Bear Dogs Keep Predators At Bay

Bear Dogs Keep Predators At Bay LIVESTOCK DOGS When Karen Zimmerman and her family moved to northeast Washington State they shared their new home with bears cougars and coyotes A niece and her family two daughters and their families and Zimmerman and her husband moved into four separate houses on 210 acres in a remote valley surrounded by national forest Zimmerman was concerned about potential problems with area predators “We learned that the National Park Service uses Karelian bear dogs as protection ” says Zimmerman “We bought two females and decided to start breeding them to provide other families with that same protection ” Karelians were bred for hunting bear in their native Finland “When we moved here we used to see bear cougar and coyote tracks everywhere in the valley ” recalls Zimmerman “Now we never see tracks and we’ve trained the kids to never go anywhere without having one of our dogs with them ” Zimmerman sells her puppies for home and family protection as well as to ranchers who want to protect livestock Zimmerman says one of her customers trained his Karelian to be a bird dog An experienced trainer he said the Karelian was the most amazing dog he had ever seen “Many of them are used in search and rescue ” she says “They are great at that too ” She describes Karelians as being intensely loyal protective and territorial They also are very energetic and need daily exercise or they will get bored Zimmerman says the dogs need room to roam and are predisposed to range around the local territory not simply stay by buildings As a result predators learn to stay away “In the spring bears leaving their dens will sometimes come into the valley ” says Zimmerman “The dogs will tree them and bark to let us know Once a person arrives the dogs are easy to take away so the bear can leave ” She notes that the dogs should be placed with new owners as young as possible She likes to have her puppies in their new home within 6 to 8 weeks of birth “Around 6 weeks they start to bond with the people around them ” explains Zimmerman “It’s also important to start training them young We knew nothing about the breed when we got our first two and didn’t jump on training as soon as we should have ” She says the dogs are naturally very independent minded and can be aggressive and headstrong Zimmerman says owners need to be loving but in control and the dogs need to be trained to be submissive “We have chickens and horses and area ranchers bring cows to graze on the national forestland ” says Zimmerman “The dogs are fine with them and children as well especially when introduced as puppies They can be aggressive to other dogs that come into their area ” Karelians are a compact breed ranging from 19 to 23 in in height and 44 to 50 lbs in weight They have distinct black and white markings Zimmerman keeps four females and a male breeding two females every 6 months Puppies are priced at $600 for those from two females registered through the Universal Kennel Club Puppies from the two females registered with the American Kennel Club are priced at $700 Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Aspen Valley Karelian Bear Dogs P O Box 574 Colville Wash 99114 ph 509-684-8031; avbeardog@hotmail com; www avbeardog com

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