Brindle Mountain Cur Breed and Coat Information for 2022!

Man’s best friend can be many different things. He might be a wonderful guard dog or the perfect four-legged nanny dog for your children.

On a farm or ranch, she might be your favorite farmhand to keep you company while helping with the neverending workload.

The Brindle Mountain Cur is all of this and more!

If you’re on the hunt for a great watchdog or work dog who will still fit in well with your family, this breed may be just right for you.

Keep reading to learn more about these enthusiastic pooches.

What Is a Brindle Mountain Cur?

The Brindle Mountain Cur is a relatively new dog breed, believed to have been first bred in the USA in the 1940s.

Other variations of Curs exist in Europe and the Mountain Cur seems to follow their lineage.

The Brindle coat is a beautiful blend of blacks and browns, usually appearing on the overcoat.

They can also have many other coat colors, including:

• Black and brindle
• Black
• Tan
• Brown
• Yellow

Brindle Mountain Curs are closely related to the Tennessee Treeing Brindle.

They’re a bit louder than the Treeing Brindle and tend to make better guard dogs and workers.

The Mountain Cur will usually be about 30 to 60 pounds when fully grown and stand between 16 to 24 inches at the shoulder.

This makes them decently mid-sized dogs, and definitely big enough to have fun with!

Considering other dog breeds? Our guide to the Best Brindle Dog Breeds is a great place to continue your journey to finding the right dog for you and your family!

Finding a Brindle Mountain Cur

Mountain Curs are one of the rarest dog breeds in America, to say nothing of trying to find one with specific coat coloring.

Luckily, they’re gaining in popularity for the first time since they were first introduced.

Finding one may take some time and effort, but it will be well worth your time when you bring your new pet home.

You have a couple of different options here.

The first would be using the AKC Marketplace or word of mouth to find any breeders near you. Keep in mind that you may have to travel a bit.

Your second option would be to try to find one to rescue. This could be through a shelter or an individual person trying to rehome theirs.

PetFinder is a great resource when trying to locate a specific breed in nearby shelters.

How Much Do They Cost?

The cost of a Brindle Mountain Cur will fluctuate widely across the USA.

The reason for this depends on several different factors.

These include:

• Availability
• Lineage
• Breeder reputation
• Health
• Appearance

Because of this, you can expect to pay anywhere from $400 to $3,000 for your Cur puppy when you go through a breeder.

Since the Brindle coat is common in this breed, it shouldn’t cost you any extra.

If you’ve found a Mountain Cur to adopt through a shelter, you’ll only have to pay the shelter’s set adoption price, which is much cheaper than breeder prices.

At a shelter, you can expect to pay no more than $300 on the higher end.

Traits of a Brindle Mountain Cur

Dogs may not be people, but they still have big personalities!

Each breed has personality traits that are almost guaranteed in each individual dog.

Some of the traits that tend to be breed-specific include:

• Personality traits
• Common health problems
• Exercise needs
• Grooming needs
• Whether they’re good around children
• Whether they’re good for first-time dog owners

Below, we’ll explore all of these traits in detail.

By the time you finish, you should have a pretty good idea as to whether this breed is right for your family!

Personality Traits

Breeds have personality traits that are pretty similar across the board.

While the intensity of these traits may change depending on individual personality or life experiences, you can typically count on these when getting a Mountain Cur puppy.

• Since the Brindle Mountain Cur is a born and bred work dog, they have a lot of energy and always want to have some task to do. These guys are always ready to help out when there’s a job to be done!

• They have a strong prey drive, which can make them great hunting dogs. This also means that cats or other small animals shouldn’t live with them. No matter how well you train your Cur, Fluffy will still look awfully tempting.

• Curs also make wonderful watch dogs. They’ll fight tooth and nail to protect their home and family. If you want a watchdog, this breed is a great choice. It will, however, require special training to make sure that they know when to protect and when to back off.

• Mountain Curs will bark loudly and frequently without the right training. The good thing is that their barking usually means something, whether he’s alerting you to an intruder or is indignant about an empty food bowl.

• Mountain Curs will become incredibly bonded to their human family. This translates into a giant teddy bear who thinks he’s a lap dog or keeping a watchful eye on your children.

Overall, they’re a well-rounded breed, suited to both families and active lifestyles.

