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| Mountain Cur |
The Mountain Cur is a type of working dog that are bred specifically for treeing and trailing small game, like squirrel and raccoons. They're also used for hunting and baying big game like bear and wild boar as well as being just an all-purpose farm dog. Curs are a member of the Hound group, and the Mountain Cur is one of several varieties of cur. They can also be used as water dogs. Mainly bred in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee, it has been registered with the United Kennel Club since 1998. The Mountain Cur Breeder's Association was formed in 1957.
The Mountain Cur was originally brought to America from Europe by the settlers of the mountains in Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, then later Arkansas and Oklahoma, to guard family and property as well as chase and tree game. These dogs enabled the settlers to provide meat and pelts for personal use or trade, making them very valuable in the unforgiving frontier environment. The Mountain Cur was bred and maintained for nearly two hundred years. With the advent of World War II, many of the families who had bred them left the rural areas and went to work in factories in the war effort. By the end of the 1940s the breed was becoming rare. Four individuals, Hugh Stephens and Woody Huntsman of Kentucky, Carl McConnell of Virginia, and Dewey Ledbetter of Tennessee are given credit for saving the breed from dying out and setting the Mountain Cur breed standard.
Mt. Curs were the pioneer dogs of the southern Kentucky and Tennessee mountains. It has been said that without Mt. Cur dogs the pioneers could have never been able to settle in these mountains.
Mt. Curs were a necessity for the frontier family. They guarded families against wild animals and other dangers; then also provided food by catching, treeing and holing game for their families' food. Mt. Curs were held in high regard by the pioneers and few were sold after acceptance into a family.
It is believed that the Mt. Cur came from Europe along with their owners who came to America seeking new homes. It has been established, through the research of the late David Carr, that the cur as a type of hunting & herding dog has existed in Britain since at least the 13th century. Many of these dogs were born bobtailed and this gave rise to the word curtail. This cur is the source for later cattle dogs such as the Welsh Corgis, the famous Smithfield and the Old English Sheepdog. After its arrival in colonial America in the 17th century it became the source for other cur breeds including the modern Mt Cur, and the Blackmouth Cur of Old Yeller fame. Until World War II, the Mt. Cur was still an economic asset to the mountain people. Their Mt. Curs helped feed the family and many of these mountain people bought food, clothes, and other necessities with money from furs caught by their Mt. Curs. Then came the War and the industrial revolution, making jobs available in the Cities. As more mountain people became moved to the Cities to become factory workers the Mt. Cur became scarce in the late 1940s.
However the Ole' mountain men did not forget the Mt. Cur. Four men have been credited with saving the Mt. Cur from extinction, even though many Mt. Curs bloodlines carry very little if any of the blood of the old pioneer Mt. Curs. These men were Hugh Stephens and Woody Huntsman of Kentucky, Dewey Ledbetter of Tennessee, and Carl McConnell of Virginia.
In 1956, these men founded the Original Mountain Cur Breeders' Association. Soon after, much controversy over the breed standard caused Hugh Stephen and Carl McConnell to leave the OMCBA and they founded the Stephen Stock Mt. Cur Association (Registered only long- tailed little black and white dogs).
Later the Tennessee Treeing Brindle Association ( Registering any long-tailed brindle dogs), and the Kemmer Stock Breeders Association, who registers any and all OMCBA registered dogs, regardless of bloodlines.
The Mountain View Cur was developed by selecting only the very best certified tree dogs out of a certain pure Mt. Cur bloodline. This is why they are known as the "thoroughbreds" of the cur dog world. No other Mt Cur Strain has ever been bred under their strict selection and breeding standards.
The Mountain Cur is extremely intelligent, easily trained, and neither vicious nor shy. Very rarely do Mountain Curs bite. They tend to be very energetic and generally make good indoor pets. These dogs are very good around any age of child or any adult and are a good family dog if you prefer a laid-back but protective dog. They are known to always try to please their masters. They are not however dogs to be trifled with, historically many a cur died fighting to protect his family from hostile natives and dangerous predators.
Cur is also a type of hunting and all-purpose dog developed in rural areas of the United States. Cur is used to describe this type of dog, although it does not describe a specific breed. Breeds of cur are usually not recognized by major show registries, so selection for certain looks hasn't been a main factor in their development. They are normally selected mainly for hunting or work ability, although some breeds of cur are also known for herding ability. Consequently, most cur breeds have extremely flexible appearance standards; enough so that a complete breed appearance standard is difficult to create. The resultant diversity in appearance and selection for physical ability result in breeds that tend to be genetically sound and healthy.
They are descended from European dogs brought over by immigrants, possibly mixed with native American dogs. Unlike the true mutt which is random-bred with no human involvement, the curs' breeding is intentionally planned by people.
A related variety of breeds are the feists, small terrier-like dogs bred in the same areas of the United States for hunting small animals and keeping vermin out of farms. The feist breeds are slightly more unified in appearance than the curs, presumably because they were developed solely for working purposes.
Cur is also used by Angel Dumott Schunard in the musical Rent to refer to a barking dog that "won't shut up". The phrase is used in an historically correct sense, although as the dog in question was a pedigree Akita, at odds with modern usage as mixed-breed.
In the movie Tombstone, Wyatt Earp used the term cur on several occasions when referring to the Clantons.
In the video game Two Worlds, the hero often yells "Die, cur!" at attackers, in a belittling manner. The word cur is also used in the video games The Elder Scrolls III:Morrowind, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion mostly by Dark Elves, referring to the character as a 'filthy cur'.
In The Simpsons, Homer suggests the fictional breed Street Cur for their new dog.
In Pirates of the Caribbean, Captain Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp, refers to the prison guard dog as a "mangy cur."