Question by stormwarnfm: New puppy, maybe blue tick or catahoula, have questions, can you help?
We have a new puppy. We now assume he was dumped (no one responded to our “found” ads or called in any missing puppy at our pound) at our home. He is about 6-8 weeks old by looking at him.

I will be taking him to the vet on payday to get puppy shots, so I will know more for sure, hopefully, what breed he is…but looking at pictures online…he looks like either a blue tick hound or a catahoula hound.

He has a brindle face and a black dot on his back that is perfectly round…his tail is already docked (which is why we placed found ads, first), and his fur is mostly white with this undertone of brown . His front legs are kind of spotty or “ticked”.

We have a Miniature Schnauzer and 6 cats, and all are getting along with him great, thank goodness!

My questions are:

If he is blue tick or catahoula, what is their temperament? I know those breeds are bred to hunt, but we have a Miniature Schnauzer, so we know all about what to do, such as keeping in a fenced yard and always on a leash when walking so they don’t run after a leaf, etc…haha

How big does a dog like that get? He will be an inside dog, but be allowed plenty of walks and playtime with my 2 kids. Probably a good 3 or 4 hours of good activity a day, and we are starting to kennel train him, which he seems to be liking.

How trainable are they? The little guy seems pretty smart…he is taking to his kennel, as I mentioned, as well as learning commands like “come”, “inside”, and “outside” and the word “kennel”.

Finally, what else would I need to know about this breed to make sure that we know what to have or do to cater to his needs?
Good idea on the microchip…surely a vet would check that out for free before my payday comes next week.

That’s what made us suspect, too, the docked tail…when we found him…the dock was dirty…it wasn’t fresh…but looked like he had a little bit of scab left.

My only thoughts are either: he is a lost puppy, OR, someone thought they could handle a puppy and couldn’t…as almost all puppies are chewers, etc…and if you’re not prepared or dedicated to changing those behaviors, it won’t happen.

Thanks for that idea, and thanks to the other poster for that link on Cattle dogs…he’s not that “ticked” but he sure could have that build.
***EDIT*** HERE’S a picture of Chance.

http://www.geocities.com/stormwarnfm/chance.jpg

One last thing…the brown ticking is really light on his hind legs…and darker on his front legs…this picture is a week old and his legs are darker now.

Best answer:

Answer by kristendw78
It sounds to me like you might have an Australian Cattle Dog pup there. The site has some info about them http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/australiancattledog.htm and I found a picture of one with a spot on it’s back like your pup http://www.haustiere-info.de/images/tiere/australian-cattle-dog.jpg
and here’s the AKC site http://www.akc.org/breeds/australian_cattle_dog/

Edit: Hmmm. Now that you’ve posted a picture of him, I’d say he looks sort of like a Jack Russell terrier. The vet might be able to give you a better idea about his breeds(s). Strange that no one has claimed him. Have you tried posting ads online? I know www.petfinder.com has a lost and found section, plus there are many others you can try. It just seems odd that someone had the pups tail docked, and isn’t looking for it. Plus if he did escape, he couldn’t have traveled too far being so young.

What do you think? Answer below!