The Catahoula Connection

Betty Ann Eaves has been surrounded by Catahoulas all her life, but she still loves to “talk dog”

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From the time she was a child growing up in the rural countryside in Denham Springs, Betty Ann Eaves has been closely associated with the breed known as Catahoula—a dog that, according to folklore, originated in Louisiana. The dog was named for Catahoula Parish in northeastern Louisiana and for the Catahoula Indians, who are believed to have raised them. At one time the breed was used to round up feral pigs and cattle—livestock that had escaped into woods and swamps.

Eaves grew up on family property that now houses the sixth generation of her family. Her great-grandparents built a house that was later replaced by one built by her grandfather Nelson Rushing Jr. “My great-grandfather and grandfather had Catahoulas,” said Eaves in a recent interview. “I don’t remember this property not having them. I thought everybody did.

“There were free-range cattle roaming up and down Highway 16. Lots of people woke up with cattle in their yard. My grandparents used to have twenty or more sleeping in the front yard. The dogs would get up in the morning and chase them out. Cattle don’t make a lot of racket, but they leave a lot of evidence. We used it for manure.”

Eaves, who was Betty Ann Rushing then, was close to her father Kline Rushing. After serving in New York state in the Army Air Corps as a mechanic during World War II, Kline came home with two passions—his fiancée, Ann, and the desire to introduce the Catahoula to a wider audience. “My grandfather used to say Daddy brought home a Yankee,” said Eaves. “They got married in the chapel at Harding Field in Baton Rouge.” As for Catahoulas, said Eaves, “He was surprised they didn’t have them up there. He’d been around them all his life.”

Eaves saw many litters born on the family property. “I can see my dad sitting and watching the puppies. He said, ‘You always want to watch them because that’s how you find out who the leader is.’ Daddy would train them by taking them out with other dogs so they could learn from them.”

A self-described tomboy as a child, Betty Ann was a daddy’s girl, even accompanying him on a wild boar hunt when she was ten. “I hung out with my dad and my grandfather,” she said. “I had time with my dad, even though he died young. We’d go look at horses together. He loved horses; he traded them. That was my favorite thing. I rode horses all the time.”

But it wasn’t all fun. “I had to clean dog pens, feed the dogs, muck out horse trailers.”

Kline Rushing, who was then a Louisiana State Trooper, wanted to start a Louisiana-based organization to register Catahoulas. In 1971, he established Tophand Kennel (a kennel in name only, said Eaves) and began to talk about registering Louisiana Catahoulas with help from Betty Ann, who was by then grown and married. Kline had always taken his Catahoulas to the Animal Research Foundation in Quinlan, Texas. “That was the only place you could register them back then,” said Eaves.

“We started talking about [a local registry] in 1976 when my husband Scott and I were building our house on the family property. Scott built me an office in the house. We got as many bloodlines as we could. Daddy knew where all the bigger breeders were. My mom was taking notes in her neat handwriting—who owned the dogs, their names, and so forth.

“Back then, puppy mills were not part of the world. People only bred them when they needed the dogs themselves. 

“Then he up and died on me,” said Eaves, whose dad suffered a massive heart attack in 1977. He was 55. Eaves was conflicted about whether to carry on the project without him, but eventually she decided to do it.

“We had not named the organization. Not all the planning was finished, but the framework was there. My sister Jean tried to talk me out of it, but when she couldn’t she said, ‘I’m on your side.’ She helped me with all the technical stuff. My husband bought my typewriter and paper. My whole family said they would back me up.”

Eaves decided to call the nonprofit organization the National Association of Louisiana Catahoulas (NALC). Never one to do anything halfway, she went before the Louisiana Legislature in 1979, lobbying to have the Catahoula declared the official state dog. With the backing of Rep. C. J. Russo, she appeared in the House Chamber at the state Capitol, leading former governor Jimmie Davis’ Catahoula, Napoleon Bonaparte, nicknamed Nap. “At the last minute, they said they needed an actual dog for the legislators to see,” said Eaves. “So I called Governor Davis. We had friends in common, and we had bonded over our love of Catahoulas. He was happy to let me borrow Nap.”

