I took my three year old pit bull out for a 3 day trip at Green Ridge State Forest in Maryland the other weekend because I thought she may finally be up to the task. She still isn't used to carrying her food on her so I had to, but she is conditioned very well to hiking 8 hour day hikes over steep terrain with me since we live right on the border of a great state park.

I greatly underestimated her ability to sleep outside though. She was quite nervous for a few hours in the tent and was growling at every passing critter she could here in the night. At about 9, a black bear wandered down the hill into our camp and started ambling about and sniffing. If my ears are as good as I think, the bear was anywhere from 10-20 feet away from the tent and seemed pretty darn curious. Needless to say my dog was scared. I keep my camps immaculately clean and haven't had a bear approach camp since I was like 15 in boy scouts. My only explanation is that the bear was curious about the dog and was drawn in by her scent and sound. Nerve-racking.