A Complete Price Guide for the Black Mouth Cur
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Cur isn’t the nicest-sounding name. After all, it is one of the more negative terms for a mixed-breed dog. Furthermore, cur comes with connotations of aggression as well as unfriendliness, which tend to be less than desirable characteristics in dogs to say the least. However, it is important to note that it can have more neutral meanings as well. To name an example, curs were a kind of dog used for driving cattle in England but were either unknown or next-to-unknown throughout the rest of the British Isles. Never mind the rest of the world. To name another example, cur can refer to a number of short-haired dog breeds developed in the Southern United States for both hunting and herding purposes. Apparently, this is an abbreviation of cur-tailed, which is a reference to how the earliest examples of these animals had natural bobtails. Black Mouth Curs are one of these dog breeds. It isn’t 100 percent clear how Black Mouth Curs came into being. However, it is clear that they are descended from a number of dog breeds brought over by European settlers, with the Belgian Malinois being a much-mentioned example. Whatever the case, Black Mouth Curs originated in Mississippi but proved to be popular enough to spread to the neighboring states.
These dogs were expected to be capable of hunting a wide range of game that included bears, deer, and feral pigs. As such, it should come as no surprise to learn that Black Mouth Curs are physically-impressive animals that stand between 16 to 25 inches while weighing between 45 and 100 pounds. Personality-wise, Black Mouth Curs are all-around working dogs that get along well with their human masters. Still, they aren’t necessarily well-suited for every would-be dog owner out there. This is because Black Mouth Curs are very energetic, meaning that they need someone who can keep up. Otherwise, they have been known to become bored, anxious, and destructive. These dogs can be very stubborn as well, which is a huge issue for people who can’t take charge in a calm, assertive manner while avoiding any shows of anger and frustration. Black Mouth Curs might also be an issue for younger children because of their preference for a rough-and-tumble style of play, though they are said to be very protective of younger children as well. In any case, if people want a reliable dog that can perform well in various kinds of work, they could do much worse than Black Mouth Curs.
What Price Can You Expect to Pay For a Black Mouth Cur?
Purebred dogs tend to be quite expensive. However, the Black Mouth Cur isn’t 100 percent accepted as a purebred dog. This can be seen in how it is recognized by the United Kennel Club but not by the American Kennel Club. That kind of thing can seem silly to some interested individuals. Still, it matters, which is why the price of a Black Mouth Cur is on the lower end of things. Interested individuals are said to be able to get one of these dogs for $500 to $1,300. A price range that isn’t too bad when compared with its counterparts for the most in-demand dogs that can be found out there.
Of course, there are other ways that interested individuals might be able to get their hands on one of these dogs. For instance, they could check out classifieds as well as similar sources of information to see if anyone is planning on just giving away one or more of these dogs. Such things are rare but nonetheless happen from time to time for various reasons. One common reason would be a Black Mouth Cur having a litter, meaning that the dog owner is moving to find homes for the puppies that they can’t take care of on their own. Another common reason would be a dog owner becoming incapable of taking care of their Black Mouth Cur but not having a readily available alternative, meaning that they are moving to find a new home for their dog. This approach is going to be more effective in some places than in others because these dogs aren’t distributed in a perfectly even manner throughout the country but instead remain concentrated in the country’s south. Moreover, this approach has a second issue in that interested individuals have less control over the dog that they get, which is important because one Black Mouth Cur can still be very different from another Black Mouth Cur.
Other than this, there is the similar but not quite the same option of adopting a Black Mouth Cur from animal shelters as well as similar organizations. These dogs aren’t particularly expensive in the first place. However, adopting one of these dogs should be even cheaper because paying a few hundred dollars should be on the higher end of things rather than the lower end of things for this particular option. Once again, availability is the single biggest issue, meaning that interested individuals might have to wait for quite some time for a limited number of options depending on where they are looking. On top of that, dogs don’t necessarily end up with animal shelters and similar organizations because of problems with the dog owners. Instead, it is perfectly possible for dogs to end up with animal shelters and similar organizations because of problems with them. Still, this isn’t necessarily as bad as it sounds because those organizations tend to be very upfront about exactly what interested individuals can expect. As a result, they should be able to properly prepare for any physical issues and any behavioral issues in the dog that they choose to bring home. Something that tends to make these problems much more manageable than otherwise possible.
What Are Some Factors that Can Influence the Price of a Black Mouth Cur?
