyone knows what he is out here and the few people that do are amazed by how calm he is.

 

[dinahmoe]

i have had both and they were both strong headed.i loved both of their personalities for different reasons as i had them at different times in my life.your hazel looks like a purebred catahoula unless she is really huge.does she have blue in her eyes?she also sounds like one by the way she acts.i don't think great danes or boxers like to hunt or flush.my catty looked just like yours and had a strong prey drive.i don't want to discourage you but if everything is ok now,don't mess it up with another dog.i did just that and i vowed never to have 3 does at once again.it changed their behavior and they had to adjust their lifestyle as well.which ever you decide i would get a boy because of hazel being dominate.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

I bred Danes - they're actually fantastic hunters. Mine were show bred since time forgot - they had never NOT been show dogs, since the turn of the last century - and I still had two take down a full-grown whitetail buck when he jumped into their pen. There are a lot of stories of people's champion dogs going on a "field trip" to a farm and having to be tackled before they killed something (most often a pig). They're just huge hounds and they absolutely positively WILL go after stuff.

On the original question, I know a bunch of show-bred RRs and they're wonderful, but the breed is becoming more popular and there are more of them being badly bred. There's definitely epilepsy and a few other health problems in the breed.

If you want flushing/hunting/falconry, go to one of those breeds. There are some fantastic breeders of both purebred hunting sloughis and salukis and tazis and the cross-bred lurcher and longdog types. You'll be a lot happier in the long run if you get a well-bred dog who comes out of the box knowing their job than trying to train another random mix. The good tazi breeders are all falconers themselves, so you'd get help on that end as well.

I wouldn't breed Hazel, by the way - not because she's mixed but because breeding mixes is a crapshoot. The reason they excel at something has to do with a chance mixing of two completely different breeds, and you can't replicate that. Even if you found another boxer/dane cross, breeding the two of them would result in some who were more boxery, some more daneish, and a bunch in the middle but not very much like their parents. Mixing is how people develop new breeds, yes, but it's an enormous project that spans decades before you get anything worth having. For most people buying an established breed or line, even though it costs more, is a much better risk.

 

[dinahmoe]

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wow!a full grown deer.
when i worked at the vet i came across alot of danes and they were all just big lap dogs.never new they were hunters tho.good to know.