Dog breed · United States
The Lacy Dog or Blue Lacy Dog is a breed of working dog that originated in the U.S. state of Texas in the mid-19th century. The Lacy was first recognized in 2001 by the Texas Senate. In Senate Resolution No. 436, the 77th Legislature honored the Lacy as "a true Texas breed." In June 2005, Governor Rick Perry signed the legislation adopting the Blue Lacy as "the official State Dog Breed of Texas". As expected, the vast majority of Lacy dogs are found in Texas. However, as the breed becomes more recognized, breeding populations are being established across the United States, Canada, and most recently in Europe.
Temperament: Blue Lacy Dogs are intelligent, intense, active, and alert. Developed to be both hunting and herding dogs, they display great drive and determination to work with big game and control difficult livestock. Young dogs may have too much energy and drive for small children. They are easy to train, learning new skills quickly.
Appearance: Lacy dogs are strong and fast, lightly built but proportional within the height-to-weight ratio. Height at the withers is from 43 to 56 cm (17 to 22 in). Dependent on height and general conditioning, weight should be approximately 11 to [dose — ask your vet] (25 to 45 lb) for females and 16 to [dose — ask your vet] (35 to 55 lb) for males. The standards listed in the Texas House Concurrent Resolution No. 108 are slightly different—height between 46 and 64 cm (18 and 25 in) and weight between 14 and [dose — ask your vet] (30 and 50 lb)—but it was not until 2005 that it was officially recognized as the state dog.
Coat: The coat should be short, smooth and tight. An excessively long or rough coat is a disqualification. Lacys shed, but require minimal grooming.
Health: Lacys are generally healthy dogs. Developed for generations to meet the requirements of ranchers and hunters, they are sturdy enough to withstand tough terrain, difficult working conditions, and both hot and cold weather by Texan standards. However, skin problems and food allergies can occur. Color dilution alopecia is very rare but has occurred in Lacys.
History: The Lacy dog was named after the Lacy brothers (Ewin, Frank, Harry, and George), ranchers from Kentucky that moved to Burnet County, Texas in 1858 and brought their ranching dogs with them. The lacy dog was said to be a mixture between greyhounds, scenthounds, and coyotes. They were bred to handle multiple tasks on the ranch such as herding cattle and free-roaming hog, tracking and treeing small game, and hunting deer and feral hogs. This led to the local nickname of the “lacy hog dog”. The Lacy family also donated pink granite from the ranch’s quarry on Granite Mountain to build the Texas State Capitol building in Austin, Texas, marking the family and their dogs as significant figures in Texas history.
On March 15, 2005, Representative Joaquin Castro filed House Concurrent Resolution No. 108, proposing the blue Lacy as the State Dog of Texas. This legislation was proposed to recognize the original breeders, the Lacy family, and their contribution to the State of Texas as well as to honor the Lacy Dog as a Texas original. House Concurrent Resolution No. 108 was adopted by the Texas House of Representatives on May 15, 2005, and by the Senate ten days later on May 25, 2005. Governor Rick Perry signed the legislation adopting the Lacy as "the official State Dog Breed of Texas" on June 18, 2005. At the time, the legislation claimed that the blue lacy was “the only dog breed to have originated in this state,” however the development of another Texas breed, the Silken Windhound, was well underway.
