Drake
Catahoula Leopard | male | 6 Years Old | 67 Lbs
QUICK FACTS: ✔️ Good with other dogs! ✔️ Potty trained! ✔️ Crate trained! ✔️ Good in car! ✔️ Walks well on a leash!
Drake found his family on 1/31/2023!
Updates
Drake wakes up whenever we do...he's adjusted to our schedule seamlessly. On weekends he sleeps until 8:30AM and we have to get him up at 6:30AM normally during the week for a stretch, and potty. After training/trick breakfast we let him lay on our bed until a morning walk, then he's home mainly sleeping on the couch. Because of the medication he's on, he needed to be let out every 4-6 hours on a higher dose, but now he can "hold it " for 8 hours, although one of us is home now more throughout the day and can let him out if needed. After work he has sniff time outside after work in the yard and dinner than a quick walk around the block. In the evening he chooses to either hangout with us in the living room or by himself. He is pretty snuggly and is easily coaxed up for couch time.
Wisconsin Winter Weekends when there is more daylight is when Drake really shines! We love taking him on long lead (25') hikes out on the local trails! His nose is to the ground, and he loves exploring. After a long hike he's extra snuggly, even if you have to give him a bath!
Drake loves meeting new and old friends when out and about. Drake's tail-wagging introductions are appropriate with "butt sniffs" and no signs of any dominant behavior.
Drake has had no exposure with children.
At age 6, Drake has a medium energy level...very lazy inside enjoying couch time. But....as soon as he hears his leash jingling, he's right there at your side ready to go. Catahoula Leopard Dog is used often as hunting thus his nose is to the ground and is a strong puller. Switching to a gentle leader has made significant improvement on walks. He does not react to other dogs, if he sees a reactive dog, he tends to pause and watch or just keep walking. We have a large yard and loves to take loops at the fence perimeter searching for bunnies. He has jumped our fence and we have placed barriers to prevent this.
Drake is friendly, greets dogs sniffing appropriately, new dogs have come into our home and he has not responded protectively in the space.
We do have a cat, and she has slept in a room with him a few times and he was aware, but not reactive to her. She tends to keep her distance. It is unknown how he would react if unsupervised.
When left alone Drake does well. Initially, when he came to our home, he wasn't feeling well and we kept him in a spare room with his crate which he will still use at times. Currently, we let him free roam and he's tends to sleep either in the bedroom or on a couch. However if there is food out, we always baby gate or crate him even if it's for a 10 min. His nose and belly seems to drive his nature, which makes him easy to train, but also gets sweet Drake in trouble.
Drake went through Heartworm treatment in Louisiana prior to coming to Wisconsin. Because he had a "high burden" it's taken him longer to fully recover as the dead worms leave his body. Currently he is on a Predinose taper at a very low dose at this time and will be finishing up in a few weeks. Until he is fully off we won't know if he's had permanent lung damage, or if he will need to continue medication indefinately.