If he's giving the Cur away, the first thing is to ask him if the dog ever worked livestock. If he says yes and then ask him does he go for the head or for the leg. You need to also ask him if the animals has ever taken down one of his livestock. First kill is always the hardest and then the rest comes with practice.

My mom raises them and if he's off Koon's stock in Louisiana than that's from my mom's blood line. They get head strong sometimes and like to roam. My Cur knew Mt. Hermon better than I did. I had to give her back my mom because she (Stormy) would go to the head of the cattle and with show Herefords, you don't won't a face that's been messed up.

Males get larger than females and depending on the bloodline they may look like pit bulls or the lean type that my mom doesn't like. They are good for hunting hogs, my mom has a man that comes a buys a puppy every now and then to help with the bears in CO.

Oh ask him if the dog is directional deaf or fully deaf. The more white the Cur has the bigger chance it's one or the other and then the chances of if passing that along is greater, too. That can be a problem in this breed because of the blue mural gene.

What color is his eyes? There is nothing wrong it they are "cracked" or blue. If you have double glass eyes and snow they will get snow blinds.

Hopes this help a little if you can follow what I'm saying...LOL...need coffee.

I'm a dog man..big time into my kind of dog. I have free dogs, but first I asked why they were getting rid of them. In my case the dogs I've gotten for free were poor choces on the master's part. however if a dog man had a free hound, I'd want to know if the dog was just poor at what he was ment for.

Also, for a complicated skill like working livestock, I would not start with a 2+ year old city dog.  You've missed so much of the learning/training/socialization window on that dog.  My current bird dog came to me from a show kennel at 18 months of age.  With consistent training, he's turned into a serviceable hunting (and competition) dog, but he'll never pick up the finesse that he would have if he'd started training at a younger age. So the dog's age is another factor I'd hold against him  . . .

Of course, every individual is an individual and this dog might be perfect for you. But unless you're willing to put in a lot of time training - or be happy to give up the idea of a livestock dog if the dog doesn't get it -- then I'd recommend passing on an older free dog.

Muddy Run Farm -- clean floors are highly overrated

Any livestock gaurdian dog should be raised right with the animals you want it to bond with, otherwise it will bond with the family which is what happened in our case.  I couldn't resist making a pet out of that fluffy, beautiful puppy. 

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From our experience males are lazy and the females are go getters. GREAT at watching the place.

With this breed my mom has relocated a lot of older dogs to ranch hands and they worked with them 24/7 and picked (dog) it up easy. One of my mom's friends can't speak but uses a whip to direct the dogs from horse back. A sight to see. He snaps the whip one why for one thing and another way for another direction.

However don't you have kids? If I'm thinking of the right family here...When a Cur bonds with one person it's hard to make them work without that person being there. Due to grandchildren my mom refuses to keep a male on the place because they get grumpy.

Let me place a call and I'll be back with from information from my mom.

My mom says don't get the male. Go with a boarder collie (they can control their temper and keep them a working) or aussie, but the boarder collie is the best. These two will circle your goats and not go for the neck, ankle or leg like a Cur will.

Just remimber it like buying a new car vs. a used one. New cars come with new problems and a used car come with someone else's problems.

If you go with the Cur, ask a lot of questions before taking it in.

If you got any more questions, just ask mom and I talk on a regular bases...LOL...

As to guard dogs, I have an 8 month old maremma who is just wonderful!!  He doesn't leave his goats.   If he has to choose between his goats and his pigs, he will usually pick the goats but that is probably because the goats are out foraging and the pigs are sleeping.  He is very social and I like that as the heelers weren't.  I had anatolians before and find him to be even better.  I'm sure you will find "better" dogs of any breed and I know lots of people love their Pyrs.  The thing about these LGD breeds is that they are "ancient" and the instincts are just there. 

Cute dog and pig story...this weekend everyone was sunning in the yard while I was working and the baby pigs would come up and nuzzle him and actually climb on him.  (He is not so good with poultry.)

Mary Ann

As long as you stay on course and not veer off from training it is easy for them. But like mom says they go for body parts and that may not be good for your goats.

I'd down sized from Stormy 65 lb female (Reg Cat Cur out of PROVEN working stock) to La-La a $5.00 puppy (Rat Terrier and Cha... mix with something smaller) that's now 6 yrs old (+/-) and weights 5 lb on a wet day. GREAT for killing mice and voles. But she will get in there with a bull and tell him who boss and that's me. One call does it all for her and DON'T touch P2.