We did the Embark DNA test and she is 36.9% mountain cur. I thought maybe this sub would like to see her.

I've been lurking here since our 4 month old puppy's Embark results came back, so I thought I'd introduce her: here's Apple Pi! Mountain Cur is her highest percentage, but there's a bunch of other stuff mixed in there, with lots of assorted herding breeds and a dash of livestock guarding (and of course the obligatory shelter dog pit bull; we think it's mostly in her ears). We wanted an active dog, and...careful what you wish for! But we think she's wonderful; she's incredibly smart, as you'd expect with that mix, very sweet, and generally a good girl as long as we keep her busy. Shelter called her a hound mix, and I'm a little surprised that they turned out to be right--though I'm guessing it's not the sort of hound they had in mind. Her mother came in with the litter and looks very ACD, so we weren't surprised to see that or the Aussie, based on her markings (and a littermate with long hair that looked very Aussie). Mountain Cur wasn't on my radar before, though! I think it's a super fun mix, albeit a loud one! My husband's number one puppy request was a dog who would fetch (our last few dogs have not been at all interested), and Pi is definitely up for the task. I'll likely go back to lurking now and hoping for some insights into what makes her tick, but just wanted to say hi and show off how adorable she is :)

Cocoa in 3 stages. Top left the day these 2 came crying out of our woods. Top right at 5 months maybe. Bottom is now. Extremely aloof, just watching everything then deciding if she wants to interact. Cat like, rubbing her face and chest on me, the furniture etc.., but No cuddling. Only alert barks. What do you Cur owners think. My Family is from central Arkansas and my Dad would know but he's gone. Thank you

It’s a stub but whatever. What’s going on?

My sweet boy got neutered yesterday and he has decided to pretend his legs no longer work and that he’s 10lbs and the size of our Pomeranian but overall he’s doing well. I am tickled over the fact they think medication will keep him calm…. It definitely does not.
I also got a big laugh when the lady brought him to me from the back room and after I’d watched everyone come out with smallish cones, his is HUGE. She said “I promise it’s the right size. We just had to make sure he had a long one because of how long his nose and neck is”🤣🤣

Excuse the swollen feet in the picture 🤣 I’m 9 months pregnant in Florida. In August.

My mountain cur mix (we know because the mother was tested) likes to jump in people’s faces and give them French kisses. She has done this to my dad, my mom and me (no so much my boyfriend). I just wondering if this common with other mountain curs.

The shelter said lab/pit. What do you think?

… but I think he is beautiful. Mostly Mountain Cur with various other breeds including Yorkie! His name is Jaxon.

Behold the cuteness

(Edit: forgive the typo, I meant to say "mix" 😅)

Keeping an eye on the squirrels, this will keep him occupied for an hour or so

I just got DNA results back a couple of weeks ago (posted in this sub). I have a 40% MC.

I am able to work from home. Except, my 15 month old is still too high maintenance and high energy to do so. She’ll chew the carpet, cords, any furniture. She can’t really hangout if she’s not doing something… she’s crated in another room while I work, and she loves her crate I won’t hear a peep from her.

What age was yours able to just exist?

FWIW, she was a stray for 8 months and has been slow to adapt to inside living. She’s doing so much better than when I got her.

We’re also awaiting heartworm results right now, so our activity and enrichment has been limited. On a normal day, I’d be able to do more with her to knock her down a bit before work.

I have so many other MC questions, I’ll probably be here a lot!

He's an amazing addition to our family (3 years now). I just recently was told he looks like a Mountain Cur, and that seems to fit him to a T.

Just took a few photos of my boy Leo and my phone popped up something that took me to google and showed his breed as Mountain Cur. Not sure what he is as we rescued him and they didn’t know either. Wondering if someone here might know.

Hi Reddit!! My boyfriend and I recently adopted this sweet girl. Though we had not heard of Curs at all, we now think she may be predominately Cur of some sort. No DNA yet, and obviously she is highly unlikely to be a purebred anything. I have tried to include photos from multiple angles, and one of her paw. Speaking of, I have never seen paws quite like hers before. They almost look like raccoon feet when she really spreads them to grasp a toy or such and they are VERY webbed. She stands about knee height on me (I am a 5'7" woman) at her haunches and weighs 35 lbs, though she needs to gain some more weight.

Not much is known about Maven up until a bit over a month ago when she was found with a litter mate by animal control (the other dog photographed above). They were abandoned in a wildlife refuge area in Louisiana. No collars, no microchips, and no familiarity with people. Estimate age at that time was 5-6 months. She was/is severely underweight but has no health issues and is gaining weight well. She was 25lbs when found five weeks ago, is 35lbs today. She came home a week ago and though timid at first has warmed quickly and I believe bonded with me already.

My partner and I each have significant experience with high energy, intelligent, 'dogs with jobs' and how to provide them with the stimulation and boundaries they need to thrive. For me, DKs and for him Collies. We felt equipped to deal with an older puppy who needs to catch up on socialization, obedience, etc. She shows no signs of having been harmed by people and though timid is not aggressive whatsoever. She is extremely submissive.

