Yellow Black Mouth Cur Dogs

Before I go into today's topic, I want to write a bit about the Mesquite Jelly I made yesterday. I thought it wasn't going to 'Jell', which means solidify into a jelly consistency, but it did, so that's why I called it syrup in the last post. I will have to change the recipe pretty drastically, because I don't like the way the flavors turned out. So once I fix it I will post the recipe I have altered to make a better jelly that's pleasing to the palate. And Mom made Challah bread with Mesquite flour. It was awesome. She made a lot of it, and it tasted amazing.

On to the topic. We have two dogs, as you might have seen in the pictures I posted with my siblings cuddling them. Sugar is a female, and she is about knee high. She is the most intelligent dog I have ever seen. It was like nothing to teach her obedience and she catches on to basic sentences accompanied with hand gestures pretty fast. She can sit, stay, lay down, shake, crawl, and jump. She knows what "Go into your crate" "Go under the couch" "What did I tell you?" which is usually said when she disobeys a direct order on purpose. If you ask her if she wants to go outside, she puts her ears up and lets out a hefty bark. She is learning to control her excitement when we round up pigs or cattle, and to pay attention to commands at that time. She has incredible muscle definition, and she has a great stance. She is fast, fast here meaning amazingly fast. When she runs flat out, the speed she gets will astonish you. We never have to smack her to get her attention, because she pays very close attention to voice tone. She knows your emotions just by hearing you speak. She will be sad and downcast whenever you are angry, even if you aren't angry at her. She is by far the best and most amazing dog I have ever been around.

Then there's Pepper, our male. He's still a puppy, and acts like one. I am sure, one day, by some amazing transformation, he will lose his puppy rebellion streak and get some coordination. Maybe. He know how to speak, sit, lay down and stay. He will go in his crate if you ask him to, but you have to really get his attention if you want him to stay still for any amount of time. He also likes to constantly remind us where he is by barking randomly without any rhyme or reason. He has very much of a hound dog bark, more of an 'ooooof' than a 'woof'. He is so clumsy. It's hysterical sometimes. He just doesn't watch where he's going. He's like a cartoon. He will trip on the slightest obstacle, and literally run smack dab into trees. No kidding. He will be running along behind Sugar, and she will run around the tree, rock, board, etc. He will just keep running. Smack! Faceplant! He will yelp like someone is ripping his arm off, and run over to me, begging for sympathy. I am crying with laughter by this time, knowing exactly what was going to happen..... Silly Dog.

The Yellow Back Mouth Cur (YBMC) is a dog that is acclimated and indigenous to the central Texas area. The Old Yeller that was written about in the book was a YBMC. Of course they used a fat old Yellow Retriever in the movie. These dogs are used mainly for hog hunting. Here is a site of a breeder near Dallas, I think. And if I'm correct, the dog on the front page is Sugar's Pa. I think I am right, but that doesn't always work well for me. Here is a clipping from the home page which I found interesting:

This Site is dedicated to the Texas Hog/Cow Dog, (Yellow Black Mouth Cur), one and oldest of only two breed of dogs indigenous to Texas. Meaning, the only dogs that originated here in the good ole Lone Star State. The Dog depicted in the novel by Fred Gibson, (Old Yeller), was a Yellow Black Mouth Cur. The difficulties of life in frontier Texas in the 1800’s were difficult at best. The Yellow Black Mouth did not only help in the daily "goin on's" of Frontier Texas, (finding/working hogs, finding/penning cattle, hunting to feed the family, etc.), but the Frontier men also depended on Old Yeller for protecting the family in there absence. Needless to say, without the presence of this ole yeller dog, life in Frontier Texas would have been even more difficult and possibly impossible. Thanks to old Ranch families and dedicated Hunters, the Yellow Black Mouth Cur dog has survived to present day. These dogs have been line bred, for the most part, for nearly two Centuries. Being, for the most part, kept in the family for generations. These Yeller dogs are probably the best kept secret in the dog world! In my experience, of more than 40 years, of hunting North American game from Squirrels to Bear, there is not a better all-around dog!

Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed meeting my dogs, and have a wonderful evening.

Tracy