Mountain Cur Breed Magazine - Showsight

MOUNTAIN CUR Official UKC Breed Standard Revised April 15, 2001

UKC Mountain Cur breed. Today these dogs are used on squirrel, raccoon, and all types of big game. The Mountain Cur was recognized by UKC on November 1, 1998. GENERAL APPEARANCE The Mountain Cur is a powerful, agile tree dog of medium size. The body is square or just slightly longer than tall. Legs are long enough to allow the dog to move quickly and with agility in rough terrain. The head is broad, with a moderate stop, and a muzzle slightly shorter than the length of skull. Ears are set high and drop. The tail is straight, set low, and may be a natural bob. The coat is dense but close fitting. The Mountain Cur should be evaluated as a working dog, and exaggerations or faults should be penalized in propo rtion to how much they interfere with the dog’s ability to work. Scars should neither be penalized nor regarded as proof of a dog’s working abilities. CHARACTERISTICS The Mountain Cur is a fast, hard hunter that runs the track with its head in the air. Open, semi-open, or silent on track, the Mountain Cur has a clear bark that can be heard a long distance. When a hot track is not immediately available, the Mountain Cur will circle and drift on a cold track until it locates a hot track. Mountain Curs are courageous fighters when required. This breed is intelligent, with a strong desire to please, so despite its strong treeing instincts on all game, the Mountain Cur is easily discouraged from tracking unwanted game. A Mountain Cur responds better to training if it has lots of human contact. In addition to hunting, Mountain Curs make great family companions and watch dogs. HEAD The head is broad, but proportionate to the size of the body. When viewed from the side, the muzzle is slightly shorter than the skull and joined by a definite stop. The planes of the skull and muzzle are parallel. SKULL - The skull is flat and broad, tapering slightly toward the muzzle. Cheeks are muscular and prominent. MUZZLE - The muzzle is shorter than the skull, moderately broad with a well-defined underjaw. Lips are tight with no flews. Lip pigment matches nose pigment. TEETH - The Mountain Cur has a complete set of evenly spaced, white teeth meeting in a scissors bite.

The goals and purposes of this breed standard include: to furnish guidelines for breeders who wish to maintain the quality of their breed and to improve it; to advance this breed to a state of similarity throughout the world; and to act as a guide for judges. Breeders and judges have the responsibility to avoid any conditions or exaggerations that are detrimental to the health, welfare, essence and soundness of this breed, and must take the responsibility to see that these are not perpetuated. Any departure from the following should be considered a fault, and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and its effect upon the health and welfare of the dog and on the dog’s ability to perform its traditional work. HISTORY The Mountain Cur was declared a breed in 1957 with the organization of the Original Mountain Cur Breeders of America (OMCBA). Prior to that time, dogs of this type could only be found in very remote, rural areas, and there were no organized breeding records. The most common strains of Mountain Cur included the McConnell, Stephens, Ledbetter, Arline and York strains. OMCBA was able to assemble breeders and register the original-type Mountain Cur. On the last weekend of September 1991, a group of men and women met at Robert and Lou Ella Kemmer's house and formed a new breed club that registered a strain of linebred cur that became known as the Kemmer Stock Mountain Cur. These curs are Mountain Curs that are bred from the above-mentioned lines. The best was bred to the best and then linebred. Kemmer Stock Mountain Curs were first registered with the Kemmer Stock Mountain Cur Breeders’ Association (KSBA). Mountain Curs from OMBCA and KSBA provided the foundation stock for the