WHAT LINE OF CATAHOULA???

There is as much difference in cow dogs as hog dogs. Some cow bred dogs just don't crave working hogs. Some don't have the "hunting drive" to go deep and find hogs. You can have a nice usable cow dog that doesn't have much hunt because you are taking the dog to cattle and then he goes to work. I would be interested to me to watch a dog like that work and try and understand why that dog didn't make it as a hog dog.

I ask a lot of my cow dogs. The best of the best that I raise will always be outstanding "go find them" dogs. The dogs that can't quite make the cut (because of style) will almost always make really nice hog dogs, for someone else......so I am used to seeing the opposite of what you are talking about. My only guess would be a genitic preferance for cattle over hogs.

A top cow dog has got to do about three times the tasks that a good hog dog does and style is much more important with a cow dog. Three examples of that would be natural handle, constant circling on a settled bay, and leading out cattle that are being driven.

A dog handlers job is to help the dog find the work that they can excel in and let them work. If we are trying to put a square peg in a round hole we are not doing the dog any favors. I don't want to be good at fixing square pegs, I want to breed better round pegs.

Thanks,
Paul T