Cross Check Catahoulas

25/04/2024

For the first time in 5 years we made the trip to an NALC show, and the kids did all the showing. Both placed in junior showmanship, and Rosie showed Nifty to a 3rd place in the hip certified class and a 4th place treeing run with Nifty and Shiner. She also ran her very first cow dog run with Nifty, Shiner and Turn. Both kids and dogs had a good time!!

09/03/2023

NALC SEPT GR CH of CH's UKC GRCH Cnd. Ch Cross Check's Smith & Wesson
October 22, 2011 - February 28, 2023
http://www.crosscheckcatahoulas.com/wesson

Wesson was a good sized dog with incredible conformation and an extreme amount of stamina and efficiency. He had a ton of circle, and was a truly versatile type of cow dog. He had a lot of cow sense. Wesson had no quit in him. He had a great nose with medium range. He had a fantastic treeing style, and would strike a track and stick to a tree on his own. He showed us a lot of style and enthusiasm in the trial pen and had his NALC B-Bay Grand Champion of Champions, Treeing Grand Champion of Champions and Grand Champion of Show Champion titles, making him a NALC Sept Grand Champion of Champions. Wesson was a UKC Grand Champion and an All Breed International Canadian Champion and was retired from the show ring before his passing.

Wesson was the bar we measure all our dogs to. To have produced a dog like him so early in our career, was a true testament to the hard work and dedication that our foundation breeders put into their programs. He was the go to dog day to day for most of his life, and was 1 first place win away from being a champion in every performance event the NALC offered at the time he was showing. And he gave the most amazing hugs. His loss is sorely felt in our hearts.

Canadian Rare Breed Best Puppy In Multi Breed Show
NALC Best of Show Male
NALC Reserve Best of Show Male
3 time All Breed International Best In Multi Breed Show
2 time UKC Best In Multi Breed Show
UKC Reserve Best In Multi Breed Show
ABI Reserve Best In Multi Breed Show
UKC Premier Herding Group 1
2015 Treeing High Point Buckle Winner
2015 Champion of Show Champions winner
2015 Grand Champion of Show Champions winner
2015 Grand Champion of Tree Dog Champions winner
2018 National Cow Dog Day of Trial Buckle Winner
2018 Grand Champion of B-Bay Champions Winner

09/03/2023

NALC TRI GR CH of CH's Cnd Ch J Cross' Revolution
September 23, 2013 - February 1, 2023
http://www.crosscheckcatahoulas.com/rev

Rev was well built, with show ring flash. He had a very efficient build to go with the drive and desire that we love to see. He had a lot of circle and hit like a hammer when it was needed. His stock sense was spot on. He had a long range hunting style, with a good nose. He was much steadier on hogs than on c**ns, but he would hit a tree and locate. Rev started his show career by blasting out of the gate! He had cow dog and tree dog champion points with the NALC, and earned his NALC Comb Ch title in b-bay and conformation a week after his 2nd birthday, and finished both those titles to Dbl Ch just 1 show later. He earned his TRI GR CH of Ch's title after earning his b-bay grand champion of champions title in 2017, and he had his ABI Cnd Ch title and UKC Ch title. He was a lot of fun to work and to show.

Rev was a once in a lifetime dog. Sometimes words can't really dig into how loss affects us, but the best we can do is to quote Craig, " There is only one Rev."

ABI Reserve Bestin Show
ABI Best in Show
NALC Reserve Best of Show Male
NALC Best of Show Male
2017 NALC Grand Champion of HD-B Champions winner
2018 National Cow Dog Day of Trial Buckle Winner

10/10/2022

We had to pen the pairs yesterday, and used Nifty, Six, Wesson and Shiner to bring them in. The pups we have at the moment go back to all these dogs, except Shiner.

01/03/2022

NALC QUAD GR CH of CH's/UKC GRCH/Can. Rare Breed CH J Cross' Ammunition
July 15, 2008 - Feb 7, 2022
http://www.crosscheckcatahoulas.com/ammo
RETIRED

Ammo was a well put together girl with lots of flash, style and personality. With her medium bone and lean muscling, she had exactly the body type that we like to see in our dogs. She was a heads up, cow smart dog with a nice amount of stopping power and circle. She had a great nose on her and medium/long hunting style. She was silent on track until it gets really hot and then she'd "babble" until she struck the tree.
Ammo was a UKC conformation grand champion, a Canadian Rare Breed conformation champion, and with her NALC Show Champion, Champion of Show Champions, Grand Champion of Show Champions and Tree Dog Champion titles she was also a NALC Quad grand champion of champions. In 2011 she and Kenzie were the first Canadian owned Catahoulas to earn NALC National belt buckles.

Ammo was one of our 2 original foundation females, and along with producing some truly outstanding litters for us, she also introduced us to some of our closest friends. We cannot thank J Cross Catahoulas enough for trusting us with the ugly red dog, and for the support and friendship that came along with her. Ammo was one of kind, and she will be greatly missed in the house, the field, the woods and our hearts.

2011 NALC/Canadian Rare Breed Best In Specialty Show
2 time NALC Reserve Best of Show Female
NALC Best of Show Female
2011 NALC Champion of Show Champions Winner
2011 Treeing High Point Buckle Winner
2012 Grand Champion of Show Champions winner

17/08/2021

Bullhead's Ar-A-Mach "Ara"

Ara is coming to us from our great friends at Bullhead Catahoulas in Florida. She is double bred Rev and out of an Ammo daughter, so her name means revolution in Gaelic. We are excited to add her to the pack and for what the future holds for her!

Bullhead's Oslo x Cross Check's Margaret

Photo copyright Bullhead Catahoulas/Adam Heinrich

21/01/2021

NALC QUAD GR CH of CH's UKC GRCH Can Rare Breed CH Cross Check's Cyclone
August 12, 2009 - October 14, 2020
http://www.crosscheckcatahoulas.com/cyclone
RETIRED

Cyclone was very well put together with an efficient build. She had the right amount of stopping power and a ton of circle. She was an incredibly versatile cow dog, and we leaned on her a great deal in our day to day penning. Cyclone was run down by a cow at 2 years old, and suffered what we thought was a soft tissue injury, but turned out to be a bone fracture. It went untreated since she did not display any discomfort past the first 48 hours, and a bone chip that had been floating in the joint for a couple of years finally made itself known when Cyclone began to limp, and it has gotten progressively worse. By 5 years old, Cyclone's arthritis became severe enough, that we decided to retire her from the field. Cyclone was a medium range dog with an exceptional nose, but she could have used more voice. She was deadly accurate.
Cyclone was a UKC conformation grand champion, had her Canadian Rare Breed champion title and was a NALC grand champion of show champions and tree dog champion.

Cyclone was out of our very first litter, and she really helped to shape the kennel by upping the bar of our expectations from our dogs. Even though she had been declining slowly for quite some time, her loss hit us very hard. She leaves a huge hole in our heart, but we are thankful that she produced dogs that have helped replace her loss in our pack.

UKC Best In Multi Breed Show
Candian Rare Breed Reserve Best Puppy In Multi Breed Show
2 time NALC Reserve Best of Show Female
2013 NALC Champion of Show Champions winner
2013 NALC Grand Champion of Show Champions winner

21/01/2021

We haven't been too active here lately, but rest assured we are still here! We have gotten quite a few messages and emails about upcoming litters, so in an effort to stay in front of you all and to be transparent, we are letting you know what is happening around here.

We do not breed for the market, we breed for ourselves and sell extra pups from the cross. We ALWAYS keep pups from our litters, so we do not breed if we do not need to replace dogs in the working pack. Having said that, we bred a couple of litters and bought a couple of outside females in 2017 because we were getting worried about our in prime dogs aging without having any replacements ready to step in. In 2019 we had another litter in order to breed Nifty again since her first litter hit all the buttons we were hoping for. As a result, we are happy with the number of full time using dogs in our kennel right now, and will likely not be breeding again until sometime in 2022/2023 (assuming that we continue the way we are going, but we all know how easily and quickly life can change *ahem 2020*). We thank you for your interest in our program, and we always invite you contact us to talk dog and find out what our plans may be in the future.

06/10/2020

Young pups out working this weekend. So far we like what we see

24/02/2020

Wishbone's Heirloom
Born April 4, 2018
https://www.crosscheckcatahoulas.com/lou

Lou is ball of energy. She's cocky and sure of herself, and never. stops. moving. She has been used on a minimal basis in the field at this point, but she is showing a lot of stop and a tendency to stick to the head of the herd. She will pushed harder this upcoming summer/fall, so we should get a better handle on what kind of punch she packs. She has been use din the woods, and has a hot to medium nose with a medium range. She's still figuring out the opening on scent thing, but once she finds a smell, she will stick to it. Lou is already started on her ABI conformation title, and we expect big things from her in all the show arenas. Look out for "Lou-cifer", she is hard to miss!

13/02/2020

Cross Check's Weapon "Whip"

Just like his name indicates, he's a bit of a weapon. But his fun, outgoing personality will hopefully be a match for his boy, Colton's!

Cross Check's Turmoil x J Ann J's Nifty

24/01/2020

J Cross' CowPoke
July 6, 2015 - January 20, 2020
http://www.crosscheckcatahoulas.com/poke

We lost Poke suddenly, and for no apparent reason. He just fell asleep and never woke up. We are all reeling from such a shocking loss of this young dog, but none so much as his boy, our 8 year old son, Colton. Poke and Colton were quite the team and could be found doing everything from moving cattle to c**n hunting or trialing. His impact on our kennel is obvious when you see Colton out with the dogs.

Poke was a grandson to our own late Cross Check's CowPuncher. He was born on the day that we lost Punch, so there was no question about whether we would take a pup from the litter. He came from a long line of dogs that we have progeny out of, so we were confident that he would do well. He was a small dog, but very correct with great chest capacity, light bone and flat muscling. He was a standoffish dog, but the older he got, the more of the friendly easy going nature we like came out. Poke had a steady circle while settling cattle, and stayed up at the head or quarter back while driving. He had a hot to medium nose, and even with limited exposure in the woods, he showed us long range, and lots of staying power. He had an enormous voice, and a neat treeing style. Poke had started his trialing career, and we expected some pretty big things from him and his young handler.

Poke suffered from Dilute Color Alopecia, so while he had permanent spot with us, he was not a breeding dog.

You will be missed Poke, and never forgotten for what you added to our lives.

07/10/2019

Poke is Colton's dog through and through. They were out helping move pairs to new grazing yesterday

30/09/2019

The reason behind our breeding program - If it won't work a cow, it isn't going to live here

05/06/2019

Just having a good time.

05/06/2019

Cross Check Catahoulas

14/05/2019

Rosie won 1st place in junior showmanship with Erin's French Bulldog puppy, Sophie. ABI Dog Shows May 11, 2019

14/05/2019

We made a trip to Flamboro to the ABI show, and had fun catching up with friends. We took Six and Lou, and both did really well, but Lou was the big winner. She took both best of breeds and went on to group to place 2nd and 3rd. The kids were also in the show ring, preferring to try and wrangle the bulldogs. Colton showed a Fury daughter, and Rosie took on our friend's French Bulldog puppy, Sophie. Trouble proved to be too much for Colton to handle, but worked very hard and did well. Rosie and Sophie won the 5-8 year old class, igniting a little fire in her. Keep your eyes peeled for Rosie in the ring this season!

15/04/2019

We made it to the NALC-LA show this weekend and the crew did us so proud! It was a bit different than normal, but still a ton of fun!
On Friday Nifty and Turn were second in treeing and Nifty was high point female.
On Saturday Craig ran Wesson, Nifty and Shiner in cowdog and placed fourth, Six was 2nd in the year and older females class, Nifty was 2nd in the hip certified class, and Oakley was 1st and 2nd in the year and older males class. Colton and Rosie showed their dogs on junior showmanship, and had an absolute blast!
On Sunday Craig made it into the Top 5 competition in cowdog (he placed 6th, 4th and 5th over the weekend). Shiner and Bow were second in b-bay and Bow was high point male b-bay, and Nifty was high point female in B-bay and treeing! Turn made it into the Top 5 competition in treeing and Bow won 1st in the Top 5 competition in b-bay!
We want to congratulate everyone on their runs and wins this weekend! It felt good to get back at it!

27/02/2019

These two are getting ready to hit the junior showmanship ring this coming season, so we're working on giving Colton the skills he'll need to compete and for him and Rev to turn into a team

26/02/2019

Our current dogs. More information on each dog can be found at http://www.crosscheckcatahoulas.com/dogs

24/12/2018

I know you can’t see dogs in this photo, but Wesson and Shiner are with Craig to the left of the picture. We make jokes about moving cattle into the mouth of a coke bottle, and this is a good example of why. The cows have been out grazing in corn stalks for about a week. They are pretty good at self regulating their grain to forage intake, but they had not figured out they had access to a field of grass from the corn. Yesterday we brought the cows through a tight, icy alley so that they would find grass we stockpiled in the fall. 2 dogs and 2 horses gathered over 40 head in 3 different groups and now they fill their bellies on grass.

10/12/2018

We are super pleased to announce that both Oakley and Six finished their ABI Junior Champion titles at the show we went to in November! Their names will now look like:
Jr. Ch Bullhead's Backwoods and Jr. Ch Cross Check's 4-5-6!

03/12/2018

Colton went out for his first night hunt on Friday! He was very excited to be able to take Lou and Shiner out, and Ammo helped find a nice pair of boars so he didn't come home empty handed. Bow was along as well, and once he gets under a few more c**ns, we are expecting some big things outta this fella!

Photo ©Steve Cotter

26/11/2018

We travelled to Mississauga to the ABI show held in conjunction with the Christmas Pet Expo. We had a great time visiting with friends and other competitors and our young dogs handled the environment even better than we had hoped they would! Chicory showed like a seasoned veteran, and managed a Winner's Bitch against half-sister Six on Sunday Morning. Six really came out of her shell and showed really well. She took both Best of Breeds on Saturday, a group 3, a group 4, both Best Junior Puppy in Groups and 2 Reserve Best Junior Puppy in Shows. Oakley really settled in on Sunday and showed amazingly well with Michelle. They took both Best of Breeds on Sunday, 2 Group 1's, both Best Junior Puppy in Groups, and a Reserve Best Junior Puppy in Show. To say we were excited about the crew we brought would be an understatement.
We would also like to sing the praises of our good friends over at All Star Bulldogges. Erin and Carm breed beautiful, wonderfully tempered dogs. Colton was over excited about being able to show one of Erin's puppies in his first Junior Handler class, and won! Erin's Oldies are truly a credit to their breed, and we urge anyone looking for an active family pet to contact her.

26/11/2018

Colton's First Junior Handler Class

Colton made his first attempt in the Junior Handler ring this past weekend (prior to this, he has only shown in pre-junior). A very good friend of ours, and the breeder of our Olde English Bulldogge, All Star's Hell Hath No Fury, lent Colton her puppy, All Star's Where There's a Will There's a Way "Willow", who is a Fury granddaughter. Despite the fact that neither of them had practiced, and Colton's technique was a bit rough, his effort to do his best did not go unnoticed by the judge and he won first place! Look for him and Rev, Fury or Chick to be in the show ring next season!

26/11/2018

We expect a Cross Check Catahoula to be able to go from penning cattle, to hunting the woods, to competing in the bay pen, and even clean up and hit the show ring. These are just some of their wins. If you would like to see a full account of their wins please check out their awards pages on our website

19/11/2018

FIrst night out for us this season was a good one. Ammo and Shiner worked the area around an abandoned shack and managed to tree this hefty sow.

14/11/2018

Penning pairs

Weaning day was a couple of weeks ago, but with everything going on I forgot to post this little clip. We used mostly seasoned dogs, since we have a bunch of new females and some larger calves, so we weren't sure how things were going to go, but Six got to try her hand at helping out. She did really well, and you can catch a glimpse of her holding a cow right at the end.