(Not one of the anti-Obama Catahoula breeder’s dogs!)
I admit there are some dogs I’ve just not qualified to own.
I’m not going to try an ovtcharka of any sort. That’s just way outside my area of expertise.
Ditto on Fila Brasileiros.
I don’t think I would be a good fit for a pet coyote either.
Now, all of those are based upon what I know and what I know I don’t know.
My political views have little to do with it.
Now, the dog world is quite political– about the dogs.
And those politics are often amusing, and if they were ever to stop, I’d run out of material for this blog in very short time!
But I’ve noticed in recent years that the actual human political scene has worked its way into dogs.
Many dog breeders are radical libertarians or paleoconservative. Many dog rescuers are vegan leftists.
I’m actually neither, though I’d be closer to being called a “leftist” than a libertarian.
I left a well-known list on Yahoo! groups because all they did was Tea Party this and Tea Party that and conspiracy theory this and conspiracy theory that.
And no one ever talked about dogs.
But politics aside, most dog people don’t really care who you voted for.
At least I hope not.
It has come to my attention via a reader in the Blog Readers’ Group today that there is one kennel that is denying placing any puppy or adult dog with Obama voters.
This is Oak Hill Catahoulas in Townsend, Georgia. The owner of the kennel is Kyle Duncan.
Judging from what it says on the bottom of his website, he’s not a big fan of Obama. And if you voted for him, you aren’t getting a dog from him!
Click to enlarge.
The page says:
If you voted for Obama, or you are a Registered Democrat I will not sell you a dog, You have proven that you can not take care of an animal, there are no food stamps or Obama care for animals!!! Please do not call or Email me, you are a loser!!!
Well, I did vote for Obama, even though even though almost no one in my state did, and I’ve been a registered Democrat as soon as I was old enough to register to vote.
I think this fellow is also operating under the assumption that the only person who would want a Catahoula, which are very good hunting dogs, would be conservative hunter types.
But not all American hunters are conservative, just as not all white Southerners are.
I can see the idea that you only sell to working homes as a tradition that exists in so many breeds, but why cast the net so small that it gets only the conservatives?
We live in a strange country. And at a very strange time.
Even the effing dogs are caught up in the spectacle.
It’s a shame.
A damn shame.
What in the world is a paleoconservative?
Pat Buchanan.
Tango (my Catahoula leopard dog) would happily play fetch with Obama and I would be perfectly happy to let her Scottie! Then again she is an Aussie dog and cares little for politics! Come feeding times however she does display socialist traits if her bowl is empty and the other animals are a bit slow in eating up :)
They are are quite a few progressive people in the US who own this breed. It’s really a sort of heritage breed here.
Yeah and I dare say quite a few of them are Democrats. Some of whom even voted for President Obama. Hell, a lot of them will probably vote for Ms. Hilary next time (if she runs). And they won’t even have to lie about THAT in order to get along with their neighbors ;-P !
I DIED laughing when one of my friends posted this. And as a white Southerner named ABNEY, it’s even more ironic. I can’t have one of his dogs even though he has a line that is famous that was developed by a member of my family, because I voted for Obama. I have to wonder how exactly he is going to figure out if his puppy applicants are Democrats…
In West Virginia, all you have to do is go up to the courthouse and pay about ten dollars and you can get the list of the all the registered Democrats in the county.
But that’s a lot of work if you plan to do that large scale.
I didn’t know you were any kin to those Abneys, but it is even funnier than I thought!
For those who don’t know: http://www.abneycatahoulas.com/
The Louisiana Abneys are distant cousins to the illustrious South Carolina Abneys. But blood is blood! I wonder if my name would trump my voting record if I were to contact Oak Hill?
I don’t know, but do you have any need for a cur dog?
Not at this time. Maybe one day when I decide to try my hand at hog hunting. 8-)
I find it interesting that this is the only cur breed that people know, and it’s only because it’s the state dog of Louisiana and because it’s got a name that makes people think it hunts leopards.
I remember trying to explain to people in my seventh grade class that Ol’ Yeller was a cur dog like a Catahoula, and no one knew what I was talking about. (He was a blackmouth or something ancestral to a blackmouth cur).
Around here country folks know Blackmouths & Mountain Curs as well as Plotts & Walkers which are really just hound curs, not purebreds. But Joe Q. Average Dog Lover has never heard of them. They all think Ol’ Yeller was a yellow Lab.
Well, it was a Labrador that played the role of Ol’ Yeller in the movie. So, no surprise that people would assume. The word “cur” to JQPublic is a derogatory term, as is “mutt”.
