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Panhead Catahoulas
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Thu, 05 Jun 2008
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Posted 11:26
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Wed, 16 Apr 2008
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 Why Dogs Cost More |
I have been putting off this announcement,
but am stuck with it. Due to circumstances which
are, I swear, beyond our control, our puppies in
the future will be priced at $300. Anyone who has
in the past bought a puppy can still buy another
as needed for $200. The most reasonably priced
veterinarian in Panama City wants nearly $60 per
puppy for the required health certificate, our
$10 sacks of dogfood now approach $15, thanks to
our government's inspired embrace of corn ethanol
as the new fuel (ever hear of switchgrass?),
vaccines go up constantly, plus I am a
construction worker and there is a recession and
real estate collapse in Florida. It's not pretty
but there it is. If Panhead Catahoulas is to
continue, the folks who support us by buying
puppies will have to pay more. I don't know how
this is going to work out, Lord knows we are not
the only household dealing with a tanking
economy, and raising prices during a recession is
not a sure fire strategy for success, but I am
hopeful. We are hopeful of producing this year
some of our finest dogs ever, and I am definitely
excited about that!
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Posted 18:54
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Fri, 14 Mar 2008
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| In Memory of Our Founder, Stephanie Johnson Cox |
This month marks the tenth anniversary of the
death of Stephanie, who caused all this to come
to be. It is an occassion of sadness for me
personally, and many of her friends around the
country who have survived longer than she did.
Like the true biker she was, she chose to exit
during Bike Week, and when Bike Week rolls
around, I tend to stop and reflect upon the long,
I may say as well strange, journey she set me on.
I am happy to report Panhead kennel is doing
fairly well these days, our most recent litter
from Eclipse, sired by Panhead's Doughboy, was
sold out by the time they were old enough to
travel, and we are now on puppy hiatus, at least
for the next several months. Tabasco and Wendy
are scheduled to produce their last (third)
litter later this year, and we are excited, if
again a bit saddened, by that. But life goes on,
and so will their line of dogs.
Currently, I am using my off-days from the
carpentry thing to construct a pen for the
Panhead pig ("Razor") recently acquired for us
through the efforts of Panhead's Jr. Gong
("Junior", more familiarly) which should help us
gauge the hogdog aptitude of individual pups in
the future. We currently have dogs out hunting
the length and breadth of Florida, as well as in
Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and likely
elsewhere. We have a dog getting picked up
tommorrow that is going to New York, another next
week bound for Texas.
Sometimes, it seems like you work and work and
get nowhere fast, but when I stop and reflect, we
have indeed come a long way from those first
three or four dogs Stephanie brought over from
Louisiana. To this day, I will sometimes gaze
into the clear blue eyes of one of our dogs and
see Stephanies blue eyes looking back at me. You
can make of that what you will, but you will not
be the first person to conclude I am crazy.
Wherever you are watching from, Stephanie, I
hope you find my efforts worthwhile. I have tried
my best.
page "About Our Founder"
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Posted 14:28
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Mon, 12 Nov 2007
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| Panhead Catahoulas, Youngstown, Florida |
The coming to be of Panhead kennel is a long
and complicated story, with its roots in
Catahoula parrish, Louisiana dating back a
hundred years or so, depending on where you want
to start. A fairly detailed accounting of that
history may be read at our MSN group, which can
be reached from the Links page here. I will touch
on that further from time to time, but will use
this first post to introduce ourselves and our
dogs.
This kennel was started by Stephanie Cox, of
Baton Rouge, who brought her Catahoulas to the
Florida panhandle and guided things along untill
in 1996 we attained status as a certified breeder
of Louisiana Catahoula Leopard dogs, as
designated by the National Assosciation of
Louisiana Catahoulas, seated in Denham Springs,
Louisiana.
My name is Larry Nieman, and since
Stephanie's death in 1998, I find myself in
charge. Many of the day to day doings at the
kennel are dealt with by Peggy Lois. Should you
call, one of us will be answering the phone.
Since the earliest days till the present
moment, whatever money the dogs bring in has gone
back into the project. We are almost fifteen
years down the road now, and can point to
thousands of feet of chain link fence, which
allow the dogs to live in large pens, averaging
9000 square feet. They have room to run and dig,
pine trees to shade them, plenty of space to do
their business elsewhere from where they eat and
sleep.
We also point with pride to over twenty
adult, registered Catahoulas we have been blessed
to acquire (and breed) over the years. Our goal
is to breed a dog that represents the wonderful
quality of the breed without going too far in any
one direction and breeding ourselves into a
corner, as it were. With this in mind, we have
gathered dogs from many parts of the southeastern
United States, encompassing as many of the old,
respected bloodlines as we can get our hands on.
And of course, we are the retirement plan for
several older, spayed females and retired males.
Unlike Enron, we feel loyalty to those who have
been loyal to us. We are working people
ourselves, and our determined to keep our dogs
within the reach of folks like ourselves. With
this in mind, our dogs are sold for $250, or two
for $400, which is the least we can figure out
how to do it for and still buy $60 worth of dog
food every week. Anyone who thinks we are making
money at this is welcome to go over the books and
explain to me how I can get my hands on some of
it!
Anyway, this is not about money, but about
dogs, primarily. It has been wisely said that the
person who spends his money on a dog receives in
return unconditional love. I believe that, and
greatly appreciate the chance to bring that love
into people's lives. The folks who buy a Panhead
dog make it possible for us to be richly blessed
on a daily basis by the company of these
remarkable animals. I have made the boast, and
stand by it today, that you may spend a lot more
money for you Catahoula, but you will be hard
pressed to find more Catahoula for your money.
Anyway, that is an overview of our story, and
I appreciate your taking the time to read it.
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Posted 13:45
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