I found a dog. He loves people and doesn't stray. He looks like a yellow lab, but has a big bark and likes to tree squirrels. I'm trying to obedience and retriever train him and he is trying hard to please, but his nose is soo good, it takes over his brain when he hits a track. I'm wondering how I can tell if he is a type of hound?
If you have experience with the BMC breed, can you give me characterstics unique to the breed?
Thanks for any and all opinions.

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Can you post a pic or two?

Here is a photo of one I use on Bear. And below is a breed description. Not sure what happened to the photo but here is a link to the photo anyway.

http://treetimekennels.com/images/fearless.jpg

General Appearance

The Blackmouth 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 moderately broad muzzle. Ears are set high and drop. The tail is straight, set low, and may be any length. The coat is short and close fitting. The Blackmouth Cur should be evaluated as a working dog, and exaggerations or faults should be penalized in proportion 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 Blackmouth Cur is a fast, hard hunter that finds game using its eyes, ears and nose. Silent trailers are preferred, although slightly semi-open on a very hot track is allowed. Never open like a hound. A loud, deep chop on bay or tree, ringing cry or slight yodel allowed. Never full-blown bawl mouthed. The Blackmouth Cur combines tenacity and courage with a strong desire to work. They are very loyal and protective of their owner and family.

Head

The head is large 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 moderately broad with a well-defined underjaw. Lips are tight. Except in the case of dogs with dilute coat color, lip pigment and the inside of the mouth, excluding the tongue, are darkly pigmented.

TEETH - The Blackmouth Cur has a complete set of evenly-spaced, white teeth meeting in a scissors bite.

NOSE - Nose is broad and slightly protruding with well-opened nostrils. Black pigment is preferred, but red or brown are allowed in dogs with dilute coat color.

EYES - Eyes are medium to large in size, set wide apart and may be green, yellow, or brown. Eye rims are tight and match lip pigment.

Fault: Eyes not matching color

Serious faults: Blue eye, wall eye.

EARS - Ears are drop, of short-to-medium length, wide at the base, and set high.

Neck

The neck is slightly arched, strong, very well muscled, and of moderate length. The neck gradually widens from the nape and blends smoothly into the shoulders.

Forequarters

Shoulders are well laid back. The upper arm is long and wide, and forms an apparent 90-degree angle with the shoulder blade.

The forelegs are strong and straight, with large, round bones. The elbows are set close to the body, but able to move freely in action. The pasterns are short, powerful, straight, and flexible.

Body

A properly proportioned Blackmouth Cur is square or just slightly longer than tall. Back is broad, strong, of moderate length, and level, blending into a muscular, slightly arched loin with slight to moderate tuck up. The ribs extend well back and are well sprung out from the spine, then curving down and inward to form a deep body. The brisket extends to the elbow. Viewed from the front, the chest between the forelegs is muscular and wide, with at least four inches between the front legs of a smaller-sized dog. This is a dog bred for stamina and faults should be penalized to the degree that they detract from that goal.

Hindquarters

The hindquarters are strong and muscular. The bone, angulation, and musculature of the hindquarters are in balance with the forequarters. The upper thigh is longer than the second thigh. The stifles are well bent, and the hocks are well let down. When the dog is standing, the short, strong rear pasterns are perpendicular to the ground, and viewed from the rear, parallel to one another.
Feet

The feet are of moderate size, compact and well arched. Pads are large, tough, and well cushioned. Toes may be webbed. Single or double dewclaws may be present.

Tail

The tail is set on low and may be any length. Coat on the tail may be smooth to slightly feathered.

Coat

The coat is short, dense, and close lying. Texture may be coarse to rough to very fine.

Serious faults: Wiry coat, long coat.

Color

All shades of red, yellow and fawn; black; brown; buckskin; or brindle; with or without black muzzle or mask. Very small amounts of white are allowed under the chin, around the nose, on the neck, chest, legs, and tip of tail, provided that no more than ten percent total of the dog's body may be white. Dilute coat colors are acceptable and may be identified by the following traits: green, yellow, or light brown eyes; white toenails; red or yellow coat without any trace of black hair. Never spotted, mottled, merle, or with white collar.

