The Merlsheimer is a new crossbreed hailing from Germany with loving, friendly and sociable temperament. It was developed in 2008 by Kerstin Wiehage-Mürmann by crossing various herding dogs, Poodles and a relatively unknown German dog breed known as Elo.

On average, the Merlsheimer is around 43 cm tall and 10 kg heavy, which is 17 inch and 22 lbs. The dog should not be much bigger than that, because one of the reasons why these dogs were developed was to create the best possible companion dog for families and even for seniors. And indeed, the Merlsheimer is perfect for both groups.

The coat of Merlsheimer is most often similar to Poodle coat, but they can have longer and straighter hair like Elo dog as well. But the typical coat is slightly wavy and curly just like the Poodles coat and the great benefit of this coat is, that it does not shed, or it sheds only minimally. This type of a coat will need some grooming and maintenance and it should be cut few times a year to keep it in manageable length. Regular brushing is also very beneficial to keep the coat in good condition and to redistribute natural oils all over the coat.

The coat should be in solid light color or in piebald color. The coat is light and the dog can be easily seen in dark.

The Merlsheimer has perfect temperament for living with family or seniors. Most often it is relatively calm, gentle and affectionate dog breed. They do like cuddling, but it is not a total coach potatoe and it is recommended to provide the Merlsheimer with at least two good hours of daily exercise. It can be longer walks, vigorous playtime or fun training sessions.

These dogs are pretty playful and can be good partners for kids, but of course, you should never leave any dog breed with very young child unsupervised. Most Merlsheimers are able to be socialized with other dogs or other pets in the family as well. But some Merlsheimers might show herding, do not forget, that this is still a crossbreed in development and its temperament is not completely predictable. But most likely, the Merlsheimer will be perfect companion dog with balanced temperament that will love its whole family.

​The Merlsheimer is typically quite healthy dog breed with average lifespan around 14 years. It should not suffer much from any serious health issues, but of course, it can still suffer from the typical doggy issue, like allergies, infections, some eye problems or joint problems. But overall, this is pretty healthy and hardy dog breed.

 A long believed theory claims that 1 dog year equals to 7 human years. Well, today we know this is definitely not true, especially during the puppyhood. During the puppyhood dogs mature much quicker and some 1 year old dogs can be fully grown-up individuals.
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In reality, different dog breeds mature in different pace. While most small dog breeds will reach their adult size at about 12 months, giant breeds may not reach full physical and mental maturity until they are 2 years old. So typically, puppyhood lasts somewhere between 1 – 2 years.

And even the puppyhood as a whole can be divided into several, very different stages. When the puppy is born up until 3 or 4 weeks, it is considered as a newborn. Their senses are not fully working, they dont see, hear or smell yet and most of the time they spend sleeping. After they are 2 weeks old, the pups start to interact with their mother, brothers and sisters and they are opening their eyes.

Typically, when they are 4 weeks old, puppies can walk, their teeth emerges and they are showing emotions by wagging tail or even by sweet barking.

The puppyhood phase between 4-12 weeks is one of the most important. During this stage, puppies will be aware of their surroundings and they are starting to create relationships with their siblings, but also with people. They are learning how to interact with others and they start to play with each other.

At the age of 8 weeks most pups will go home to their new owners and families. They are old enough to adjust to new environment and still have high fear treshold.

You can start training your puppy at the age of 8 weeks and they are slowly capable of understanding the basic commands, such as their name or sit. You should also start socializing your puppy as soon as possible, but in very safe and controlled manner.

Puppies are like sponge during this period, so you should try to give them as many positive experiences as possible. Definitely avoid any scary or painful experiences. Puppies are forming extremely strong bond with its owners during this time.

This period ends, when the puppy is around 12 weeks old. After that, the pre-adolescent, or someone call it as testing period, starts. It lasts from 3-6 months of puppy age. During this time, puppies are becoming less fearful and much more curious about the world. They are testing their boundaries within the world, but they also test limits with their owners and other animals. Problematic behaviour can occur.

