Friday, January 4, 2019

The One Dog Wonder

A descendant of Diamond Cutter in Italy


In the beginning, I believed hog hunting required two dogs minimun in case a dog got into a bind like the two below in the bay pen.



Photo above courtesy of Mr. Charlie Tucker, of Toshimingo, Mississippi





Photo above courtesy of Mr. Charlie Tucker, of Toshimingo, Mississippi


But after I started breeding Blair bred dogs, I had to agree with the old timers, who told me, "If you got the right dog, you only need one dog!'



Jesse and Gus(at six months old) during a 'training' session at my bay pen in Carencro, Louisiana



       Well the right dog is often hard to find these days because a lot of people are breeding for show, and not performance.



Mr. Amos Mann of the Two Diamonds Ranch and Blair's Diamond Cutter



Blair bred dogs are not only capable of winning the dog show, they can also be the one getting it done in the pen, woods, swamp, marsh and on the prairie rounding up cattle.


                           
              de la Houssaye's Arnold, a great grandson of Blair's Diamond Cutter



Delight Catahoulas working cows in Hungary, Europe



I have spent litterally hundreds of hours talking to old timers like Sherry Bando, Charlie Fontenot, and Amos Mann. And lately I have been talking a lot with Mr. Charlie Tucker of Toshimingo, Mississippi.
Sherry Bando is honored every year in January @ the East Texas Hog Baying Championships 


A few years ago, I was talking with Sherry Bando and I advised her that I don't put my dogs in harms way until they are 2 years old, and she asked: "Where did you get that from?" I said, I had learned the hard way and watched too many dogs die before they were a year old. And that led to us discussing a lot of things most people do not know, because they won't listen to the old timers like I did.



Diamond W Scudder of Sherry Bando's Campawhile bloodline



One thing that I did not believe is if you got the right stuff there is no culls. 100% performance is not common in working dogs, because most people don't have Blair bred dogs when it comes to Catahoulas.


Two Diamonds Cayenne Rose @ my bay pen in Carencro, Louisiana


 But that is not the biggest problems with Blair bred dogs. Most who DO have Blair bred dogs don't know how to handle them!



de la Houssaye's Jesse and Gus in training...


The 'one dog wonder' is what Charlie Fontenot called 'em!








Sherry recommended that we run one dog at a time because if you got the right dog, you only need one!


de la Houssaye's Ruby showing the youngsters how it is done



 and.... here is the kicker: they have a higher survival rate because one dog by his self will not get killed and die by being too close and or catching before you get there.





I am Marcus de la Houssaye, and I breed Blair bred Louisiana Catahoula dogs. My cell phone is temporarily down so I can be reached by email: catahoula1@gmail.com







Here is a couple of my hog hunting friends at the Sherry Bando Memorial baying at the East Texas Hog Baying Championships a few years ago, with some good advise!


"RUN YOUR DOGS, NOT YOUR MOUTH!" Thanks for that one Jake Loiacanao!