Reflecting back, I recall a story being told by two old timers about 50 plus years ago when I was just a teenager. The lived in South East Mississippi, a rural farming community. The story being told was about one of their local neighbors who lived in their neck of the woods. The neighbor had a black mouth cur dog he was very proud of to say the least.  The old man was so proud of his dog and his many talents. His owner thought this old Yellow Cur Dog had all of the desired traits you could hope for. This old dog was so multi talented that his owner just had to brag on him frequently to his friends and neighbors in this country community.  The old neighbor would boastfully brag on his dog to many people.  He was proud of his dogs hunting ability plus he was great working livestock. He was also very proud of his protectiveness of the family and their possessions.  He had made the boastful statement many times when bragging on the old cur dog named Ruff. The old man would tell people how Ruff was so good watching the chicken house at night to protect them against fox, coyotes, predators, and thieves that he did not worry about the safety of his chickens. 

Times were very hard back then and a family’s chickens were very valuable to them and chicken thief’s  were not uncommon.  Old Ruffs owner had said that if anybody could get by ole Ruff and steal his chickens they were welcome to them.  Well as most people in the community was aware that ole Ruff did not roll out the welcome mat after dark and he was well respected for that.  Evidentially all the bragging that the old man had done about ole Ruff had gotten to a couple of the boys in this very rural country area. It all started as a joke or talk between the boys but it eventually became a challenge for the two boys to show ole Ruff and his owner that the chickens could be got. This was something that had to be planned out.  No body in their right mind would want ole Ruff greeting them at the chicken house.  This was an endeavor they knew must be planned well.  So they began to discuss their options and possibilities that might work to get the chickens.  Cur dogs in south Mississippi during this era were common. 

Most old country homes had a cur dog or two that graced the old home place yard.  The curs nearly always ran free and the hounds were tied, or in a pen.  One morning one of the boys was feeding the family’s hound dogs that were used for hunting when he noticed that one of the female hounds was coming in heat. This is when a light in his head came on.  He had the answer now, all he had to do is to get with his buddy to share this news about the old female hound and implement a plan that would have to be carried out in the next few days before the female hounds heat cycle had passed.  The boys got together and the news about the hound bitch coming into her heat cycle was shared.  They were sure this was the answer to develop a simple plan around the hound dog, and get the old mans chickens.  Real simple to plan it seemed on the surface to the boys.  All they had to do was to bring the old hound to the wooded area fairly close to the old mans house tie her out and climb a  tree nearby and wait for ole Ruff to show up.  In their reasoning they allowed that the soft late evening southern breeze should be just the thing to send out the love invitations aroma to ole Ruff. This was a very  simple plan while ole ruff was hung up with the old female hound they would make their move to the chicken house to get some of the mans chickens. However there were a few more details that had to be considered they both agreed they could not afford any mistakes.  As the boys discussed this simple plan there were a couple of things that the boys decided should be addressed, number one was the time factor. How much time would they have to get some of the old mans chickens and get gone while ole Ruff and the female hound were engaging in the act at hand.  One of the boys asked the other, now exactly how much time do you think we will we have to make our move and do the deed.  His buddy replied, I don’t really know I have never timed two dogs mating.  His buddy replied, I ain't either.  After much discussion regarding this small matter they decided that it would probably be wise to allow them only five minutes to complete the planned task at hand. The boys were aware that ole Ruff did have a bit of a reputation for being protective of the old mans place. The boys were getting a little bit worried about the uncertain time factor

They were concerned enough they began to reason together.  They decided maybe it would be best if they didn't overload when they get to the chicken house.  After all they just wanted to make a point.  They concluded that if they got three of his laying hens plus his rooster the old man would surely know without a doubt that someone had stolen some of his chickens. This way they would each have only two chickens and they could easily carry one under each arm for their speedy getaway.  As they agreed there was no need to overload because they were going to return the chickens to the old farmer after a day or two anyway, they were just doing it for fun and to slow down the old mans bragging about ole Ruff a bit.  Three more days had passed and the boys had been bringing a male dog to the hound’s pen daily checking to make sure she was in full heat. The female hound was definitely ready now.  The boys decided it was time; this was the day to carry out their plan. One of the boys family lived fairly close to the old mans house, it was in fact less than a mile through the woods to their targeted chicken house.

Maybe they were lucky and the male cur dog was just caught up in the special moment not paying too much attention to anything except the female hound dog.  The boys had hurriedly made it to the chicken house and so far everything was going as planned.  One of the boys had a small flashlight with him they entered the hen house where the chickens roosted.  The boy with the light was shining it so the other boy could see to hurriedly get his two chickens armed up.  These chickens were the big heavy Domineckers. The hens were large and the rooster on the roosting perch was very big for a chicken.  The boys were working at it haste fully because they knew that time was probably growing short.  After the first boy had his hens securely held under his arms in the ready to flee position, the other boy quietly armed up a hen and he only needed that rooster and away they would go. Things were going just as planned so far not a sound had been made.  The boys knew they were racing against time and they were aware there was none to spare.  The boy that needed to arm up the big rooster as quickly as possible, handed the other boy the light so he could shine it for him, so he could see to get hold of that seemingly overgrown rooster.  He felt he would need the full use of his other hand to get the big rooster with.  After the light swapping the boy went to arm up the big rooster and the big rooster squawked loudly a couple of times and was flopping his wings fiercely and the big rooster managed to escape his partial grip and hit the ground.  Quietness in the hen house now was a thing of the past.  It sounded like every chicken in the hen house could be heard.  The boy was trying to get hold of the rooster on the ground and fearing that all the commotion could alert the owner and time was rapidly slipping away also.  The boy made a couple more attempts to get the old big strong rooster in his grip but he kept getting away, the boy really wanted the old rooster because he was a big part of their master plan.  However, he decided with all the noise and the rooster’s strength he would just grab another hen and get gone.  The boy grabbed another hen and she squawked loudly and he said to his buddy lets get to hell out of here. 

Just as they turned to head for the door all at once they heard a vicious sounding dog barking and growling as it was rapidly approaching the hen house.  The dog met them at the door before they had managed to get out. The dog now was at the door barking, growling, and teeth shining.  Things had gone sour for them, they didn't know that the old man had acquired him another black mouth cur.  Yes come to find out that the old man almost a year back had became concerned that ole Ruff was beginning to get a little age on him so he had arranged with one of his friends who also owned a couple of very good female Black mouth cur dogs to breed one of them to Ole Ruff and he got a puppy back out of Ole Ruff in the deal.  The seven month old Black mouth cur puppy a daughter of ole Ruff was now holding the boys at bay in the hen house. At this time the young dog was working alone, ole Ruff was evidently still occupied.   All the commotion alerted the owner and he showed up to greet the boys with a shotgun in hand. Ole Ruff had also heard the commotion but he was not able to get to the hen house any faster than he did.  Ole Ruff got there as soon as he could. Yep if the old cur dog could have talked to explain to his master why he could not get there any quicker than he did, was because he was literally hung up. 

 After very much explaining had taken place by the boys, the old farmer was convinced the boys really meant no harm. The old man was almost lit up with pride of his young female cur dog.  Yes she had proved that she was truly a watch dog just like her father ole Ruff.  Deep down inside the old man was very happy now he had a real true to life story to tell about his wonderful Black mouth cur dogs.