Disqualification: Albinism.

Height and Weight

Minimum height is 18 inches for a mature male and 16 inches for a mature female. Minimum weight is 40 pounds for a mature male and 35 pounds for a mature female. Blackmouth Curs are working dogs and should be presented in hard, muscular condition.

Gait

Blackmouth Cur gait is smooth and effortless, with good reach of forequarters. Rear quarters have strong driving power, with hocks fully extending. Viewed from any position, legs turn neither in nor out, nor do feet cross or interfere with each other. As speed increases, feet tend to converge toward centerline of balance.

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Awesome post Mountainman!!! Love your hound.. and that is one fine bear!!! Thanks for posting all that informative information!!!

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Thanks Susie, but thats actually one of the smaller ones that we have taken. You should see some of the big ones.

Mountain Man: Congrats on that fine BEAR! I never dreamed you could get something like that in the lower 48!
Also, thanks for the picture and breed description. You see, I really wanted him to be a labrador, as that is my area of expertise, however, he fits you description to a TEE. He does not have the black muzzle, and that's what threw me. He is bulkier than the dog in your picture, and as hard as nails. When I found him, he was walking out of the Mesquite brush with no collar and covered with fight scars. From his face, chest, sides and flanks, the black skin shone through ugly scars. His face was worst, with on set of teeth marks reaching from below left ear to above right ear. I wondered what could have so large a bite radius? Locals run hogs, coyotes, bobcats mostly at night and he could have been in a fight with fellow hounds. I've posted found ads, but no luck. I might be able to find out through a local rancher, but if they treat him that bad, I'm not sure I should return him anyway. He sure likes getting walks twice a day, overstuffed couches to lay on, squirrels to chase, horses to herd, and milkbone treats. He's got 25 acres here to play in and 5 kennels mates, which he knocks around like rag dolls in what he considers "gentle play. " When He get too rough on his kennel mates, I just pick up a horse whip and shake it in the air (say "Happy" ) and he backs off. Sound like a cur to you?

I have 4 Blackmouth Curs and they look pretty much like Mountainman's dog Fearless. Some won't have so much black on their muzzle, but they're all generally muscular and about the size of a smaller lab. Some strains of Blackmouth are a little stockier than those that are bred in the SE U.S. It sounds like that dog may have been used on hogs, but I don't know why he wouldn't have a collar on if he'd been with a good hunter. You might check the roof of his mouth and see if it's got a lot of black on it. Most BMC have at least some black in their mouth and maybe a little black on the outside of their lips where the hair's thin. Check for dewclaws on the rear too. Some strains of Blackmouth Cur, especially in your neck of the woods, won't carry dewclaws and some other cur dogs have black on the roof of their mouth. Might help narrow it down anyway. If you have a BMC and he bonds up to you, you're going to have a partner for life, that's for sure. I'm glad you making him a good home.

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Double, if he starts causing any problems or gets too aggravating treeing them squirrels just let me know, I have some friends down in Texas, that will hunt the hair off of him and take good care of him. But if you have ran adds and no reply's and you are enjoying him, then more power to you. Like Steve said, not all these dogs will have that black face like that. And mine is thin like that because he had been hunted every day except sunday for 6 months before that picture. In lazy times he is usually a lot thicker. Good luck with your new dog.

i own one the grittys dog ive ever owned she is 3 now trees hard chest to the tree

My friend has a couple of them & he uses them to work cattle. Seem to be pretty smart dogs.

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mountainman, that bmc is a serious looking hunting dog. he look like he means business. so many wonderful dogs and so little time to love and hunt them.

There are several other breeds of curs beyond blackmouth curs. If your find isn't a blackmouth, he's probably some other variety of cur. As working dogs, there is a pretty wide variety of appearances. Kemmer's are popular as coyote hunters in my part of the world. There's also Stephens curs, mountain curs, leopard curs and others.

