The Truth About Training Blood Tracking Dogs...

Training blood tracking dogs that are bred right is not complicated or scientific, and is in fact, simple and easy, but we humans tend to complicate and 'make' it harder than needs to be because we operate under the presumption that if the dog is not 'trained', it will not hunt. OK, maybe!

Now genetically speaking that may be true for dogs that are not bred to hunt and are 'genetically predisposed' to be nothing more than someones lap dog and pet. And with proper blood trail training most dogs will respond to the dietary conditioning(because hungry dogs hunt) and proper training and maybe you will luck out and have a tracking dog in the end.

A dietary condition such as feeding raw meat is often overlooked by most new tracker/trainers.

I operate a blood trail dog training facility, so I believe in training, but I see too many people put too much emphasis on 'performance' of the dog in training, and not give the dog a chance to prove themselves during the hunting season. And that may be due to our expecting too much too soon from a puppy or our failure to make training excersizes fun.

For dogs that are genetically bred to hunt, we are more likely to screw things up trying to train them in the off season, than if we are patient, and simply allow nature to take it's course during the hunting season. Which is to say that the 'real' blood trail dog training occurs during hunting season when we have fresh blood on the ground and the dog has fresh raw meat 'treats' in the skinning shed.

I confess that when I first started training my dogs about 8 years ago, I believed that I had to train them to 'make' them into a tracking dog, or they wouldn't hunt. I had a lot to learn.

And I experimented with a lot of methods and combinations of techniques.

But I realized that my dogs genetically predisposed prey drive was more important than anything I 'put' into them.

In the end, I am beginning to realize that my dogs have taught me more about blood tracking than I ever taught them and I must confess: they are not only smarter than I thought they were, they were smarter than me.

If you are looking for a trained blood tracking dog, I am a breeder and trainer of Louisiana Catahoula Curs and would like to talk to you. My cell phone is 337 298 2630, or 337 704 6330.

My email: catahoula1@gmail.com

Blood Trail Dog (actually 6 months old puppy) Finds 3 Deer In 1 Weekend!

About 3 weeks ago, a deer hunter calls me up shopping for a tracking dog and told me the story of how his 12 year old daughter shot an 8 point buck opening weekend and was so frustrated with the outcome that she was considering giving up deer hunting because she was so discouraged after shooting the first deer of the season and being unable to recover her trophy and the meat!

Well her daddy decided to 'fix' that by getting a family pet/tracking dog for the family hunting club.

During the first weekend with the dog out at the camp they didn't 'need' the dog to track, but decided to lay out a man made 'training' track using some fresh blood to see what she would do. And to make a long story short, I get a report a few days later that she had ran a 200 yrd track in less than a minute!


Well the next weekend same dog was needed to help find the deer and in less than 48 hours she had found three, and all in her first weekend of actually helping to find lost and dead deer in the 2017 hunting season. The deer below was recovered late on Friday evening just before dark.

And then Saturday evening in the dark, Coal a 6 months old de la Houssaye's Catahoula ran a 1,000 yrd + track and recovered her second deer of the season in just over 24 hours!

What they did was to put a green light on top of her collar to keep visual track of her, should they let her off leash, they added a bell on the bottom of her collar to keep auditory track of her.

But the most interesting part of the report was how there was very little blood visable after the first 50 yards or so, but Coal would stop and stand over every drop of blood she found 30-50 yrds apart and made sure that they knew she was on it!

Someone even suggested that the tracking dog was leading them on a wild goose chase, but the wife insisted that they press on and follow my advise and: "Trust the dog!!"

Coal was acting like an experienced veteran tracking dog should, but had actually never been through a hunting season as she was born after the 2016 hunting season.

This is what often happens when someone buys a started or finished dog from me that was born, raised, and trained in my blood trail dog training facility. They HUNT for food!

It didn't end there and when bright and early Sunday morning another one of the kids sticks a doe that ran off and could not be tracked visually by humans, Coal was brought in and made short work of finding her 3rd recovery in less than 48 hours.

The family is so pleased with the results of Coal's performance, that they also later got a 6 week old puppy as a back up and team tracker, and... now their 3 kids have a couple of pups to share and play with, and the hunting club has 2 new 'high value VIP members'.

If you are shopping for a puppy, started dog or finished dog, I can be reached by email only...

I am Marcus de la Houssaye and I can also be reached by email: catahoula1@gmail.com

I do not always answer email right away, and I do not carry my cell phone so I will reply to your email asap. If you have a lot of questions about my dogs and need to talk, I can call to see if your personal needs fits my dogs style of hunting, and I will have plenty of time to answer them.

Blood Trail Dog Puppies

Now that deer season is open, if you are shopping for a working dog with a strong prey drive, that is easy to handle, train, is great with children and makes a great family pet all year long, you might be wondering...

What is a good breed of dog for blood tracking wounded deer?

You are looking at it right here...

The Louisiana Catahoula Cur

And if you are shopping for color, this girl has it all!

Blue leopard, blaze face, ring neck, white tip tail and double glass eyes.

The four photos above is a Alida

We have 3 females in this litter of Louisiana Catahoula puppies for sale

The next 4 photos below is Beau

This girl has one glass eye and is very attentive of me as you can see...

She is very dark with large black and grey patches and blue leopard markings

At 7 weeks old they are ready to go and I have started them on blood trail dog training...

In the 3 photos below is Carlie and she is a blue leopard and she is my pick, due to the fact that she has picked me first...

I am Marcus de la Houssaye and I am a breeder and trainer of Catahoulas for 30 years and live in Lafayette, La.

 can be reached by email: catahoula1@gmail.com

If you email, please send me a phone number to call you and let's keep it short until we can get on the phone. Thank you for understanding that if you have a lot of questions, I talk a lot faster than I text, and I do not always have cell service or internet in the wilderness. This time of year I may go for a few days before checking my email due to hunting season.

Blood Tracking Dogs For Sale 2017

It is so good to hear all the positive reports coming in of the dogs I sold last year

and the puppies and started dogs I sold this year already doing so well.

For instance my friends from Slidell, La. have reported that the 6 month old started dog they bought from me about 2 weeks ago just ran a 200 yard track and smoked it in about 2 and 1/2  minutes!

That is what happens when you buy a dog that is born and raised in a blood trail dog training facility!

I get scraps year round from hunters, exotic game ranches and sometimes road kill.

I am Marcus de la Houssaye, and I breed and train Louisiana Catahoulas and I can be reached

by cell phone at 337 298 2630 if you are interested in a Catahoula puppy, started or finished dog.

I own and operate a blood trail dog training facility in Lafayette, Louisiana.