As always, there are a wide range of factors that can influence the price of a Black Mouth Cur. If interested individuals learn more about them, it might be possible to get a better deal than otherwise possible by making use of factors that matter to other people but don’t matter to them. Generally speaking, this means a lower price for the dog. However, it is important to remember that the upfront price isn’t necessarily the only thing that people should care about when they are getting a dog. For starters, regional availability can matter a lot. Dog breeding isn’t the most concentrated of industries that can be found out there. As such, different people can encounter different prices for the same dog breed because of the different dog breeders operating in different regions. There are some dog breeds that are so popular that they are readily available everywhere.
However, Black Mouth Curs aren’t one of them. Chances are good that interested individuals can find a lot more options in the rural parts of the Southern United States than in the urban parts of the rest of the country. After all, these are very energetic animals that are often used as working dogs, so they tend to be more popular in places where people are spread out when compared with places where people are packed in. Moreover, while they have long since spread elsewhere, Black Mouth Curs are like a lot of dog breeds in that they remain the most popular in the place of their origin as well as its immediate surroundings. Increased availability means an increased ability to pick and choose. In contrast, if people have more limited options, they are going to be limited to the prices that are offered to them. Nowadays, interested individuals might be able to get a better deal by looking for a Black Mouth Cur from a dog breeder that is located far from them, though that option comes with a couple of issues. One, they are going to have a much harder time evaluating said dog breeder’s operations to see if there is anything amiss.
Two, they should expect transportation fees, which can be high enough to erase whatever savings they were hoping for. Moving on, a dog’s price is always influenced by the costs that have gone into that same dog. This is because dog breeders need to sell their dogs at a profit. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to continue running the expensive processes that make a business possible. A lower price doesn’t necessarily mean that a dog is bad. However, interested individuals should definitely check out the dog breeder’s operations to make sure that the latter is doing things in a cost-efficient but nonetheless ethical manner rather than the cheapest way possible. This is important because severe cost-cutting tends to mean very bad things for an animal’s well-being, meaning that people need to be careful about pursuing the lowest prices possible.
An increased risk of physical issues and health issues isn’t worth a lower price because healthcare costs can get real expensive real fast. A single treatment can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Other than these, there are other factors that can prove to be useful. For example, Black Mouth Curs come in various colors, so more common colors might mean lower prices. Similarly, most people want puppies, meaning that people who are willing to accept an older dog might be able to benefit. For that matter, it might be useful for people to check to see if there are any mixed-breed dogs that can be had at a lower price provided that they aren’t particularly concerned about whether their dog counts as a purebred dog or not. Be warned that this measure might not be as useful for Black Mouth Curs as it is for some of the more strictly-defined purebred dogs out there, particularly since their status as a dog breed is already a bit shaky in the first place.
What Other Costs Can You Expect As the Owner of a Black Mouth Cur?
Buying a Black Mouth Cur is just the start of a dog owner’s expenses. After all, living animals are living animals, meaning that they cost money to sustain. In most cases, those expenses will be the highest in the first year because of everything that people will need to buy for their dog but can expect to continue using in subsequent years. Combined with the price of the dog itself, that means that interested individuals will need to be well-prepared. Beyond that, the cost of owning a dog can see enormous variation from case to case. This is because different dogs have different needs, meaning that what is fine for one dog isn’t necessarily fine for another dog. As such, the annual cost of owning a dog can go from about $1,500 to almost $10,000. Dog food and dog treats should go for about $250 to $700. Bigger dogs tend to cost more than smaller dogs because they need to eat more, which is relevant because Black Mouth Curs are not smaller dogs. Meanwhile, healthcare costs can go from about $900 to $2,600 on an annual basis.
This includes veterinary care and preventative medicine but this also assumes that the dog is in good condition because as mentioned earlier, the cost of treatment for actual medical problems can go from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Due to this, it is very common for people to get pet insurance so that the cost of treatment will be covered in case something goes wrong. The average cost is apparently about $50 for dogs on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, this is one of those things that can see significant variation from case to case because insurance companies pay a great deal of attention to the riskiness of the individual dog. Fortunately, Black Mouth Curs are supposed to be on the healthier side of things. As for other kinds of costs, some are more concerning than others. Grooming is probably not a huge concern because these dogs are short-haired. In contrast, the cost of dog-sitting can be higher, particularly if people aren’t able to meet their Black Mouth Curs’ activity needs on their own.
