Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix: Meet the Loyal Smart Dog
The Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix is a designer dog breed from a mix of the Catahoula Leopard Dog and Great Pyrenees.
Both species have unique personality traits that make them famous, but each is known for being friendly and loyal.
Being a recently mixed breed, the Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix has been a popular choice for pet owners in the United States over the past 20 years.
With its origins in northern Louisiana, the Catahoula Leopard Dog is believed to have come from a mixed bloodline of local mutts and Spanish explorers’ species like bloodhounds, mastiffs, and greyhounds.
Native Americans of the region used these dogs as hunting companions. Great Pyrenees are from ancient Central Asia, believed to have descended from wolves.
If you are looking for a loyal, loving, yet protective family dog, the Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix might be a great choice. Below, we further explore this unique mixed breed to reveal more about them.
Reasons Why You Should Not Get a Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix
Weighing your options for which dog breed to take home is essential before making a long-term commitment.
Although they are highly loyal and loving working companions, Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix dogs are not suitable for everyone. Reasons why a Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix may not be ideal for you include:
- You live in an apartment or city environment
- You do not have a large outdoor space, such as a fenced-in yard or places to let your dog run on its leash each day
- You do not know you can commit to 45 minutes of exercise time for the dog each day
- You maintain long work hours away from home or otherwise need to leave the pet alone for hours at a time
- You cannot commit to socializing and training your new, sometimes stubborn, dog from the start
- You cannot commit to grooming your pet regularly, as often as daily during shedding periods
Reasons Why You Should Get a Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix
Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix dogs are known for all of the love, companionship, and loyalty they have to give their owners. You will make a great pet parent to one of these designer dogs if:
- You live in a home with a fenced-in yard or plenty of space for your big dog to burn energy
- You enjoy 45 minutes of daily exercise or play with your pet
- You are committed to brushing your dog regularly during shedding seasons
- You work from home or have someone in the home to stay with your pet when you must leave
- You understand the need to socialize and train your puppy from a very young age
- You have other pets or children in your home eager to play with a loving companion
Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix Traits and Characteristics
Appearance, Personality, Coat and Colors, Lifespan, and Traits of a Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix
The Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix can carry traits from either parent, the Catahoula in the bloodline or the Great Pyrenees.
Catahoula Leopard Dogs are multi-colored hound working dogs with diverse coat colors and patterns.
The most common coats are solid color, brindle, leopard pattern, or patchwork as a single-coat of short to medium length.
The Catahoula’s blue-white eyes are also distinctive, appearing glazed or cracked in the manner of “glass eyes.” Many dogs of the breed have one blue-white eye and one amber brown.
Overall, they have a lean, muscular body typical to hound dogs with a short-haired long tail that typically reaches the dog’s hocks.
Great Pyrenees dogs are double-coated, with the outer coat typically long, coarse, thick, and wavy. The inner coat is short, thick, soft, and fine. Coat colors are solid white or white with gray, tan, or yellow patches.
Pyrs, as they are also known, have dark brown eyes and large, muscular bodies. Like the Catahoula Leopard, the Great Pyrenees also has a long tail that reaches its hocks.
The Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix resulting from these parental traits, is a pretty dog, usually mid- to large-sized with a medium-length patterned coat. Like both parents, these pups have large, floppy ears, long tails, and big black noses on a hound’s snout.
Some mixed breed offspring can have shorter hair like the Catahoula Leopard or longer hair like the Great Pyrenees.
The average size for the Catahoula Leopard Dog is 20 to 24 inches at the shoulder, weighing 50 to 95 pounds. The Great Pyrenees is 25 to 32 inches at the shoulder and weighs 85 to 115 pounds. A Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix will usually stand somewhere between its parents’ heights, ranging from 20 to 32 inches tall and weighing from 50 to 115 pounds.
The two breeds average 10 to 12 years, likely providing the same lifespan for their offspring.
As with appearance, the Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix pulls personality traits from either or both parents. You can expect your mixed breed to be loyal, friendly, and energetic. Most are curious and like to explore.
Because both parents are guardians over their owners and families, you can expect your designer dog also to be a great protector and guard dog.
This makes it essential to socialize and train your puppy from its earliest days, to ensure the dog grows into a friendly, social adult. Still, you can expect the mixed breed to act as an “alarm” to strangers coming near.
With Catahoula blood, any Catahoula Leopard mix makes a good working dog. Because the Great Pyrenees is a sheep guardian by nature, the mixed outcome with Catahoula Leopard is sure to crave some responsibility. This assumed responsibility is usually to guard and protect its territory and people.
Both working species have an independent streak and can prove stubborn during obedience training. The great Pyrenees have a strong tendency toward barking so the mixed puppy may carry this barking trait.
Both are best suited to living in homes with plenty of fenced outdoor space where they can run and guard their territory.
They do not typically make good apartment or city dogs and can become destructive by chewing and digging if left indoors or alone for too long.
Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix Puppies for Sale
Both parent breeds of the Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix are easy to find in the United States.
Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix puppies are available through specialty breeders and frequently in animal shelters.
Because they are designer dogs, it is possible to find breeders or shelters with these puppies listed as available through an online search.
Grooming Your Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix
The Catahoula Leopard Dog’s short single-coated hair is effortless to maintain and requires little grooming. But the Great Pyrenees is a breed requiring moderate attention to grooming its thick, double-coated, long, and wavy hair.
The resulting offspring from these two breeds typically have medium-length hair that requires routine brushing.
A Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix dog will most likely shed like its longer-haired parent, the Pyrenees being considered a “heavy annual shedder.” To take good care of a Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix, brush it regularly to maintain its thick coat.
Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix Health Problems
Catahoula Leopard Dogs frequently suffer hip dysplasia as adults, like many other large breeds. They also sometimes experience deafness and vision problems. Otherwise, they are healthy dogs with few concerns about passing on to offspring.
Unfortunately, the Great Pyrenees breed often suffers from many health concerns. Many of these are minor, such as entropion, osteosarcoma, skin problems, chondrodysplasia, Osteochondrosis Dissecans (OCD), and cataracts.
But they, like the Catahoula Leopard, are prone to suffer hip dysplasia. Other potential ailments include patellar luxation, spinal muscular atrophy, ear problems, and gastric torsion.
Because of their parents’ conditions, Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix dogs often experience hip dysplasia and hearing and vision problems. But they can suffer diseases or conditions passed down from either or both parents.
This makes it particularly important to take the mixed breed for routine veterinary checkups, especially for regular screenings for hip, vision, and hearing problems.
Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix Food Requirements
A Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix needs a complete and well-balanced quality diet, mainly since this is a medium to large breed with a big appetite.
They do particularly well on commercial low-protein dry dog food for large breeds. It is also wise to feed your dog according to its stage of life, whether a puppy, adult, or aging senior.
The Great Pyrenees’ bloodline in the mixed breed tends to have gastrointestinal bloating. For this reason, the designer offspring will likely eat well like its Pyr parent. Feed it small portions of kibble or other food multiple times per day instead of all-at-once daily feedings.
Try not to feed this breed too many treats, particularly if they are not getting substantial outdoor exercise.
They can quickly become obese and suffer health problems, such as a higher potential for hip problems, as a result. Because they are prone to hip dysplasia, they must supplement their diet with fish oil, glucosamine, and chondroitin supplements.
Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix Exercise Requirements
Both parent breeds of the Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix have a high energy level. They need daily exercise to prevent destructive chewing and digging behaviors. Ideal daily practice includes about 45 minutes of running and active playtime in a fenced environment.
It is important to remember that both breeds have some wanderlust in their spirits, meaning they like to explore independently if given a chance.
The Great Pyrenees’ bloodline tends to run away when they find an opportunity. This makes it essential to keep the Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix on a leash or within a fenced yard to keep them from running away.
Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix Training
Socialization for the Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix should start early in puppyhood to promote positive behaviors around people and other dogs.
Otherwise, they tend to react strongly to strangers, bark a lot, and act defensively.
As alpha dogs, however, these mixed breeds can be challenging to train and require a trainer who takes a dominant position.
The Catahoula-Great Pyrenees responds best to positive reinforcement, like any breed. They are loyal and adore praise, just as they enjoy being exercised and physically challenged. They train best in short sessions while their attention span is maximum.
It is a great option to send a Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix puppy off to doggy daycare for regular socialization from a very young age. Doing so will naturally influence their behaviors and make them less reactive to approaching people and animals.
Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix and Families
Both parent breeds of the Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix are loyal to and adore their families.
This makes the mixed breed equally loyal and adoring to family members of all ages. But this also brings a protective streak of guardianship that can intimidate approaching strangers or other animals.
It is important to remember that the Great Pyrenees in this mix breed’s bloodline is known for a strong bite force above 400 PSI.
For this reason, playtime with very young children should be monitored by an adult to avoid accidental roughhousing and play-bite injuries.
Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix and Other Pets
Despite their large size, both Catahoula Leopard Dogs and Great Pyrenees are pet-friendly to other animals in their household.
This means Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix dogs are equally friendly to other dogs and cats. There are few better dog breeds to share a home with a cat than a Great Pyrenees mix!
Is Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix right for you?
Deciding whether a Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix is right for you is essential before taking one of these lovable puppies or adult dogs home.
Overall, they are best for families and individuals with a sizable fenced-in yard or another land on which the dog can burn off daily energy and play.
If you have other pets in your home, they make a great choice but may not be so friendly to “strangers” people or animals at first sight.
Catahoula Great Pyrenees Mix dogs are loyal companions with a good lifespan of 10 to 12 years, eager to spend that lifetime with loving humans.
