Grizzlies Were Raiding Montana Farms. Then Came Some Formidable Dogs.

[Onomea]

Interesting article on the use of dogs to chase off grizzlies from farms in Montana.




Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/climate/montana-grizzly-bears-guard-dogs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Y08.ByHc.t9Xf1l-fDPMY&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

 

[wood714]

They should train cats.

My evil feral garage cat killed this polar bear next door to my house.

R.I.P. Shelby Cat!

 

[IAM Rand]

Awesome article. Would love one of those very large dogs. Not sure the +1 would. Makes me want to move to Montana so I would have to get one.

 

[dockmurgw]

Hmmm...I'll let my mother-in-law know that I found her a new job.

 

[Onomea]

I like how the dogs in the videos in the article are wagging their tails and having fun as they chase off the grizzlies.

 

[pmanton]

It wouldn't be much fun picking up after that huge dog.

 

[444 Magnum]

Grooming a 160 lb. dog.



He was reasonably cooperative, but she still had her hands (arms) full.

 

[lihpster]

There are some people in CA who have a large farm with many different types of animals. They have LGDs (livestock guardian dogs) to protect their animals. Mostly from coyotes. They have night vision cameras and post videos on Youtube of the dogs in action. They are extremely protective and caring towards their charges. The name of the place and their Youtube channel is Raventree Ranch. Worth checking out to see the dogs working behavior. Amazing animals.

 

[lihpster]

They should train cats.

Raventree Ranch has a barn cat they call Recon Cat that works with the dogs, helping to alert them of predators in the area. I don't think any training was done, I think it was all the cats doing.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

Almost everything that dogs do they do for fun, which explains tail wagging while barking at bears. The only things that they do not do for fun is fight or protect property. Or bite in anger or fright. Those things are not fun. Otherwise, even cadaver dogs are enjoying themselves, despite the grisly work that they perform.

 

[dockmurgw]

Almost everything that dogs do they do for fun, which explains tail wagging while barking at bears. The only things that they do not do for fun is fight or protect property. Or bite in anger or fright. Those things are not fun. Otherwise, even cadaver dogs are enjoying themselves, despite the grisly work that they perform.

So true. And I find that the key to retriever training...keep the training fun for the dog...start and end on a happy note, just a little each day.

 

[mtgianni]

The trouble has been the memory and teaching habits of bears. A grain car overturned on the railway adjacent to Glacier National Park 40 years ago and bears are still being hit by trains while returning to the spot their ancestors ate well at. I like that the dogs are correcting that behavior. I have nothing against killing problem bears and these are over 100 miles from the Rocky Mts. Living in a county where cows outnumber people at around 15-1 I know what many of my neighbors solutions would be.
We do have some grizzlies but according to FWP's bear expert, only one denning Grizzly in a 20 mile circle. She denies the pair occasionally seen on the other side of the mountain but the locals don't.

 

[Rustyt1953]

My youngest daughter has a 170lb Cane Corso. They have the third most powerful bite force of any dog breed at 700psi.

His favorite snacks are saplings, fence posts and table legs.

He is four legged bear repellent.

His name is Bear.

 

[444 Magnum]

We do have some grizzlies but according to FWP's bear expert, only one denning Grizzly in a 20 mile circle. She denies the pair occasionally seen on the other side of the mountain but the locals don't.

Expert's can suffer from tunnel vision at times.

We once donated our pet turtle (it got too big) to an organization that specialized in familiarizing the turtles with foraging before releasing them back into their natural habitat. I couldn't believe it when the lady told me that our Florida purchased turtle was native to Arkansas and they would fly it back there for release!

Point of the story is this...she told me the name and type turtle we had and went further to specify that it was vegetarian.
Both my wife and I knew this not to be true as we would feed it anything from hamburger meat to crickets to freshly hatched toads. It would eat anything it could catch in addition to a diet of vegetables and fruit.

The 'expert' simply wouldn't hear of this and insisted that we were mistaken.

 

[zeke]

My youngest daughter has a 170lb Cane Corso. They have the third most powerful bite force of any dog breed at 700psi.

His favorite snacks are saplings, fence posts and table legs.

He is four legged bear repellent.

His name is Bear.

Had to wire off all the trees in the back yard, as Zelda was tearing off the bark and eating it and end of small branches. Fortunately the trees are locust, and don't die very easily. Unfortunately, portions of cedar siding didn't grow back.

 

[Kinman]

They should train cats.

My evil feral garage cat killed this polar bear next door to my house.

R.I.P. Shelby Cat!

Looks like those two shared a huckleberry pie

 

[Autonomous]

A grain car overturned on the railway adjacent to Glacier National Park...

At least one grain car derailment near GNP and others too became more problematic when the grain fermented.
Who wants to fight a drunk Grizzley?

 

[Greyman50]

This is daughter’s dog, he’s big and can be moody but he knows I’m a dog person.
I’d just about give anything to have this Grey back, never be another……

 

[cherrypointmarine]

Now that's a dog ! I have enough trouble picking up my dogs land mines , I'd hate to go behind one of those and pick up after him . You'd probably need a snow shovel , and then only get one at a time .

 

[Triggernosis]

At least one grain car derailment near GNP and others too became more problematic when the grain fermented.
Who wants to fight a drunk Grizzley?

I have always preferred to fight the drunk ones - easier to whip.