Quick Links: Table of Contents
- Mountain Cur Breed Overview
- History of the Mountain Cur Breed. Where Mountain Curs came from
- What the Mountain Cur Looks Like
- How Much is the Mountain Cur Puppy?
- Best Mountain Cur Breeders
- Adopting or Rescuing the Mountain Cur
- What Colors do Mountain Curs Have?
- How Long Mountain Curs Live
- How Fast Mountain Curs Can Run
- Good Names for Mountain Curs
- Health Problems in Mountain Curs and How to Prevent Them
- Dog Breeds That Are Similar to Mountain Curs
- Other Things to Know About Mountain Curs
Mountain Cur Breed Overview
The Mountain Cur is a large-sized dog.
The adult Mountain Cur stands 16 to 26 inches.
The Mountain Cur belongs to the Working Dogs group.
Dogs in the Working Dogs group, like the Mountain Cur, were developed to assist humans in some capacity – including pulling sleds and carts, guarding flocks, guarding homes, and protecting their families.
Breeds in the Working Group are known for their imposing stature, strength, intelligence, and fearless.
Because of their size and strength, working dogs require a structured home life and firm, fair, consistent training by someone who can provide leadership without resorting to anger or physical force.
The fact that Mountain Curs belong to the Working Dogs group is one of the reasons why Mountain Curs have the personality and temperament that they have.
The temperament of the Mountain Cur is generally described as:
- Courageous
- Protective
- Quiet
- Tough
History of the Mountain Cur Breed. Where Mountain Curs came from
Mountain Cur fans refer to him as the true all-American pioneer dog.
He was crucial to the frontier family`s security and hunting.
Families found him to be a valuable asset as they settled in the Southern Mountains, and the Mountain Cur was widely used to tree or hole wild game to help keep food on the table until the 1940s.
Some researchers believe that terrier-type Curs brought over from Europe with immigrants were bred to native Curs, resulting in the Mountain Cur.
Mountain Curs were able to adapt quickly to pioneer life, and Native Americans were known to own this breed as well as their own version of Cur known as the Indian Cur.
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What the Mountain Cur Looks Like
Mountain Cur is a medium-sized dog with a stocky, rugged appearance.
He has a thick, dense coat that is longer than that of the average hound but still considered short.
His coat can be smooth or rough, but it should be straight and soft beneath.
He comes in yellow, black, brindle, and black and brindle.
White markings on the Mountain Cur`s chest or toes are possible.
Mountain Curs are born with bobtails, with the other half having naturally long tails that can be surgically docked.
He may also have dewclaws on his hind feet, with two dewclaws per hind foot in some cases.
He has cat-like feet that are strong and well-muscled.
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How Much is the Mountain Cur Puppy?
The average price of a Mountain Cur puppy is $680. The price of a Mountain Cur puppy ranges from $388 to $850.
A lot of factors determine the price of the Mountain Cur. These factors include what health records the Mountain Cur puppy has, the lineage of the Mountain Cur puppy, the US state the breeder is located in, etc.
To estimate how much you can expect to pay for a puppy Mountain Cur based on the many factors that determine the price of the Mountain Cur puppy, check out our calculator that lets you estimate how much you should expect to pay for the Mountain Cur puppy based on what you want in the puppy.
When looking to buy a puppy, look at buying a puppy only from well-established breeders that breed puppies primarily for the love of the Mountain Cur breed, and secondarily for profit. Do not buy a puppy from a puppy mill. Puppy mills mass-produce puppies in bad living conditions for maximum profit.
You may also consider adopting instead of buying a puppy. Adoption costs are very low compared to the price of a puppy.
Best Mountain Cur Breeders
We have researched reputable Mountain Cur breeders that you can buy a puppy.
Go to this page for our complete list of reputable Mountain Cur breeders in various states in the United States.
On this page, you will see how much these breeders sell their puppies for, and how many puppies they have available.
A few of these breeders are listed below.
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Walnut Ridge Mountain Curs
Puppy Price: $750
Adopting or Rescuing the Mountain Cur
You may consider adopting a dog instead of buying a puppy. Many dogs, Mountain Curs included, are currently available for adoption in your local dog shelters.
