Les Vieux Temps

Ask anyone about famous Louisiana dogs and just about everyone will mention George Rodrique’s famous “Blue Dog” art. These world-famous paintings were not based on a real dog but from a story told to the painter by his grandmother about a werewolf like creature. “I was made to believe the Cajun werewolf dog would come and eat me if I wasn’t good,” Rodrigue said. “The Blue Dog evolved from the mythical dog with burning red eyes and a matted blue-gray coat into the friendly dog with staring yellow eyes and defined edges that everyone knows today,” according to Rodrigue.

Others may mention the only true breed of dogs that originated in Louisiana, the Catahoula dog. The Catahoula dog is recognized as the official State Dog. The Indians in and around Louisiana used the red wolf, which then roamed Louisiana, to locate game much in the same manner as hunters use their dogs today. Hernando DeSoto traveled from Florida into Louisiana bringing with his explorers the “war dogs” that had made the journey to the New World. After suffering defeat in battle, DeSoto abandoned his war dogs which were allowed to roam freely. The dogs bred with the red wolf and the offsprings were then used by the Indians, and became known as the “wolf dog.” By the early 1700s, the French started arriving in Louisiana. The French bred their dogs with the Indians’ wolf dogs and the Catahoula breed of dogs evolved.

I remember other famous dogs. Two were made famous by Joe Falcon in his 1934 recordings of Cajun music, and the still-popular two-step song, “Hip et Taiaut.” In the song, two hounds, Hip and Taiaut, steal a man’s sled (in French, “volé mon traineau”), and when they saw he was hot, they returned it. The song was so popular in the 1930s that to this date common hounds are still called ti-yos for the popular dog in the song.

It is believed that Falcon based his song from stories he had heard from his black musician friends who said the roots of the song was from African lyrics. I feel certain that there were other famous Louisiana dogs and welcome your comments about the subject.

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