Stephen's Cur Dog - Anyone Heard of Them?

I've head of them - like you said, they are just another line of Cur dogs (which are not purebred dogs). They are very active, agile and smart - used for hunting a lot too.

I don't know if the coloring is specific to that 'line' or not, I would doubt it.

Any piccies?? =]

These were all taken right after I got her here. Sadly, my camera is now dead (you can see it was already having issues when these were taken) so nothing recent. I do plan to get some on Saturday, though. 

I don't want to burst your bubble, but that tail looks too "brushy" and curved to be a cur tail.  I'm not saying there's no squirrel dog in that dog, but my guess is that she's a mix. 

Cur tails are usually docked, but I've seen plenty of all types of tails when they are left natural. Okay, not ALL types but anything in the smooth coat range. It depends on what they go back to. I had a friend with a mountain cur that had a tail that curled more than hers.

Normally I'd agree and say odds are she's just a "whatever" mix, and for a couple of months that's what I thought.

But her instincts and personality are very predictable. Working breeders say a dog that comes out right, according to the plan, is a "good using dog" and that's what she is, good at all the stuff these dogs are supposed to be good at. 

These are supposed to hunt in packs. Jetta's most motivated when everyone's doing something together - she's most excited by the ball, most excited when everyone's playing tug with the same thing (Lynn, Ted, and Zhi), loves to race around with everyone. She gets along with any dog, any time - a prospective adopter came over with her dog who is not friendly with other dogs, to see whether Jetta might work for her. Jetta had this dog playing within two minutes - the dog's owner had never seen her dog get that friendly that fast anytime.

There's the treeing thing of course - holy cow, you should see her baying up a tree after a critter. Everything about her changes - that sweet little thing looks like a killer - and the bark will make your ears bleed, I swear, if you stand too close.

They have some rudimentary livestock skills. She doesn't really care to circle stock but she gets really excited if I ask her to drive them off something. She has a different bay for that. My ram will just barely move for any of the Border Collies, and it takes all three of them to get him off feed when he's hungry or the feed is really good. Jetta can get in there and do this insane, ear-splitting bay and lunge and he heads for the hills. If he doesn't, she takes him on the head, extremely correctly. Even if he takes a swipe at her, she will nip and stand her ground just out of reach. That's not only SOME cur breeding, that's very GOOD cur breeding.

I went "wow" when I read the standard for the Stephen's and it said they should be real team players, eager to please. That's Jetta for sure. She's a positive trainer's dream dog. It takes like one rep to teach her something. If you don't want her to do something, you just completely ignore her and she stops doing it. Yes, that's true for most dogs, but extinguishment happens in just a couple of "tries" for her. 

I don't know why all the above pictures are the same. Brain burp or something. I have better ones now. I borrowed a camera. I also got some video.

Too adorable for words!



Yay!



More yay!



Try if you can to resist the charm of my speckled feetsies.



This is her favorite trick - standing on something. Anything. Just point and she'll try to stand on it.



She's really built nicely, and can she ever use that athletic body! Not unusual to turn around and *pop* she magically appears on a tabletop or the counter or desk.



This is a demonstration of what happens when you try to train and do a video at the same time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkKA5Bt9Vio

Ditto - in this one, I get in Jetta's way and she miscalculates her jump and goes sliding off. Someone needs to fire the camera person. And the trainer too. :D

Another video - more silly fun stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOLvcO2_rTk

And finally!

Jetta tugging - had to split it, not sure why - I uploaded it three times and each time it failed during processing, both on You Tube and Vimeo.

Funniest thing about the tugging. I had been dragging it on the ground to try to get her interested, and she was always, "Meh." I couldn't understand it because she's so high prey drive. Then that one time she went bonkers for it out of nowhere.

I figured it out today - her drive is triggered when something goes UP! As in, she's a squirrel hunting dog and something went up a tree.