These helpless but adorable dogs are waiting in dog shelters hoping that someday someone will rescue them. Dog adoption costs are lesser than the cost of a new puppy. Dog adoption costs are usually around $300 or even less.
In addition to your local dog shelter, another good place to find dogs that are available for adoption is petfinder.com.
Below is an adorable Male Mountain Cur named Ct Sleepy that is currently available for adoption on Petfinder.com. You can find other lovely Mountain Curs like Ct Sleepy on pefinder.com.
Ct Grumpy is the name of another Mountain Cur (Male) on petfinder.com that is looking for a new forever home.
You can find more Mountain Curs that are available for adoption on petfinder.
What Colors do Mountain Curs Have?
Mountain Curs come in the following beautiful primary colors:
- Brown / Chocolate
- Brindle
- Black
- Tricolor (Brown, Black, & White)
- Bicolor
- Red / Chestnut / Orange
- Yellow / Tan / Blond / Fawn
- Golden
- Apricot / Beige
Mountain Curs come in the following lovely secondary colors in addition to their primary colors:
- Black
- Harlequin
- White / Cream
- Yellow / Tan / Blond / Fawn
- Golden
- Brown / Chocolate
How Long Mountain Curs Live
The lifespan of the Mountain Cur is typically from 10 to 16 years.
Mountain Curs live long if they eat well, drink well, exercise well, and visit the veterinarian regularly.
How Fast Mountain Curs Can Run
How fast a dog breed can run is a good measure of how athletic the dog breed is.
The American Kennel Club (AKC) regularly conducts dog running competitions. The AKC records the running speed of competing dogs in these competitions. These competitions are open to all dog breeds.
Based on our analysis of the speeds of 5 different Mountain Curs, the average speed of the Mountain Cur is 25.9 mph (41.7 kmph).
The fastest speed on AKC record that the Mountain Cur ran in a race is 27.81 mph (44.8 kmph) and the minimum speed on record in a race for a Mountain Cur is 24.04 mph (38.7 kmph).
Click here to see how the speed of the Mountain Cur compares to the speed of other dogs and other mammals such as cats, horses, humans, etc.
Good Names for Mountain Curs
Here are some really good names that are typical for the Mountain Cur ranked by popularity:
- Dennis
- Hashbrown
- Roadie
- Zeus
- Simon
- Cornflakes
- Harley
- Shenanigans
- Sam
- Jeb
Health Problems in Mountain Curs and How to Prevent Them
Every dog breed has its own set of health problems that it tends to develop. There is nothing like a perfect dog breed.
The Mountain Cur is prone to certain genetic health conditions. The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) is an organization that keeps track of genetic health problems in dog breeds.
From the extensive records that the OFA keeps, the OFA knows what health problems each dog breed is naturally prone to develop.
Hence, the OFA recommends which health screening breeders should perform on a dog breed to make sure that the breeders won`t breed `defective` dog parents that can pass down defective genes to their puppy offspring.
If you want a Mountain Cur puppy that will grow up to be healthy, make sure that your Mountain Cur breeder screens your puppy or your puppy`s parents for the health problems that the OFA recommends for your puppy`s breed. This will increase the chances that your puppy is free from genetic defects.
The following are the health tests that Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) recommends that breeders should screen Mountain Curs for:
You can find out more about OFA`s recommended tests for Mountain Curs here.
Dog Breeds That Are Similar to Mountain Curs
If you have not made up your mind on which dog breed to get, you may also want to consider some other dogs similar to the Mountain Cur.
We crunched the numbers and found that the following dog breeds that have similar behavior and temperament as the Mountain Cur:
- Black Mouth Cur (80 percent match with Mountain Cur). Learn more about the Black Mouth Cur here.
- Karelian Bear Dog (77 percent match with Mountain Cur). Learn more about the Karelian Bear Dog here.
Other Things to Know About Mountain Curs
Here are some of the very important characteristics of the Mountain Cur that you need to know about the Mountain Cur breed: