Hi, I know it’s probably a long shot considering what I’ve read on the other threads, but I have a catahoula leopard dog bitch and im looking for a stud however it seems that this breed isn’t the easiest to come by in the UK… Anyone know any where I can find a stud?
I've had a Google and even in the USA they don't seem to have a breed club, and the breed is only eligible for registration under the AKC Foundation Stock Service. It would seem that the chances of finding a stud dog in the UK is unlikely. It might be worth contacting the Kennel Club (now officially the Royal Kennel Club), to ask whether they have been asked to register any examples of this breed. As it is classed as a herding breed in the country of origin, it would most likely to have been recorded in the Pastoral Group, but without a national breed standard it is unlikely to have been accepted. Alternatively, you could take your girl on holiday to the US .... Good luck.
Probably the last 15-20 years you'll see "catahoula" as a breed identifier in many mixed breed puppies and dogs. Yet you rarely see purebred catahoulas for sale. So you have to wonder if the identification in mixed breeds is at all accurate. I point that out to say that in many regions in the US, they are very uncommon. So my suggestion is to really think if you want to seriously breed your dog. First, why do you want to breed her? Do you want to establish the breed in the UK? Do you want one of her puppies? If the latter, I suspect you will end up putting a lot of money into breeding her only to be disappointed in her offspring. Unfortunately, this happens far more often than you'd think - the parent dog is extraordinary and you breed them expecting extraordinary puppies, but they don't have that specialness that the parent dog has. I always tell folks to consider the breed as a whole. Does your dog represent the standard in that breed - mentally and physically? If so, then there really isn't anything "special" about your dog unless you've won competitions, etc. You will be just as likely to find another great dog by buying from an established and reputable breeder than you are by breeding yourself. If your dog is not representative of the breed, then the odds of getting another dog like her is very unlikely. She's basically an outlier and breeding her will end up getting more of the typical breed personality and physicality in the puppies. You might not see another one like her in several generations if ever. If you are looking to establish the breed in the UK, then your best bet is to do some networking with breeders in other countries where they are more established. In this situation, you may end up doing insemination from sperm brought to the UK. And you should be promoting the breed in the UK long before you reach the point of breeding. You will want to find people serious about the breed in order to build up a viable population. Until then, you will need to bring over dogs and sperm from proven lines for breeding.
First of all if you intend to breed you need to find a mentor to guide your efforts. Then you need to title the bitch in something to prove it's breedworthy meaning fits the standard as far as judges telling you whether your dog is a good candidate for breeding. I don't know a reason you'd breed a pet dog because so many backyard bred dogs end up in shelters. You want to breed for the sake of making money you really need to learn a lot from another breeder. https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/catahoula-leopard-dog/
Have you contacted the breeder where you got your dog from to see if they know of other breeders with suitable stud dogs
