KENAI
Mountain Cur

The breeds · tree dog · cur

AKC Foundation Stock Service · UKC Scenthound

Mountain Cur.

UKC: Powerful, agile tree dog of medium size; hunting dog, family companion and watch dog. Outdoor Life (2003, squirrel-dog sidebar): Old breed from the mountains of Tennessee, once known as the Ledbetter Cur; a squirrel dog..

Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.

0INHeightdogs null, bitches null. An ideal from the standard, not a range.
30–60LBWeight, all linesbreed 30 to 60 lb.

The body

What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.

Height at the shoulder

dogs 18 to 26 in · bitches 16 to 24 in

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2001

UKC Height and Weight. Range as printed; no ideal given.

Weight

30 to 60 lb

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed-page header summary, both sexes; AKC has no standard for this FSS breed. UKC says only 'weight is proportionate to height'. Inside the AKC header 30 to 60 lb (recorded). Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Coat

UKC: Outer coat short, smooth or rough; undercoat short, dense, soft. Outdoor Life (2003, squirrel-dog sidebar): Typically brindle, black or yellow.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2001

UKC Coat. Colors: black (with or without tan or brindle points), blue, brindle, brown, red, yellow, blonde or buttermilk buckskin; white no more than one-third. Color only. Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Shedding

Shedding 3 of 5 (AKC breed page trait score)

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Heat tolerance

4 of 5 · Short outer coat with short, dense, soft undercoat

DerivedUnited Kennel Club, 2001

Derived from the UKC coat description (short dense = 4). No measured data.

The dog at home

What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.

Energy

5 of 5

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Grooming load

3 of 5

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

The work

What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.

Role

UKC: Powerful, agile tree dog of medium size; hunting dog, family companion and watch dog. Outdoor Life (2003, squirrel-dog sidebar): Old breed from the mountains of Tennessee, once known as the Ledbetter Cur; a squirrel dog.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2001

UKC General Appearance and Characteristics. AKC page: 'a hunting dog with a good treeing instinct... courageous fighter and extremely intelligent'. Outdoor Life names the OMCBA as the body that sets the breed standard. Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Primary game

UKC: Squirrel and raccoon. OMCBA squirrel hunt rules: Squirrel (OMCBA sanctions squirrel hunts for registered Original Mountain Curs; coon hunts also exist).

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2001

UKC History: 'Today these dogs are used on squirrel, raccoon, and all types of big game.' The UKC Cur & Feist Rulebook scores squirrel in Squirrel Events and raccoon in Nite Hunts. Rules page; the OMCBA bench-show page read carried no written breed standard (it links a downloadable guideline PDF not opened). Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Also used on

All types of big game

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2001

UKC History, quoted. The standard does not name species; bay work on hogs or bear is not stated by any fetched source. Also a courageous fighter 'when required' (Characteristics).

Search pattern

UKC: Fast, hard hunter that runs the track with its head in the air; open, semi-open or silent on track with a clear bark heard a long distance; circles and drifts on a cold track until it finds a hot one. Outdoor Life (2003, squirrel-dog sidebar): Normally silent on track, barking only when a squirrel is treed; ears must be short and cur-like.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2001

UKC Characteristics, quoted closely. Unlike the Black Mouth Cur standard, an open mouth on track is allowed. Easily discouraged from tracking unwanted game. Treeing style stated by the registry standard only; the OMCBA's own text was not reachable. DISAGREES in emphasis with UKC (open, semi-open or silent on track). UKC kept. Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Field trial standard

OMCBA squirrel hunt: casts of two or three dogs, one handler each; first tree 100 points, second 40, third 25; tree points stay open 1 minute; squirrel must be seen by the majority of the cast or a non-hunting judge; one dog must bark every 2 minutes once declared treed; minus points for leaving the tree beyond 24 steps or 60 ft or a tree with no squirrel; dogs scratched for aggression

Breed clubOriginal Mountain Cur Breeders Association

Different scoring from the UKC squirrel hunt (second tree 40 vs 50 in UKC). Single source on this value (the breed association's own rules).

More

akc bands

AKC breed page trait scores (1-5): Energy Level 5; Mental Stimulation Needs 5; Trainability Level 5; Barking Level 5; Watchdog/Protective Nature 5; Good With Young Children 3; Openness To Strangers 1; Good With Other Dogs 3; Shedding Level 3; Coat Grooming Frequency 3; Drooling Level 1; Affectionate With Family 3; Playfulness Level 5; Adaptability Level 3.

Breed clubAKC

Fourteen AKC bands in one row; the selector reads each by name. Breed-club ratings: a tendency, never a measurement.

No KENAI kennel lists the Mountain Cur yet. If you breed them, list your kennel free: it shows on this page and in the hunting dog breed finder, under every handler whose answers land on the breed.

How to read this page

Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.

Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 3 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called
Original Mountain Cur, Kemmer Stock Mountain Cur

Every breed, read the same way.

The breed index grows as entries clear the standard. Gun dogs first.

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