I’ve read of “Spike”, the dog who starred as Old Yeller in the Disney film, described as being a Black-Mouth Cur (obviously he wasn’t), a Chinook (wrong again), a Labrador, and a mixed breed. According to the commentary on the “Old Yeller” DVD, Spike was actually a Lab/Mastiff mix. But I don’t know if his parentage was known or just guessed; story has it that Frank Weatherwax paid three dollars for him at a Van Nuys, CA dog pound & was so impressed by his huge size and his intelligence that he made Spike his personal pet.
Spike also had roles in other films including “A Dog of Flanders”.
I’ve often wondered what breeds actually went into his mix. At a reputed 170 lbs, Lab x Mastiff would explain the size, but seems to me that a direct Lab x Mastiff cross would not have Spike’s haywire ears but would have true drop ears instead. Maybe more than two breeds were involved & one or more of them had erect ears. Guess we’ll never know.
No doubt you’re right. Doesn’t sound like a purebred Labrador. Although some of the ones I’ve seen lately are approaching that size! Such as the 27″ tall, 110 pound 10 month old younster i saw not long ago. . .
Why do they have the leopard in their name?
Because there are so many merle dogs in the breed. Spots. And because it makes them sound cool. Which they are. 8-)
I’m guessing because they are commonly merled, making them mostly spotted. Spotted horses (or, at least one gene causing spots) are called leopard, too.
There’s a guy around here (San Francisco) who has a CLD named Finn. He told me he was from LA, and that he went all the way back there to get Finn. Wonder if it’s one of your pups?
There’s not mine specifically, it’s just that I’m a distant cousin to Don Abney. 8-)
Oh, I see :)
Taking this a different way.
Is it really possible that breeders have full control over their puppies futures?
I mean I have seen breeders with contracts that state things that
A, there is no way you could know about.
B, put people off.
Surely over tight contracts ect result in people heading to the nearest back yard breeder who just takes the money!
Adam
There is a small handful of CLD’s here in the ok. Haven’t met any of them though. For me the CLD is in a different way like the Saarloos Wolfhond, both breeds I like the look of, but probably not the right sort of home for.
Could see myself with an Ovtcharka, but that’s probably because I already have another one of the lgd breed/types.
Why all this labelling of people. Isn’t who you vote for strictly your private concern and a somewhat irrelevant question for anyone to ask in the context of buying a little puppy dog in a liberal democracy. You jest, of course.
Shades of Nazism…in its heyday, Nazi Germany forbade breeding “Aryan” dogs to “Jewish” dogs. Crazy stuff!!
Why would you not be a good fit for a pet coyote?
They tend to be shy and quick to bite.
I had a coydog. Smooth collie mix x coyote. He was extremely intelligent, but he, also, was shy and quick to bite. Especially kids and especially if they were running; I had to keep a close eye on him when kids were running around. He only ever actually bit one person (a child who crawled under my desk at the vet clinic where I worked), and he only bruised, did not break skin, but that was a warning to me. He didn’t bark much & when he did it was in short yips, although he “woo-wooed” sort of like a husky does, and seemed sometimes to be trying to “speak human”. :-D. I have fond memories of him but I would not want another coydog.
Is that one of those “blue dog” democrats I keep hearing so much about?
Why can I faintly but distictly hear someone playing duelling banjos. Sadly, there is no law that bans gradiose dicks from breeding dogs, or breeding full stop.
LOL! Ain’t that the truth!
I recently joined a group on facebook that styles itself a group for “all dog breeders” & espousing “all opinions”. I don’t breed dogs anymore, haven’t for years, but I joined it so I could read the posts about fat Labradors & the show breeders’ defense of them. Haha I quickly became embroiled in several “verbal altercations” with some people who are strict “AKC Conformists” (well, I suppose if one is a narrowly-focused breeder of conformation show dogs, they can legitimately be called a Conformist ;-D ).
SHEESH! And I thought that Tea Party-ers were narrow-minded !
But wasn’t it HILARIOUS? At least I had to laugh…to keep from banging my face into a wall. Thanks for joining in the fray!
Yes it was, Anna! :-D . Thanks for turning me on to that page – I haven’t laughed so much (or banged my head so much) in a long time!
Catahoulas were registered with ARF (Animal Research Foundation), long before NALC. Check out Mr. Tom Stodghill
His organization and scholarship saved and standardized a lot of landrace working dogs that are endemic to the United States, including this one.
Hey. that’s my dog Blue Bizarre. He is born and raised in Holland and has no interest in any political business (neither do I).
I didn’t know they were even found outside of the USA or Canada.
Those are our ol’ cur dogs, which even most Americans don’t think are actually breeds.
There’s a handful in the uk.