catahoulas with a lot of white

When dealing with the merle gene in Catahoulas, the only sure way to identify a true
solid color dog is with DNA testing. The majority of dogs that appear to be solid are
actually single merle dogs. Also, a dog that may appear to be a single merle (normal
looking leopard) may be a double merle when DNA tested. The double merle dogs
are the ones with potential hearing and sight problems. A few breeding examples below.

Solid X Solid = Solid pups, no chance of merle pups.

Solid X Single Merle = Some pups will be merle and some pups will be solid. No
   double merle pups .

Single Merle X Single Merle = This breeding can produce double merle, single merle,
   or solid pups.

Solid X Double Merle = Each pup will get a solid gene from the solid parent and a
   merle gene from the double merle parent. ALL pups will be
   single merle.

Double Merle X Single Merle = Some pups will be double merle and half will be single
   merle.

Most breedings that take place are single merle to single merle. If you get some double merle pups from making this breeding, don't breed the same dogs again. Knowing and
studying the line of dogs your breeding will definitely help in identifying which crosses to
avoid. In 5 litters (40 pups) of breeding single merle to single merle, I have had one pup
born deaf. Out of the 5 litters, I only got a few leopards in each litter. Most of the pups
I get are black, red, brindle or buckskin. Back in the day before the popularity just
about ruined the Catahoula breed, and yes I believe the breed is just about ruined except
for a very small percentage of good working lines, the Old Timers followed 2 simple rules
to avoid producing pups with hearing and eye problems. They had these sayings:
1. "You have to breed the blacks to get the blues".
2. " Never breed them faded, washed out colored, dogs."