Dog of the Day: Mancha, the German Shepherd/Catahoula Leopard Dog Mix

Oopsie. I appear to have gotten my notes mixed up back in mid-June, and posted the wrong name and breed guess for this dog. It turns out the real Mancha is the guy on this page. And if you’re familiar with Catahoula leopard dogs, you will see the resemblance right away with this guy, but not so much with the one I mixed up with.

Sorry about that, pups. Hope nobody was scarred by the experience.

Two more pictures, after the break.

Catahoula/German Shepherd mix

We found this guy happily basking in the sun in the middle of the Sunset district. If you know San Francisco, you'll know just how unusual that is.

German Shepherd/Catahoula mix

The eyebrows make him look like maybe a Rottweiler mix. Funky.

Catahoula/German Shepherd mix

If he were Catahoula/Rottie, though, his ears would be down. And anyway, I think they knew that the mom was a shepherd.

This entry was posted in Dog of the Day and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

22 Responses to Dog of the Day: Mancha, the German Shepherd/Catahoula Leopard Dog Mix

  1. Pingback: Dog of the Day: Unknown Mix « The Dogs of San Francisco

  2. Madison says:

    I could be wrong, but I’d wager that this dog doesn’t actually have catahoula; the eyebrows and the spots (and many other attributes) look more characteristic of a blue heeler in my opinion.

    • Adam Lang says:

      It could well be. The eyebrows are, of course, a really common thing to see on any number of dog breeds, and pop up at weird times, since they’re a recessive. However, I do agree that some other parts of him do look a bit ACD-ish.

  3. Laura says:

    My puppy Oakley look just like this dog! Today someone told me he is a catahoula mix, but at the shelter they told me he is a blue heeler mix.

  4. KERRICK says:

    I guarantee you this is a Australian Cattle Dog aka Blue Heeler.
    The color points (his eye brows) come from the Kelpie in the breed’s lineage.
    The dog in these images is expressing a piebald gene, causing large ‘spots’ of solid color, as seen here in black. The piebald gene is not at all common in either the German Shepherd Dog or The Catahoula Leopard Dog.

    Furthermore, this dog is expression the heavy ticking gene, making this black dog appear grey, also referred to as blue. This visual effect is how the Blue Heeler got its moniker. Ticking is expressed famously by German Short-haired Pointers, as this is the breed’s only acceptable color.
    Catahoula Leopard Dogs have a similar, yet completely different coloring called ‘Merle.’

    • Adam Lang says:

      It’s certainly possible that he’s part ACD, but I guarantee you he’s not full ACD. His face is totally different, the muzzle is too heavy, the flews are too deep, and his ears are too floppy.

      As for the breed ID, you can blame the owner for that. Unless I am very very certain, if the owner gives me a breed, I use it.

  5. Anna says:

    I have the same dog, she’s a female and has a fuzzier tail. We adopted her from a pet foundation that rescues dogs from Mexico. Never knew what she was really mixed with but excited to see another dog who looks like her!.

    • Adam Lang says:

      Yours could just be an Australian cattle dog mixed with something else, too. Maybe a border collie or Australian shepherd… both produce pretty fluffy tails.

  6. Kenton says:

    I realize this is a 7 year old post but I am very curious about if a true test of the breeds of this dog was ever done because I have a rescue dog who looks literally identical. And perhaps some experts could give me some hints as to what she is. If you could please email me and I’d love to compare pictures of this dog and mine.

  7. Cheryl Potts says:

    I have a dog that looks just like this and the parents were a pure German Shorthair Pointer and Blue Heeler.

    • Adam Lang says:

      Yeah, I’m not quite as sold on the catahoula thing as I was back in 2010 when I first posted that. I think he looks a lot like a blue heeler mix.

  8. Tammy says:

    I believe this dog is Catahoula crossed with blue healer, and I only see Catahoula in the shape of the dogs. Head coloring is pure healer.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *