With such a limited gene pool what are the health concerns for the breed?
The health concerns are like any other large breed; go with a breeder that screen for things such as hip dysplasia (OFA or PennHip), death ness (BEAR), blindness, skin disorders, entropion and such. Also get a WRITTEN guarantee/warrantee, their word is just that, their word against yours! Secondly, let me say that there are 4 different bloodlines (Otto, Cow Dog, Silver Dollar & Catahoula Bull) in this breed. I don’t know where the limited gene pool question is coming from. I’ve bred Alapahas for 17 years and only inbred twice (GODZILLA × Rio in 2002, DREAD × Coffy in 2004, both litters were awesome!), and that was because I wanted to see how strong their lines were. I think this question arises because Ms. Lane often times (basically every litter) inbred brothers to sisters in her attempt to re-create Marcelle. Other than that the Alapaha genus is thriving with multiple ABBA breeding combinations available. And last but not least, some ‘idiots’ feel that they have to go outside the bre
