Best breed for big game hunting companion.

[Jaegerr]

I don't have a breed recommendation specifically for your use case, but being around working dogs and owning a few, any "protection" type breed as I'm assuming you're wanting is going to need a fair amount of training and consistency. Lack of proper training and "upkeep" can result in a very large dog being potentially unpredictable and by extension dangerous. Whatever breed you decide on, please seek out a professional trainer who will work with you on your specific needs. Any animal like a cane corso, doberman, german shepherd, etc. are all large dogs with strong bites that you definitely don't want to be reactive or unpredictable. I have a soft spot for rottweilers but seeing as your in Wyoming I'm not sure that would be great late season. Maybe one of the large shepherd breeds or mastiff's? Great Pyrenes even are rock steady, built for winter, and large, and they also are sweet and good family pets so that might be a good fit!

 

[John Doe324]

I had 3 cur dogs at once (2 black mouth cur's and a mountain cur). You are right, those dogs are way smarter than people. All of mine would fight to the death to defend me and my family. The mountain cur was a lot more protective than the black mouthed ones. If you set some boundaries and don't get rough with them, they will do whatever you like. They are the smartest dogs I have ever had.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

My father’s Great Pyrenees treats him like he is a particularly dim witted, slow, and vulnerable sheep as soon as he leaves the yard. She constantly circles and checks everything out up to 200 yards in every direction. I think she would be quite good in this role.

She also points game of all kind and attempts to track.

 

[grfox92]

I had 3 cur dogs at once (2 black mouth cur's and a mountain cur). You are right, those dogs are way smarter than people. All of mine would fight to the death to defend me and my family. The mountain cur was a lot more protective than the black mouthed ones. If you set some boundaries and don't get rough with them, they will do whatever you like. They are the smartest dogs I have ever had.

Ive heard exactly this, and I have heard they are insanely dumb.

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[SC HUNTER]

I had a yellow lab/mutt mix that had the purple chow tongue that I found on the side of the road as a little puppy. I took him everywhere I went when I was not at work. I worked at a fire department back then and had 2 out of 3 days off. Charlie was his name, but he quickly earned the name of "Charlie: The Little Shit" I trained him early on using a shock collar and he did great for a few years and I wouldn't even put his collar on him 90% of the time. Early on he was 2 hand fulls and had to be busy or he was tearing something up, digging a hole, trying to pull a water spigot off the side of the house etc. I had to remind him a few times to listen, but he was far and above the best most protective dog I've ever owned. He killed a lab one day that had gotten out of his yard and was trying to bite the neighbors' kids. Charlie was outside and heard the commotion and it might as well had been his kids that were getting chased. By the time I got outside it was all over but the crying and the guy that owned the lab admitted he was aggressive. That same dog was never trained to track deer but if you put him on a blood trail and they were dead chances were high you'd find that deer.

Back on topic. Sorry I miss that dog.

Alot of curs seem to be 1 person dogs it seems like but they are excellent dogs. I would absolutely put an Ecollar on buck and when he tries to pull your wife or kids tell him no sternly and then fry him, he'll learn as it seems he has sense.

My next dog is going to be Black Mouth Cur or another lab. I haven't decided yet, a good dog is hard to beat. I have heard really really good things about blue heelers as well.

 

[huntsman22]

red heelers rock....

 

[Pwb199]

red heelers rock....

I love this post.

 

[JCS271]

I live and hunt in an area similar to yours (and have the occasional Grizzly actually come around my house) so I decided to train a purpose-built dog as a constant trail/hunting companion and early alert or distraction system for Grizzlies. In a former life I spent a tremendous amount of time training LEO working dogs so I'm pretty handy in that respect.

I spent a lot of time searching for the right dog from the right breeder and found exactly what I wanted on a cattle ranch in Northeast Washington. Her parents were working cattle dogs (Catahoula Leopard Dogs) and were also tasked with keeping coyotes and wolves out of the 400 cattle.

There is way too much training detail too discuss here but feel free to PM me I'm always happy to chat on the phone.

The bottom line is you start them early. Have a mental list of everything that you want them to do in the field and tailor frequent training to accomplish that goal.





I have Ruby in the woods every single day of the week. Having just celebrated her fourth birthday , I can honestly state that we move through the woods like a tac team

She is never allowed to proceed ahead of me unless I release her to go through thick overgrown trails. When I stop she stops and when I'm sitting she is not allowed to do anything but sit quietly behind me.












I spent a tremendous amount of time that first spring and summer just having her sit next to me while I ran a foxpro electronic caller just to let her get used to seeing everything from coyotes to black bears come in close.

She learned to sit quietly until I gave her the go signal. Nowadays if she stops and her tail goes up or she puts her nose into the wind I know that it's something of concern. Twice this summer she alerted to thick dog hair cover and barked like crazy. It got my attention and my rifle was ready. Whatever it was disappeared but once again I was very proud of her and we avoided something potentially ugly.

If you work hard at this you will absolutely succeed and reap the rewards for many years.

 

[BLJ]

@JCS271

How does she handle the noise from the rifle being shot? Thanks.

 

[JCS271]

@JCS271

How does she handle the noise from the rifle being shot? Thanks.

When she was just a baby, less than 8 weeks, I started running her out to the Trap range on my days off and lunch breaks. It's the same program I went through with all of my dogs but I just start playing ball and exploring with her about a hundred yards behind the Trap field. The boom of a shotgun is a lot more palatable than the crack of a rifle and I just continue to play with her and slowly move closer as appropriate. Within 30 minutes we were literally chasing a little tug toy about 10 yards behind the concrete trap pad and she was completely oblivious to the Boom and incredibly Keen to get my toy. Doing that a couple of times and she was good to go. She gets tons of direct attention from me and I let my buddies pay for all the ammo cost.

Nowadays I can shoot my rifle with her off my left shoulder and we are completely good to go. And when I shoot at my range behind my house she gets all revved in her kennel because she knows there's probably something on the ground to go look for.

Slow and easy is the key.

 

[JCS271]

occasionally on our nightly walks I would bring my 22 and knock down a pine squirrel. She got great joy from hunting them up and then shaking them out till they were tenderized.

 

[Lionhound1975]

Like all the good posts on this thread show there are some breeds that are going to be better suited to what you are looking for but a lot depends on the individual dog. Yes, in general a lot of hounds are going to have too much prey drive that they will still be chasing a bear 30 minutes later 2 ridges over, but I have seen some hard core livestock guardian breeds like Kangals and Alabais do the same thing and get way too far away from their flocks because they were still chasing a predator. So it is not just a question of high prey drive vs high defense drive dogs. A lot will depend on the individual dog and how it is trained, not only the breed. But as a rule I would think the most likely breeds for a buddy dog that will alert to and harass an approaching bear would be cow dog breeds, or cur breeds that have been bred to hunt close and check back frequently.

I knew a PH in Africa that had several Irish Terriers. They look like a smaller version of an Airedale. He usually always had one of them with him and said that they had alerted him a bunch of times when following up on a leopard or wounded buffalo in thick brush. They were scrappy and would take on anything.

 

[BLJ]

Is hearing damage an issue from an unsuppressed rifle?

 

[Ryan Avery]

This mutt is the best damn dog I have ever had and the best hunting partner I have ever had. He has run off two grizzlies and has probably been with me on over twenty elk packouts. He's gonna be really hard to replace.

 

[JCS271]

Like all the good posts on this thread show there are some breeds that are going to be better suited to what you are looking for but a lot depends on the individual dog. Yes, in general a lot of hounds are going to have too much prey drive that they will still be chasing a bear 30 minutes later 2 ridges over, but I have seen some hard core livestock guardian breeds like Kangals and Alabais do the same thing and get way too far away from their flocks because they were still chasing a predator. So it is not just a question of high prey drive vs high defense drive dogs. A lot will depend on the individual dog and how it is trained, not only the breed. But as a rule I would think the most likely breeds for a buddy dog that will alert to and harass an approaching bear would be cow dog breeds, or cur breeds that have been bred to hunt close and check back frequently.

I knew a PH in Africa that had several Irish Terriers. They look like a smaller version of an Airedale. He usually always had one of them with him and said that they had alerted him a bunch of times when following up on a leopard or wounded buffalo in thick brush. They were scrappy and would take on anything.

Serious training is the key here.

A ROCK SOLID instantaneous voice recall is crucial.

The objective is to alert the handler then (if necessary) distract or drive off the threat. Chasing them off more than a very short distance is completely unacceptable.

I want my dog back at my side and not pursuing a bear through the woods.

 

[huntsman22]

Heelers can do it all. Small game, birds, coyotes, cattle, farming, mowing, guard duty, agility, blood trailing. You name it, a heeler can do it. And they make good family dogs and companions....

 

[Tobe_B]

Lucky you had your dog with you that day. Could’ve very easily turned a different direction without you ever knowing.

FWIW, any breed of hunting or working dog is going to be a commitment for not only you, but your whole family. We’ve had a few catahoulas, and a few Aussie crosses.

One of the Aussie crosses was mixed with a visla. Wonderful dog for a family in every single way. Absolutely worthless for protection. He would be the dog that would get you killed. He’d start something with an animal and run right back to you bringing back whatever he harassed at Mach “oh shit”.

Fortunately when we had him we still had my first catahoula. He had zero fear. He would generally stop whatever came at him. But he was also unbelievable stubborn and not a family dog. He was fine with my daughter, never aggressive, but wouldn’t listened to anyone but me. If I wasn’t around he just ignored my wife entirely. It was beyond frustrating for her.

We had another catahoula that was crossed with a pit bull. He was hands down the best dog we ever had for what you are looking for. He was phenomenal with my daughter from day one. Listened to everyone in the family, easily trainable, and also extremely fearless. He didn’t need to go run every day like my full blood catahoula. Would be perfectly content just chilling at home, but would be bottomless when out riding and covering country. He was super leery with strangers and slightly aggressive to anyone he didn’t recognize or see often. We just had him put down a few weeks ago and it crushed me. He was a rock in our home for about ten years. I never worried about my girls when I was gone with him in the house. He would’ve killed someone if they were trying to break in and do them harm.

Our current catahoula is young and mixed with something. She’s a mutt, and generally easy going. We rescued her a year ago. She alerts well and doesn’t miss much, not overly aggressive, but not a push over. So far really good with the family and listens to commands from even my 8 year old.

We also have an Aussie/heeler mix. He goes with me every where. Never barks, doesn’t range far, but does alert when something is amiss. Great dog, but not going to stand down a bear, fearless on cattle and works well, but not that aggression that the catahoulas have. But also not a pushover that the Aussie/visla was.


This is all a very long winded way to say this. Whatever breed you decide on, you and your family need to commit to the training and same principles. When it comes to working breeds you have to create clear boundaries or they will run all over you. They require a lot more of your time. They are not family dogs that are content with just existing. Case in point, my current Aussie/heeler mix has been left home for several weeks due to some work projects. It’s affecting his behavior dramatically. He needs to go back to work as soon as possible.

Picture of my old boy Duke just because.

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[300 win mag]

just a awesome thread,seems as if there are quite a few breeds or mixes that would be excellent at hearing and sensing bears or other animals getting in a closer proximity to you,which of these breeds would be good guard dogs and brave in a home defense situation,i understand they are not breed and have the over 100 lb size as many home protection dogs.

 

[johnnycake]

My daughter's bear 2 weeks ago was Ava's #6 tracked and recovered brown bear.

She has quietly alerted me to hundreds of brown bears over the years. I don't want her barking and loud while we are big game hunting, but just a nice firm but low "gruff" to get my attention.

Ava has been at my side for moose, caribou, goat, bison, and black bears that I or my companions have shot. And we smash all types of birds and fur together. But having her with me when I'm chasing brown bears is the #1 reason I bought her in the first place and she has always lived up to that and exceeded my hopes and expectations. One thing I've learned with her the last +8 years as I've tried to get other dogs (various breeds including other pudelpointers, drahts, beagles, curs, Karelian bear dogs, and more) to handle being around brown bears, is that some dogs have it and most just don't. Regular exposure from as young as possible helps I think.