Nov 2009 Program - Karelian Bear Dogs
On November 30, 2009, Rich Beausoleil of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife gave a wonderful presentation for our Membership Meeting about Washington's Karelian Bear Dog (KBD) Program. Rich brought his beautiful KBD, Cash, who was very friendly and well-trained. Cash is Rich's personal KBD who assists him in his work as a bear and cougar specialist. Washington has a successful and growing program using KBD's in wildlife management and control. These dogs are used across the country and in national parks such as Yosemite, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. They are also used in Piccho Wildlife Reservation in Japan. The program Cash is from includes dogs and cooperating agencies in Washington, Montana and Nevada as well as Alberta, CA. Through this inter-agency cooperation, the dogs are trained with common verbal commands to increase their effectiveness when two or more agencies are involved in a wildlife management call.
The KBDs come from Finland and they are trained to keep bears out of human habitats by teaching the bears boundaries. Commonly, if a fire encroaches on a bear's habitat, he may wander into town and then Rich and Cash do their best to remove the bear to an appropriate safe living area. Rich explained that the KBDs are not hounds or police dogs and are socialized from birth to do their wildlife management job. They are used to relocate moose, cougar and well as bears in the Wenatchee area by use of shepherding techniques as well as adverse conditioning. The KBDs are also used to locate deer and wildlife habitats and lost hikers!
For more information, log onto http://www.BearDogs.org. Great thanks to Rich and Cash for a great presentation!
by Christina M. Davitt