You can check out pictures and breed descriptions, etc. at Squirrel Dog Central. There are also some discussion forums there.

http://sqdog.com/forums/index.php?s=242 ... howforum=9
(you'll have to cut and paste, its too long for one clickable line)

Sounds like you have a good one, that may have been in a hog fight or two.

Surprisingly, I have met several in New York City where the owners think they are Lab/pit mixes. However, they all go nuts treeing on squirrels--a dead giveaway.. If it stays put on a tree, you've got probably got some variety of cur.
My redbone has a cur friend that hangs out at a bar in Brooklyn NY LOL Max the cur is very friendly and exuberant and has a yodel like bark when excited in play. His owner works in the movie business and frequently takes him to movie sets, where he's very popular. Her dad owns the neighborhood bar, and she leaves Max with her dad when she is on the road. My redbone and I stop by, and they steal all the plastic soda bottles, hurdle over the bar, and generally cause mayhem to everyone's delight.

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Emily: that's exactly how I would describe him! A yellow lab of high quality, with some pitbull in him The muzzle is a tad short, the teeth seem different than a retriver, and when I let him out of the exercise pen, he heads for the black jack trees, and starts smelling the ground and standing up on the trees. He does not bark or stay at the tree, If a squirrell is there he will chop and kinda circle while looking up, but he doesn't get real excited or bay at the tree like a hound.
He tries to herd my horses (who have had so much experience with heelers. they just ignore him) I am getting some results on the lead with heel, sit...til that danged nose takes over! He will fetch me a bumper for a "treat", but it's just cause he's nuts about me. he doesn't seem like a retriever, although he sure looks like a yellow lab show dog. Lab show dog are only 16inches at the shoulder, but he is almost more muscular than labs I have known. He doesn't bite when he wrestles the other dogs, but knocks them down as he is too strong. He sits at the gate all day, waiting for me to let him out to play or walk. Good thing I'm retired!

Wow, your from SA, thats only like 30 minutes r less from were im from, i live about 9 miles from florsville, (poth), but any ways,, dose it have black on the face anywere?,...well that dosent matter, a friend off mine had 2 registerd BMC that had no black on them at all, solid, like a cream color, wierd looking but good., the were registerd and he bought them and a dog box for around 30 bucks!, crazy i know!, and the dogs have a great nose, there young and can trail good,but were im gettin at dont think just because it dosent have a blk mouth its not a bmc, what i would say to look for is if it looks more like a hound, but not with real long ears, and if it has a ball type thing on its head,. and also labs tend to be fat dogs , im just sayin!..oh and pretty dang dumb.

James~

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Hi Mutthunter: I'm glad for the information. Acutally, I got out of that rat race in San Antonio, and live in Lytle, TX on I35 about 30minutes SW of San Antonio. We live out here in the sand and blackjacks...so far back in the oaks that the owls flirt with the chickens!
The mayor didn't like my bumper sticker however, "Lytle...so pleasant it's nearly Devine" (Devine Texas that is!) That's a neighboring town,for those not from around here. As in, "Our team is red hot, and your team is didily squat" kinda a thing.
Anyway, I know a thing or two about dogs, having hunted and owned at least a third of the breeds. I field trialed bird dogs, shown some breeds, hunted with retrievers, worked cow dogs, etc. but this dog has me confused. The best behaved and loved dog I owned looked just like this dog, but was an AKC Lab of the Mandingo line. But, his personality was totally different. An I've seen Boxers retrieve ducks, English Pointers retrieve ducks, labs work cattle, rat terriers fetch quail,so pretty much every breed has a great nose and if the individual dog has talent they can be taught to serve the master.
This might be a lab mix. The roof of mouth some black, belly skin and leg skin black. Looks funny on a yellow dog. His many wounds and scars have healed but scars on front leg show black spots through his yellow coat. Eyes, dark rootbeer and smallish,rimmed in jet black and jet black on lips, but mouth mostly bright red inside. He is about 20 inches at the shoulder and his condition is hard as a rock! White toenails.