WHAT LINE OF CATAHOULA???

Koyote76, The type of Catahoula's you are asking about will probably come from cow dog lines that have been selected to work cattle. This type of dog has a brain that is wired in a different way than most straight hog dogs. Cow dogs are selected for working cattle in a herd, this herd may be three or three hundred but the theory is the same only the number of dogs working increases with the number of cattle. What these cow dog are trying to do is put all the cattle they can find in one tight bunch and hold it together at all costs. When they have a herd together and settled they will/can relax. Their brains are programed to not tolerate an animal outside of the herd, and they will exert maximum pressure on an animal that leaves the herd or will not join the herd.

What this means for a cow dog is that they bay a herd with a lot of circle, they should never stop running around a settled herd and be relaxed and never bite anything. When a single breaks from the herd they hit high gear, their bark rate will double and they will hit that cow hard, biting at every opportunity. This heavy treatment will continue untill the cow returns to the herd. But, (and this is what you are talking about in a hog dog) if the cow does not return to the herd and bays up to fight the dogs (just as a single hog would) the dogs will work and spin the cow untill they can catch. They will stack up on both ears, jaws, and elbows just like on a hog. One of three things will happen. The cow will give up the fight and submit but remain standing, the dogs will pull it to the ground, or the cow will shake off the dogs and run back to the herd.

Cow dogs generally have very clean holding style. They are catching cattle that weigh 800 to 1,500 pounds. If they are going to survive very long they need to grab an ear and stay tucked back at the cows elbow especially on horned cattle. If they get out in front they are going to get hit with the flailing front feet of the cow and knocked to the ground. The cow will then gore them, smash them with her head or try and crush the chest cavity with its knees and brisket. A dog that will catch and hold a 1,000 pound horned cow will catch a hog with out even thinking about it.

How this relates to hog hunting, and your question, is that when a dog finds a single hog, there is no herd for that hog to join that will offer protection from the dogs. Therefore the dogs are programed to catch and hold the hog untill the hunter arrives. I breed a a line of Catahoula's that I use mainly for cattle that work on hogs just as you have described. A pair of them are going to catch anything that can't kill them, that's usually means over two hundred pounds with good teeth.

I hope that makes sense and it is the reason I would suggest you look for some rough cow dog stock for dogs like this.

Thanks,
Paul T