Introducing Soccer

Soccer is a Catahoula Leopard Dog I think; he was a rescue, this is not a common breed in Alberta.  They're from Louisiana and I understand they can be found all over the southern US.  He is small for a Catahoula at barely 40lbs but his markings and behaviour all make me think Catahoula. Plus he has a Catahoula butt; it's distinctive.

Soccer is presently 11 years old but he still thinks he's a puppy. He has the attention span of a gnat, for example he is still trying to master the Flyball game after 5 years of training. I don't think I can entirely blame the trainer (me) in this case since it only took me 6 months to teach Ahab to play Scent Hurdle. Whether this is because of his breed or because he's Soccer I'm not entirely sure but the one other Catahoula I've met has been just as squirrelly as Soccer so I wonder if it's a breed characteristic. I still love him anyway.

I sometimes call him my 'toothless old hound' since he lost 11 teeth a few years ago after a massive infection ate away much of one of his teeth. The vet had to take out a number of other teeth to make sure the hole closed properly and he didn't end up with additional problems. She did a fantastic job as he's had no problems in his mouth since. This could explain the Flyball reluctance although I don't think his mouth hurts.

Here you can see his partly blue left eye; called a 'cracked glass' or 'broken glass' eye. This is one of the characteristics that makes me think he's a Catahoula as they are common in that breed.

Believe it or not as Catahoula's go Soccer has pretty tame markings. Here he is trying his best to hold a sit stay for me. Clearly a tall order.