Mountain Feist

The Mountain Feist is a small hunting dog from the southeastern United States. It was long counted as the same breed as the Treeing Feist, and the two are now recognized separately by the United Kennel Club. Both are used on small game, above all squirrels.

History

In the nineteenth century a small type of dog took shape in the mountain regions of the Southeast, bred from terriers and hounds for hunting small game. “Feist” comes from “fist” and is a Southern word for a small, fierce dog. “Treeing” describes the way these dogs hunt: they chase the quarry up a tree and then show the hunter which tree it is in. Feists were first bred for squirrels and were later split into several breeds, often with Rat Terrier crosses along the way. They are also used on rodents, raccoons, opossums and rabbits, and for flushing birds.

During the twentieth century the dogs grew scarce, and in the early 1980s a group of enthusiasts came together to keep them from dying out. The Mountain Feist Association was formed in 1984 and was replaced the next year by the American Treeing Feist Association. The Mountain Feist Breeder’s Club followed in 1986, and other clubs in the 1990s. The United Kennel Club recognized the Treeing Feist as a breed in 1998 and the Mountain Feist as a separate breed in 2015.

Appearance

The Mountain Feist is a small, active, alert dog with a short, dense coat that may be any color or pattern. The ears are usually pricked, though semi-pricked ears are common. The tail may be left natural or docked to any length.

Feists once varied widely in size, from 25 to 56 cm tall and from 4.5 to 15.9 kg. The United Kennel Club standard narrows this to a height of 30 to 46 cm and a weight of 5.4 to 13.6 kg.

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