After 3 months of age, puppies are ready for any training you want to do with them. They are capable of learning all the basic commands at this age and it is the best time to start real proper training or to sign them to training program.

This stage is also probably the worst for chewing and biting, since the pups go through the teething. Make sure your dog has enough chewing toys enable, so they do not chew on your shoes or furniture.

The last puppyhood stage starts when the dog is 6 months old. It is possibly the most challenging one and yes, it is the teenage phase. It can last from 6 to 12 or even 18 or 24 months, depending on the breed. Your cute little puppy starts to produce a lot of hormones, which may lead in behaviour changes.

They may challenge their owners or other dogs in household to find their place in the family. They are very often bored and need plenty and plenty of exercise. During this period, most puppies will reach their sexual maturity, which can lead to some problematic behaviour, such as disobedience. Be very patient with pups, do not physically punish them, but be very strict and firm.

Many puppies will become extremely curious explorers during this time and they might run on further distance away from you.

Here are some of the signs that your dog hits puberty. Their testicles descend, or they start first heat cycle. They might become less friendly, moody, more interested in roaming, dogs might start lifting hind legs while peeing, they might start scent marking, they might start to show agression towards dogs of the same sex. Some pups will suffer from something called „selective defness“, which means they obey your commands only when they want to, some might become manipulative with you and some might become destructive.

Most of these behaviours will start to diminish as your puppy matures as long as you keep up training and socialization through these periods. But this is most likely the hardest period of dog ownership. Prepare yourself with a lot of patience, you will need it.

After the age of 18 months, most dogs will reach full emotional maturity. Of course, there are some dogs that acts like playful pups much longer than that and they are known to be puppylike for whole their life. Such breeds include Golden Retrievers, Boxers, Labradors or Bulldogs.

And as i said, physical maturity occurs much sooner in smaller dogs like Chihuahuas or Yorkies. Those are fully physically mature at the age of 12 months. On the other hand Great Dane, Bullmastiffs, Saint Bernards or English Mastiffs will not reach their adult size until they are 20 or 24 months old

As you can see, each dog breed matures differently. But now you will have approximate idea about the different puppyhood stages and remember the rule of thumb, smaller dogs mature faster, giant dogs mature slower.

 We all know the Shar-Pei dog breed. But did you know, that they might look like this as well? It is because Shar-Peis come in three different coat types. The traditional very short, bristly and harsh „horse“ coat, the slightly longer, about 2 cm long „brush“ coat and the rarest of all, long and fluffy „bear“ coat.
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It is important to say, that the bear coat variety is not officially recognized in the breed standard, so you wont be able to participate in dog shows with the bear coat Shar pei. The long and fluff bear coat is caused by a recessive gene, which both parents must carry. We do not know on 100% what is causing this gene, but the most likely theory is, that it is throwback to their Chow Chow ancestors. And indeed, the coat of a Chow Chow and bear coat Shar Pei is very very similar.

It is important to say, that this gene can be carried by the horse and brush coated Shar Peis as well, which means, that rarely, a bear coated pup might be born in a litter of short coated parents. Most breeders do not encourage breeding bear coated Shar Peis, mostly due to the fact, that this kind of a coat is not standardized and it is by far the rarest of the three coat types.

But even though the bear coat Shar Pei is not officially recognized by majority of kennel clubs, it is still a Shar Pei. Their temperament is the same as the temperament of horse coat and brush coat types and the only main difference is the coat. The bear coat Shar Pei also have a soft undercoat under the beautiful fluffy outer coat. It is also harder to see the traditional wrinkles of Shar Pei, but they are present under the coat.

The dense coat makes the bear coat Shar Pei little bit better for colder climates as well. The bear coat Shar Pei does shed some deal of fur, more heavily during shedding seasons. You should definitely brush their coat regularly to remove any dead and loose hair, which will help to minimize the shedding.

The grooming routine is slightly harder with the bear coat than other coat varieties. Longer fur can be prone a little bit to matting and tangling and again, regular brushing will help with this possible issue.

