Black Mouth Cur

The Black Mouth Cur is a medium to large American dog of cur type from the southern United States. It is a popular hunting companion used on many kinds of game, and it also herds livestock and guards property.

History

The breed’s origins lie in the South, and there are several guesses about its ancestry. The most common is that it descends from dogs brought to southern Mississippi by European settlers, some Belgian Malinois among them. There the dogs were bred into a cur-type hunting dog, and from Mississippi they spread to the mountains of Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee and later to the Big Thicket of southeast Texas.

A breed club, the Southern Black Mouth Cur Breeders Association, was formed in 1987, and the United Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1998. The dog in the title role of Fred Gipson’s novel Old Yeller is claimed to have been a Black Mouth Cur.

The breed is one of the contributors to the Florida Cur, or Florida Cracker Cur, a cattle dog with which it is often confused.

Appearance

This is an athletic, muscular dog that varies a good deal in size. Most stand between 41 and 64 cm (16 and 25 in), and a few reach 71 cm (28 in). Weights usually run from 20 to 45 kg (45 to 100 lb). The breed standard sets minimums of 46 cm (18 in) and 18 kg (40 lb) for males and 41 cm (16 in) and 16 kg (35 lb) for females.

The coat is short and dense, usually yellow, fawn or light brown; dark brown, brindle and black dogs are also known. The head is broad and flat with drooping ears and a strong black muzzle, which gives the breed its name. The chest is broad, the legs are long, and the long tail is not normally docked.

Temperament

The Black Mouth Cur is wary of strangers and protective of children, sometimes to the point of objecting when parents discipline them. Many are said to respond better to female handlers.

In the field it hunts bear, feral pig, raccoon, deer and squirrel across the southern states. It has a reputation as a hard hunter that usually catches its game on the ground, though it may also tree and bay.

Facts on this page were checked against Wikipedia and may have changed since.