Common Health Problems

Mountain Curs are a healthy breed overall, but just like all other breeds, there are some conditions that they’re more likely to get than others.

Mountain Curs are most prone to skin and ear infections.

This is because they have a thin fur coat and those adorable, floppy ears.

You can mitigate this risk by keeping your pooch clean and regularly checking his ears.

They also have a slightly elevated risk for these conditions:

• Hip dysplasia
• Arthritis
• Ticks and fleas

Their active lifestyle is the obvious culprit behind these risks since they prefer to spend a good amount of time outdoors.

As long as you keep them clean and watch for any of the warning signs associated with these conditions, you should be good.

Exercise Needs

The Brindle Mountain Cur requires quite a lot of exercise due to being bred as work dogs.

The more time they’re allowed to spend outside, the better! At the bare minimum, they should get a couple of hours of exercise per day.

Since they can learn many different types of tasks and enjoy variety, their favorite exercise is working with you outside.

Other than that, you can exercise your Brindle Mountain Cur with these favorite activities:

• Jogging and running
• Fetching
• Swimming

That’s not to say that they don’t like settling in at home with their owners.

Give them a warm lap and lots of pets and next thing you know, you’re not allowed to get up! 

Grooming Needs

Mountain Curs have minimal grooming needs since their coats are short and sleek. That said, they’ll still require basic grooming care.

This includes:

• Bathing every few weeks
• Weekly brushing
• Paw and nail care

Unless your pooch has a particularly messy day at work, you shouldn’t need to do a whole lot to keep him or her clean. 

Are They Good with Children?

Assuming that they’re socialized well, they’ll consider your children part of their family. Even better, they’ll be fiercely protective of them.

Babies and toddlers may be a bit difficult since they can often accidentally hurt a dog.

As long as you supervise their time together and make sure that your little one doesn’t accidentally hurt your dog, they should get along splendidly.

If you can’t supervise them with young children at all times, it’s best to wait until your kiddos are a bit older before bringing home a Mountain Cur.

Are They Good for First-Time Dog Owners?

Depending on your lifestyle, the Brindle Mountain Cur may or may not be a good choice for you as a first dog.

If you live on a farm or ranch, you may find this breed easy to handle as a first-time dog.

They’ll fit right in with your lifestyle, so long as you’re able to take them along with you.

If, however, your lifestyle isn’t naturally active, you may find these dogs a hard choice for a first dog.

Their exercise requirements take up a good deal of time to keep them happy and they do require significant training.

Read More: Are Dog Pounds Still a Thing? Dog pounds, or kill shelters, still exist. Here is the purpose they serve.

What We Like About Brindle Mountain Curs

There are certainly a lot of things to love about this breed!

Here are a few of the big ones:

• Since they’re both intelligent and extremely eager to please their owners, Mountain Curs are easily trainable.

• They’re very protective of their families and make great watchdogs.

• They enjoy a hard day’s work and are intelligent enough to learn how to help you with tasks around your yard or farm.

• Their grooming needs are minimal.

• They tend to bond extremely closely with their owners.

These are all some excellent positives for this breed, but they also have some potential drawbacks. Keep reading to make sure you’re prepared to handle those.

Potential Drawbacks of a Brindle Mountain Cur

While Brindle Mountain Curs are great dogs, they do have their drawbacks.

Some of these include:

• They don’t do well in small homes without significant outdoor space, including apartments.

• They don’t do well with cats or other small animals. Their prey drive is high, so your small animal could easily get hurt.

• They can have a hard time getting along with other dogs. If you have others, they should be well-socialized when your Mountain Cur is a pup.

• They’re very social with their family since they’re pack animals, so they can’t be left alone too much. They may get destructive when lonely.

• They can be hard to find since they’re a rare breed.

• They can be nervous about people outside their family and have a lot of energy, so they do require a good amount of training. You may want to consider obedience classes. Read our Obedience Classes for Dogs Guide for more information!

If you’re prepared to handle these potential problems or they don’t apply to you, a Brindle Mountain Cur may be just the right dog for you and your family.

Statistics at a Glance

Brindle Mountain Curs are mid-sized dogs with fairly average statistics. Below, you’ll find breed-specific information in one easy spot!

Brindle Mountain Curs can be a fantastic family pet, as well as wonderful helpers around the farm. If this breed sounds right for your family, the only thing left to do is to find one!