You should also take proper care about the wrinkles and skin folds and ensure that they are clean and dry. Otherwise, they might develop skin fold infections or mange. It is adviced to start cleaning the skin folds from the puppyhood, so the dog is used to it.

The wrinkles might not be that visible as with other Shar Pei coat types, but they are there and you should take care of them. Other than that, you should regularly check their eyes, ears, nails and teeth and clean them or clip them if needed.

There are not many other differences between the bear coat and traditionally coated Shar Peis. The height, weight and body type, face type, it should all be the same. The typical temperament is also identical for all coat types. The official breed standard describes the temperament as calm, independent, loyal and affectionate to his family.

And indeed, this is amazing loyal family companion. They might be alert and suspicious towards strangers and they might have stronger protective instincts. Some of them are also very independent, some even say stubborn, but this is vastly influenced by early socialization. But overall, this is very loving, gentle, curious and affectionate dog towards its own family.

 The Catahoula and American Leopard Hound are two similarly looking dog breeds and it is easy to confuse one to another. But they are two different dog breeds with different history, utilization, temperament and appearance.

Both breeds are hard working dogs. The AKC classifies the American Leopard Hound into hunting group while the Catahoula is put into Herding group, which is not exactly correct. While it is true, that the American Leopard Hound was mainly used for hunting feral hogs or even bears using his amazing strength, strong eye contact and body language, the Catahoula Leopard dog is definitely not only a herding dog.

It is a multipurpose dog breed that was used for almost anything, starting from hunting, to herding the livestock to guarding utilization. And they are very versatile and skilled at all those jobs.

Both breeds are very protective, alert of strangers and territorial and both can be good protectors, but the Catahoula is more commonly used for this purpose. Catahoula is known to be extremely alert and reserved with strangers. American Leopard Hound is known to be little bit friendlier and relaxed around strangers.

The American Leopard Hounds on the other hand has higher prey drive and chasing instinct and they are naturally better for hunting various prey. Their speciality is treeing the game. This makes more difficult to socialize with household pets like, for example, cats.

Of course, even the Catahoula has prey drive, as they were also used to hunt, but it is reported that it is easier to socialize them with other household animals. But many of them will still try to chase any moving object on your walks.

On the other, American Leopard Hounds typically behave better around other dogs. Catahoulas can be reserved with other dogs and it can take them longer time to accept them.

Catahoulas also have natural herding tendencies, which you will not see in American Leopard Hound. They can try to herd other animals or even kids. AKC desribes their herding ability as creating a “canine fence” around the herd which allows the dog's master to work the herd within that circle.

Both dogs are typically very gentle with its own family and they are absolutely loyal to it. Both are known to be very protective, especially towards kids in the family and they will defend them. Many of them are known as clownish, playful, energetic and lively, kind of independent but extremely loyal, hardworking and intelligent.

It is also important to say that all the temperamental characteristics are of course vastly influenced by early training and socialization.

And what about the appearance of those two breeds? Well, both dogs are very strong and muscular and they have similar size and body type. You can see the size comparsion on the screen right now.

Both breeds are named after their leopard like coat. The American Leopard Hound comes in a leopard or spotted pattern and may be red, blue, merle, brindle, black or another color, with white making up less than a third of the coat.

Catahoula Leopard dog can also be in leopard like color, but they can also be in solid color. Typical colors of these dogs are blue merle, red merle, brindle and almost all the solid colors. Very often they also have white spots on their face, chest or legs.

The American Leopard Hound always has short and very dense coat. The Catahoula can either have smooth short or coarse medium coat, which can have extended feathering on hind legs, chest and tail.

Now lets talk briefly about the maintenance, which is almost the same for both dogs. Both are very energetic dogs that need a lot of daily physical and mental exercise. Daily long walks, hikes, jogs, fun training sessions or vigorous playtime is a must with these breeds. Exercising these dogs can be little bit challenging, on the other hand, grooming, can not be simplier. Regular brushing which will remove the dead and loose hair is enough for both dogs, no other grooming is required.