CRA wrote:My Grandpa had one of Rex Bowers Leopard's sent out to California to run on fox and cat. He passed before he could do much with the pup. My Grandpa was corresponding with Rex by letters back and forth about Rex's Leopard's and the history of his Leopard's (this was before Internet). My Grandpa was telling me that he thought that the Leopard's had some July blood in them. He had some old Hunters Horn magazines with July studs that were marked with the Merle marking (Leopard) looking.
The pup ended up going to Bill Young in Tehachapi Ca. I have no idea if it made a cat dog or not. Does anyone know if the Leopards had any July bred into them many years back?
CRA was that back about ten or twelve years? When I hunted with Bill Young he was training a real pretty leopard. At the time he said the dog had made the "B team". I dont know that there are any dogs that are going to look real good when put with Bills dogs. That was about the toughest test that dog could have possibly had. If that dog made the "B team" at Bills place it would have made the A+++ team at mine.
I beleive the dog ended up going north. I cant remember if it was Washington or Idaho?
I think it made a good dog up there. I know one thing, it had the best training a dog could hope for if it stayed with Bill for any length of time.
That July topic is an interesting one. I have read people who know a lot more than me say the leopards and the plotts were a lot the same back in the day. The Plott litters would have "calico" pups in the ssame litter as the brindles and the calico ones were called leopard.
I know a man who crossed a pure bred papered plott on a pure bred papered July. All, or all that I can remember, of the puppies came out leopard spotted even though neither parent was. As you know, both parents had to be hiding that recessive gene for that to happen. They would have made beautiful leopard curs!!! Perfect conformation.
This is a fun thread for me to read and I actually had two people contact me to tell me it was here. I appreciate it. I know of about every dog that has been mentioned and have hunted with a few of them.
I will tell you what Doc Rasmussen told me when he gave me the call to go pick up Rachel from Mr. Shultz: He said it can be hard to find one of the real good ones, but if you ever do, there will be no going back. He said that if I got in on that cross, I would probably have enough dog to last me a long long time. He said a few other things too, and every word out of his mouth was Gospel truth.
I just really enjoy the Leopards. There are a few things about them that need fixing in my opinion. But I have never owned a dog that did not have problems. There are other dogs that I enjoy a lot also. It would be real tough on me if I ever had to choose one breed or line and think it was the best and promote it for the rest of my life. I dont know if I could do it. If I did, it would be just because I figured out it was financially more stable and smart.
But I have seen things among the Leopards that I had not seen yet in other dogs. The thing I like the most is that little trait called "how the heck did she do that?!!?" I like being smarter than my dogs, but really what I like is being dummer than my dogs.
I will tell you one time when Rachel showed me that trait. She had never been to the mountains and we took a truck load of dogs to Idaho to hunt bobcat. It was so amazing to watch each dog deal with the stress of an unfamiliar environment. The one I though was the champion of brains looked very foolish in the vertical rocks. Some just really did not handle it well at all. There were two of them, however, that looked like there momma gave birth to them in those rocks and they never left. It was really strange to see such a genetic difference in "rock ability" (isn't that the name of a style of music?).
Rachel was one of the two that was born in the imaginary rock walls of the flat Midwest. The first cat race she was on went in to a canyon. It was a good race and the dogs were screaming. The cat hit a rock ladder and all the dogs were milling trying to figure out if they were supposed to tree or what. All of them except one. I was standing off to one side about where the wall became impassable. This black streak came tearing by me throwing pine needles, dirt and rocks. I mean, all out sprint. And It happened so fast, I knew she did not even pause for one second at the bottom of that wall. I dont know how she knew where a passage was. She had never been there before. I dont know how she knew she had to get around, she had never experienced a bobcat climb a wall. Every time a bobcat had climbed, in her experience, it was a tree and the cat stayed there.
She ripped by me at a dead out sprint, tail falling limp. As soon as she got directly above the other dogs at the top of that wall She went screaming out of there like she was looking at him; and she may have been. I just stood there scratching my head. I am sure the cat figured he had bought himself a nice break, but he was not familiar with that "how the heck did she do that" trait. He didnt really think there would be a dog waiting for him at the top!
Now, she just did what a bobcat dog should do. But I have never seen a dog that did not have to learn how to do that with experience, or with an experienced dog.
that is my favorite trait of some of those special leopards. I think I saw that trait heavier in Rachel than any other I have known. I have seen exceptional dogs, but I could usually understand them. With her, I never did. And i was so often wrong about what she was doing and about to call "strike three. the batter is out!" when she made the catch. the "how the heck did she do that" trait. Once you see it you dont want to live without it... Unless of course, you like to feel smarter than your dogs.
I only hunted with Barney's Buster one time, but in one hunt I saw two of those "how the heck did he do that"s with Buster. I sure hope Tim's pup is Buster again. I sure wish you guys could figure out how to get the proper papers on those pups. I know Russ couldnt give a rip about it. I dont blame him. He gets so frustrated with all the games and politics. But I am thinking those dogs could help the breed out if they could be registered. I know Randy Oller got Busters papers straightened out because he wanted to breed to him, and did.
The only other place i know that a guy could get some of that Buster blood is Ricky Love. I cant remember exactly where he lives, but I think it is North Carolina. His dogs will be registered. He sells a lot of them to the hog people. I doubt he has ever sold a dog to a bobcat hunter, but I would not hesitate to try one from him. Dan knows how to get hold of him. I know Rex had a female named Blue out of Buster and I am sure that is where Ricky got the blood.