Panhead Catahoulas: Blog

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:26:24 -0500

Why Dogs Cost More

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:54:27 -0500

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!

In Memory of Our Founder, Stephanie Johnson Cox

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:28:11 -0500

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"

Panhead Catahoulas, Youngstown, Florida

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:45:50 -0600

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.