While Betty Ann was picking up Nap, House Bill No. 75 was unexpectedly called. With no one else to speak to the group, her mother Ann Rushing took the podium. “She filled them in on why we were there,” said Eaves. “She told them her husband had always had Catahoulas. This lady had presence. She was a Catholic school teacher. They were very gracious to her.”

After also going before the Senate, the bill eventually passed and was signed into law by Governor Edwin W. Edwards on July 9, 1979. At the suggestion of one of the senators, the Catahoula Cur was renamed the Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog. The leopard dog has short hair and is typically marked with a black-and-tan pattern. The skull is broad and flat, the legs solid and strong-boned, and the deep chest gives it good heart and lung capacity.

Eaves recalled the lobbying in her book, The Catahoula Collection, which she self-published in 1979. “That [funding for the book] was the gift my mother gave me,” she said. Dedicated to her dad, the paper-bound volume contains personal stories, Catahoula lore, detailed descriptions of markings, and many photos.

The NALC is staffed by several volunteers. Its main aim is the registration of only purebred Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dogs, issuing registration certificates, puppy papers, litter applications, and information on dogs and their owners. “We register dogs all over the world. Australia, France, Canada, the Czech Republic. You get your geography lesson,’’ said Eaves. 

With help from her daughter Lara Hutchinson, Eaves produces a newsletter about NALC-sponsored activities—including cattle trials, dog shows, obedience trials, and other events that show off the animals’ skills.

NALC also refers owners to appropriate breeders. “Someone who owns a female will call because they need a dog to mate her with. We give them the names of breeders in their area. We don’t do the actual breeding.” When the puppies are born, Eaves registers them based on information sent by the owner. “Catahoulas have large litters, seven or even nine puppies,” said Eaves.

One seemingly paradoxical role of NALC is to protect Catahoulas by discouraging buyers for whom the dog is not suited. “My motto is ‘Not everybody needs a Catahoula,’” said Eaves. “They need a job, even if it’s sitting at someone’s feet. People who work from 6 am to 6 pm come home too tired to fool with them. We talk people out of getting Catahoulas more than [the opposite]. I ask them, ‘Where do you live? What do you do?’ Many people just don’t have the time for them in this modern life.

Eaves, who keeps two of the dogs as pets, has high praise for the breed known for their pale blue, even white, eyes, and for the spotted coat called “leopard.” “We call the light blue eyes ‘double glass eyes,’” she said. “The ‘cracked’ eye has a little bit of another color. Their eyes are perfect. They have excellent sight, even good night sight. Heartworm prevention has made their lifespan longer. We’ve known one that lived to be eighteen. I had one of mine live to fourteen. They can succumb to what we call ‘Car Disease’ if they live in subdivisions.”   

Next month, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press will publish Catahoula: Louisiana State Dog by John Slaughter. A photographer and former owner of Catahoula’s restaurant in Grand Coteau (now closed), Slaughter photographed the dogs of many owners. The book will be unveiled on October 31 at the Louisiana Book Festival. Eaves wrote the history of the dog as a foreword. “Without her, I couldn’t have done the book,” said Slaughter.

Meanwhile, Eaves continues her work with the NALC from an office her husband Scott built near their house. It is definitely a family business. “I have granddaughters and my son help out,” she said. “The third generation is involved. Everyone takes turns typing and stuffing envelopes.”

Sometimes she feels a bit exasperated. “I cuss my daddy out once in a while and say, ‘God almighty! What did you leave me?’”

But she doesn’t really mean it. “I like the history,” she said. “I like to hear the stories. They’re fun. That’s really what I like about Catahoulas. They connect us to so many people."

Ruth Laney can be reached at ruthlaney@cox.net.