I started dragging the tug consistently up my body and letting her climb me, basically, and here's the result.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF7dbLucrH0

Part two, really starting to commit to the tuggy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyLYN3zzcis


 

 She is ridiculously cute, and she sounds like insane amounts of awesome! You know, though, I'm totally not biased towards spotty squirrel killers.

jennie_c_d

You know, though, I'm totally not biased towards spotty squirrel killers.

LOL, no wonder I was seriously wanting this dog!  She is awesome and looks and sounds like she would be a fantastic dog for the right person. 

Spotty squirrel killers are not really my thing but Jetta is rapidly finding a place as my all time favorite foster ever. There's just something about her personality - you think she's appealing via the camera - you should sit down with her for two seconds. Even my BC snob friends can't help but smile at her and let her climb in their laps.

She can't stay however - it totally would not be fair to her. She needs to go where she's not going to have to be scolded all the time for chasing livestock, and someone out there really needs her talent - and she needs someone to train her to her full potential, not to mention tap her potential to be a snuggle bunny bed buddy (yes, she is capable of relaxing and a very nice dog to share a bed or couch with). 

Oh my goodness, she is gorgeous!!!!   I love the videos, it's funny (and pretty amazing) how fast she just appears up on the table.

LillianD

Oh my goodness, she is gorgeous!!!!   I love the videos, it's funny (and pretty amazing) how fast she just appears up on the table.

We have a short cat tower, about three feet tall, with typical sized platforms (maybe 10" by 18";). She jumps up on this, from the floor now. It's a scream - she's so cute! 

And yes, the main varieties of cur are indeed purebred dogs, despite the name, IMO. Blackmouths and Parnell's are generally considered different breeds, for example.

Sort of like all the lesser known breeds of swiss or belgian herding dogs. You can't breed a Stephens and a Kemmer and call it a true Kemmer. You call it a Kemmer Stephens mix.They can look very similar true....but also different in their own way.

There used to more leeway and some breeders still use shorthand (i.e. the great grandma was a Kemmer but everyone else in the family is Stephens, so we'll just tag it a Stephens but let the people know there is Kemmer in there, but the trend seems to be leaning more towards keeping things unique.

Good breeders do mix varieties on occasion to produce superior hunters, and many current lines does have some old relation to another line that go back a long long time...some of the more recent varieties I would still consider mixes, but for the most part they are individual.

whtsthfrequency

Sort of like all the lesser known breeds of swiss or belgian herding dogs. You can't breed a Stephens and a Kemmer and call it a true Kemmer. You call it a Kemmer Stephens mix.They can look very similar true....but also different in their own way.

 That isn't really the same as the Belgian breeds but the Belgian breeds are kinda tricky to understand :)

  The types of Belgians are actually varities, not separate breeds. If you live in the US and want AKC registered puppies, you can only breed dogs of the same variety together. So only Groenendael to Groenendael (or as AKc calls them Belgian Sheepdogs), Terv to Terv or Mal to Mal (they don't register Laekens). That is unless you have say a Terv which is registered as a Groenendael because it had Groenendael parents. That dog can only breed it to Groenendaels despite it being obviously a Terv. If you only care about UKC registration, you can breed outside of the variety you have and register the puppies as what they are. If you live outside of the US, even in Canada, you can breed outside of the variety you have and register the puppies as what they are. You can import dogs to the US that are a result of intervariety breeding and register them as what they are with the AKC, even though the same breeding done in the US would not be able to be registered. You can import littermates and if one if black and the other brown, they will be registered as two separate breeds with AKC. Because of this despite being separate breeds in AKC, you will see shared relatives in their pedigrees. I'm pretty sure Belgians are the only breed like this as far as AKC is concerned.

 Huh, that is really neat (and complex) hah!

whtsthfrequency

 Huh, that is really neat (and complex) hah!

 It is a very unusual situation and the rules really don't make sense. A dog that the AKC would label as a mixed breed if it is born here, they consider a purebred if it is born elsewhere.