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chained_bear commented on the word bear dog
"'A good bear dog is one that makes a lot of noise and chases the bear just a little bit. You don't want a dog to chase the bear too far, though. If the dog goes too far, it just ends up annoying the bear. Then the bear can turn round, and now you've got the bear chasing the dog. And when a dog gets scared, it runs straight home.'
"He went on to tell me the story of a miner he'd known. The miner was sitting with some companions in his cabin one evening when his dog gave chase to a bear. Nobody paid much attention until, a short while later, the dog bolted into the cabin, cowered under the table--and an angry bear charged through the doorway in furious pursuit. The bear wasn't interested in the people, John said, but it was hell-bent on getting that dog. Still, even though the bear showed no direct desire to eat him personally, the poor miner could hardly ignore its presence in his kitchen and so he was forced to shoot it. He was pretty annoyed apparently: Shooting a bear in one's cabin creates an awful mess."
--Polly Evans, Mad Dogs and an Englishwoman: Travels with Sled Dogs in Canada's Frozen North (NY: Bantam Dell, 2008), 267
January 25, 2017