Have you ever heard of the Karelian Bear Dog? I hadn’t, until last week, when I caught a short documentary about the breed during an airplane flight.
Weighing between 40 and 65 pounds, the dog looks like a cross between a Husky and an Irish Wolfhound. Stocky and marked by a heavy black and white coat with expressive ears, they were originally bred in Russia and Finland to hunt big game, in addition to protecting farmers from bear attacks.