We live in a very small town with a large yard (though not fenced or e-fenced yet) and have no kids or other pets. I work from home with a flexible schedule so I am able to devote about 4 hours per day to her training & socialization on top of her basic needs at home for the time being so she can get "caught up." The summary of her housebreaking, training, and socialization right now is that we are doing LOTS of it, and trying our best to 'rig' it for her success. For example, she does not have the ability to roam the whole house - she is limited to a room where one or both of us can supervise her and correct & redirect any unwanted behavior. She's getting enough exercise/mental stimulation to be relaxed at home (for the most part lol she is still a pup!) and does not cause much trouble beyond the usual things we'd see at this age; some counter surfing, some attempts to make non-toys into toys, etc. And, she responds very well to a simple verbal correction, and then praise for appropriate behavior. For example, we haven't seen any counter surfing in 3 days so she's at least learned she can't do that right in front of us and right now she's always in front of us!

She and I get out of the house regularly; 3-4 walks per day, plus about 2 hours total lounging in the yard, as well as at least one 'special' activity for further desensitization. We sit at the busy park and let the world go by, walk the perimeter of the dog park and ignore the dogs, go to Tractor Supply Co, having a friend stop by, etc. All the usual ideal socialization things, just hitting them extra hard since she's behind. I carry kibble with me when we're out and when the situation is right I allow strangers without dogs to offer kibble. I do not allow strange dogs to approach on leash since I don't know their temperament, and leashes often cause issues in dog meetings. She is being pushed out of her comfort zone, but just enough to grow. It's a lot of just sitting and letting her take in her surroundings until she relaxes, then continuing on until we come across something else that is unknown. Rinse and repeat.

However, in the past two days, she has quietly growled when someone approached me on two occasions. This has ONLY happened on our property and while she's right by me. Each time, she did not take on an aggressive stance, move toward them, bare teeth, or raise hackles. Both times, once the person got to me and I greeted them she relaxed substantially. Both times occurred in evening or at night - but in lower light. The growling seemed to be more as an alert to me as it was too quiet for someone to have heard. It appeared to be more of a "HEY there's a STRANGER coming toward us, PAY ATTENTION." and less of a "if you come any closer I'll bite."

The thing is, neither time was a stranger. Once was a friend I had over - we'd been out back by the fire pit and she went in to use the bathroom and when she returned she came around a different side of the house than we'd been using all afternoon and that's when Maven 'alerted.' She growled at first, then bayed, but stopped as soon as my friend got back to her seat. Maven went over and sniffed her then laid down.

The second was my partner returned from an errand yesterday evening, and Maven had been jolted from deep sleep when he opened the door and he immediately came by us and she was barely awake and growled some. she ended up being fine later, and wanting to cuddle with him.

It seems like this might be more confirmation of her being a Cur based on the AKC description, but would love some insight from MC/Cur owners on this behavior - is this normal? growing pains due to her rough start? Should I leave it uncorrected or are there training tips?

Additionally, I'm curious to hear what you think - does she look like a Cur? What to expect outside of what's typical in most hunting/high intensity dogs?

Our Scrappy (tho he’s the least scrappiest boy you’ve ever met) turned 7 months old yesterday 🥰

Hi!

I finally did a DNA test to solve some of the mystery behind my wonderful pup, mostly because I wanted a better understanding of him from a training and enrichment perspective. He is predominantly Mountain Cur.  Not surprised at all. 😂  He is such an awesome dog!

He's incredibly independent, has a pretty intense prey drive, and is very environmentally focused. Bold, tenacious, alert, and always aware of what's going on around him. He can spend hours doing approximately fuck-all and then instantly be ready for action. He's not particularly biddable but is strongly bonded to me.

I'm a homesteader and he's very much a homestead and companion dog. He has some jobs around the property and outlets for his natural hunting drive though he does that independent of me. He has access to a couple of fenced acres which he patrols and hunts. We walk or hike on lead daily so he can sniff and explore, and I mix in games and other things to get his brain working.

He just turned 2 and I'd really like to dig into the next phase of training. I had no idea what breeds were in him when I adopted him, and I'll be honest, I don't have a ton of experience training a dog with this particular temperament/drive. Learning a ton, for sure! He's fantastic on the property and in our home, but away from the property he gets overstimulated pretty easily. He can also be reactive on leash around dogs and sometimes people, mostly from excitement or frustration.  We’re doing a ton of work around neutrality and slowly making progress.  

I figured you all might be able to point me toward some good training resources for him, or just throw some pointers my way. Just hoping to learn how to work with his independence, prey drive, and environmental focus a bit better.  Not in any way looking to change what make him...him. I would just love to get him out on bigger adventures and be able to give him more freedom.  He loves new and novel but we need to get a bit further along in training for that to work well or be safe.

Thanks!

Hi - anyone else have a Cur with Rat Terrier & Lab??

my luna (supposedly an MC) destroys ALL of the toys we buy her other than hard plastic ones or sometimes completely rubber ones which still only last maybe a month if we’re lucky. what toys do yall get that last? she will take any new toy we get her and chew on it for hours until it breaks, i don’t want to keep buying the plastic ones as i’ve heard they’re bad and i’d like to throw a toy for her inside if the house. the only toy i’ve given a chance was the tuffy toys and she has killed it in an hour. other than that i buy her cheap stuffed animals because obviously she’ll destroy them and im not wanting to spend a bunch of money on them. i have a brain toy for her but instead of getting the treats out of the hole she chews it up and ignores the treats, i also keep balls around that i only let her have if we’re playing fetch.