Could this dog be a bear necessity?

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Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 05/21/06

BY Kirk Moore
TOMS RIVER BUREAU

DOVER TOWNSHIP — By some measures, these woods along the upper Toms River are already becoming bear country.

And when the bruins show up, Kathleen Alves and her company of canines will be ready.

"They can scent them about three miles away," Alves said, as her pack of Karelian bear dogs eagerly milled around her and a visitor to their home in the Dover Pines section. "Before you can see them, they'll scent them."

The dogs' distinctive, high-pitched alarm bark is a warning that potential predators are nearby, giving residents of the suburban fringe time to round up children and pets, Alves said. With family connections in far northern New Jersey, Alves heard stories from her relatives and their neighbors about the burgeoning black bear population. She began thinking about using dogs as a nonlethal way for rural homeowners to protect themselves.

Her research led Alves to the Karelian bear dog, a breed named for the far northern forest that straddles Finland and northwest Russia. Now, Alves is the only East Coast breeder for dogs that she thinks could help people live with bears.

"I did it for the people with bear populations up north. On television, I saw one family from Kinnelon who are afraid to barbecue in their back yard because of the bears," Alves said, as her oldest dog, 3-year-old Sasha, ambled around the kitchen table. "I don't like seeing the bears killed, either. Years ago, they had the land to feed and mind their own business. We went out there and built all over the place."

The tough, medium-sized Karelians usually are black with white markings, although a few such as Sasha are mostly white. Canine breed historians say the Karelians were first named as a distinct type in Finland in 1936.

The breed dwindled precipitously in the chaos of the Russo-Finnish Winter War and World War II, but was revived by postwar enthusiasts after Scandinavian kennel clubs recognized the breed again in 1946. In recent years, a few North American breeders have begun raising and training Karelians with an eye toward a new mission — not unlike the way Scottish border collies have been adapted from their ancestral sheepdog duties.

Similar to the Russian laika and other hunting dogs of the far European north, Karelians are also watchdogs with the instinct to chase off predators, Alves said.

Christine Soden of Vernon saw that instinct at work in her dog Koda a year ago, just as her sons, 8 and 4, were getting ready to open the door to go out and play.

"He starts in with this really, really high-pitched howling bark," said Soden, who got Koda as a pup from Alves. "I look out front, and I see mom (female bear) with her two cubs at the foot of my steps. I called the police and the neighbors. It was pretty scary. . . . I feel more comfortable with him around.

"We moved up here from Queens to Vernon, which is a completely different lifestyle for us," Soden said.

Aware of the bears on Hamburg Mountain — there's a known den about a mile down the hill from their home — Soden started researching bear dogs on the Internet, and the search led her to Alves and Koda's parents.

"They just seemed to be incredibly gentle, which surprised us, because they can be so intimidating with their presence," she said.

Soden said her parents used to raise Great Danes, so she was prepared for some protracted training when she brought Koda home at Christmas 2004.

Instead, she said, "You spend maybe half a day doing commands with him, and he's got it down."

In Finland, Karelians were trained to work in teams, using their agility to outmaneuver bears and ultimately drive off the much larger animals or force them to climb a tree, Alves said. In an American setting, she said, a single Karelian "can at least let you know they (bears) are out there."

Like other high-powered working dogs, Karelians are not for everyone and do best on a property where they can exercise, Alves cautioned. "They're playful dogs; they have a lot of energy. You can go hiking with them," Alves said. "You can use them to pull kids around on a sled. You can take them out running on a leash."

"They're made to run," Soden said. When Koda got loose one day, "he ran laps. It was like a greyhound chasing the bunny around the tracks," she said.

"You can play in the yard with them all day long," said Alves' son Cody, 13. The dogs are always alert to intruders, he said.

"There's a fox out there all the time," he said. One day, the family heard the dogs' alarm barks, and went out to find they had cornered a large snake under the backyard deck, he said.