RevyJKU08

That is a good sign that he is alert when he encounters a large ungulates. This is sort of the steps BEAR took towards standing his ground with black and grizzly bears and barking to warn/alert me of the dangers around.

I know BEAR had issues with squirrels as well....his breed was Dutch Barge Dog and his duties on the boats were to kill rats. I just got after him and he slowly got out of the habit....but every once and awhile if the day was uneventful and he saw a squirrel he would chase after it.

Black bears can be just as aggressive as a Grizzly especially if they have cubs or you encounter them feeding. More cases though the blacks will retreat more than the Grizzly...just from experience. Also, I would suggest getting a bear bangers for your wife.....I have found 95% of the time a bear banger shot off will scare off black bears out of the area or up a tree.

Good luck with the training

RevyJKU08

In theory it would be good....but when you are backing up away from the encounter....there is that chance you will trip over the dog creating an open opportunity for the bear to attack. Also, the dog has more agility to avoid the bear and can distract the bear as you back away from the encounter. Thus the reason I trained BEAR to stay in front of me.

DavidEllzey

Not to get too far off topic, we just were chatting with our breeder the other day and it appears that they have an unusually high availability of ACD puppies. If anyone is interested, you can look them up at www.jonversacds.com

Dave

RevyJKU08

Here was my bush dog BEAR that was my companion and work partner while doing Cutblock and Road layout for my Forest Company.

BEAR - 2001-2004.5

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DavidEllzey

RIP Bear, you did good.

Dave

Hilldweller

The police workdog training will work well on him then. We trained Jessi with a couple of master commands and did it all in German. The two most important: the one that get them to stop anything they're doing and the recall.
The beauty of it all is that the dogs love the training; it's fun.

mcds99

I didn't think a dog could go on a trail in a national park.

We got flack for having our Golden at Mt. Rushmore.

A dog in bear country is bear food, large preditors will attack and eat a dog.

DavidEllzey

Correct, dogs are not allowed on trails in National Parks or Monuments, also most State Parks in California do not even allow dogs in the park. All National Forests (even designated wilderness areas) do allow dogs on trails however.

As always, dogs are required to be kept on a leash, no more than 6' in length.

Actually, it has been proven that dogs are a good deterrent for black bears. In places where black bears raid residential areas, the homes with dogs have a MUCH lower incident rate. Also I can tell you that last year was the first year we haven't had a black bear encounter, it was also the first year we hiked with a dog.

Dogs are great to have in camp to keep the marmots and pikas out of your food. Allowing you to store it up in a rock face or hang from a tree branch.

I imagine that a griz wouldn't bother with a dog unless it felt its territory or cubs were threatened, triple jeep could respond to hat better but I doubt they would hunt the dog. Mountain lions are definitely wired to avoid dogs, weird but go figure. I know that polar bear would hunt the dog and oddly enough, wolves will hunt domestic dogs. It is an odd world.

Dave

RevyJKU08

I have to agree with David's response NOT all dogs in bear country are bear food. Most Dogs can warn you of a bear that is in the area. Most bears that I have encountered with my last dog he scared off 99% of the bears just that 1% was either encountering a Sow with cubs or a angry bear that you disturbed him during his feeding or entering an area where he has stashed a dead animal (Grizzly Bears). Back to my point I have seen Akita's, Husky's, Shepards, Golden Lab's, Border Collie's & Kheeshond's put chase and fend off Black & Grizzly Bears & Cougars. It's only a few times that a Bear will attack a dog and I listed them above.

There is one Breed the Karelian Bear Dog that is strictly bred and will put a bear to flight or attack it with great pugnacity and will sacrifice its own life for its master. I am currently looking into this breed to have as a work partner in Forestry....however, I am waiting..... as these breeds are fairly unpredictible with small kids around and I am alittle leary with a 4 & 7 year old around.



However, I am fond of the Kheeshond as they are a very kid friendly dog and a great protector of the family. I have been trying to get in contact with BEAR's breeder to get another Kheeshond from her.

Hilldweller

It really depends upon the attraction.
In Smokey Mountain National Park they leave us alone as long as we've got her on a lead and we're not in the popular exhibit areas.
I've even walked around there on trails with rangers and they play with Jessi.