The Yellow Black Mouth Cur

Original Yellow Ladner, Weatherford’s Ben BMC and Variations

In 1957 the movie “Old Yeller” was released from the novel written by Fred Gipson. The dog used in this movie was a mixed breed dog actor by the name of “Spike”. He was born and lived between 1952 and 1962. A lop eared yellow matador mastiff/Labrador retriever mix. Spike was well known for his performances in “Lassie”, Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice, and “The Silent Call.” He was trained by Frank Weatherwax.

Many of us grew up with Old Yeller, Call of the Wild, and Balto; but several hundred years before the movie in the Southern USA existed the original ole yeller. They were known as the original yellow Ladner’s from the south! Mr. L.H. Ladner and the Ladner family have bred and worked their yellow black mouth cur lines for generations. Ole yeller was instrumental in the settlement of the Southern USA; protecting , hunting and herding. He helped fend off bears, wolves and coyotes while making a great family member for the old settlers.

Weatherford’s Ben Black Mouth Cur Lines

When speaking of yellow BMC dogs we will also often hear of the yellow black mouth cur cow dogs as well. This is typically referring to a line of dogs based around a dog named “Weatherford’s Ben.” Both the Original Ladner dogs and the Weatherford’s Ben lines are buckskin colored. Both may also come with a light to non existent black mask on the face. Although a black mask and black ears are preferred by breeders it is not a standard requirement for these lines. From the photos of Weatherford’s Ben himself we can see that he did not have the traditional black mask. For the record we are quoting the NKC standards for the lines; there are multiple registries for the W. Ben dogs like the FBMCBO and the OBMCBO.

So how did we come to the yellow Black Mouth Cur Dogs? The original dogs are light in color (buckskin). Breeders will additionally develop sub families that come in shades of yellow; given the new shade comes in both lines the Weatherford’s Ben and the Yellow Ladner dogs. Ibarra’s Original Yellow Ladner dogs will come in shades as light as a paper bag all the way to a bright yellow.

Some fun facts about the Yellow Black Mouth Cur

• The dog in “Old Yeller” has NO Black Mouth Cur descendants
• It is not a required NKC standard to have a black mask and approximately 10% of Ladner BMC’s have little to no mask at all
• It is the black pigmentation on the lips and roof of the mouth that is an NKC requirement for Black Mouth Cur’s
• A Black Mouth Cur is loyal to the point of death and a one master type of dog. Re-homing for any reason will break his heart!
• Using a DNA test to find out whether or not you have a BMC is not effective without sample DNA from the original for comparison. The results will always be mixed as nobody currently has original DNA to compare.

We hope you enjoyed these fun facts; if you have questions about our Black Mouth Cur dogs visit the CONTACT page or give us a call!