Are there documented cases of dogs leading bears back to the humans or camp? I've seen such warnings in park literature (such as BC provincial parks), but I've wondered whether it is one of those things that is true just because everyone repeats it.

There was one hike several years ago when my small dog started acting nervously. We were in an area of tarns and lots of berry bushes in the Cascades. A few minutes later while snacking, I saw a small black bear scrambling up a slope on the other side of a small lake. My dog may well have smell it, or another bear.

On another occasion my dog (on leash) started pulling hard up the trail, as though he'd caught a scent. Before we rounded the next corner, I hear something crashing through the bush. It might have been a bear, though it could also have been a deer.

Frankly, I don't think a small dog like a pomeranian is going to wander too far off into the bush. If off leash my 15 lb terrier may follow the sound of a squirrel or chipmunk as short ways off the trail, but he doesn't go far. It is too much work. Still, if I have the least worry of him going far, or of there being predators in the area, I keep him on leash, even if rules don't require it.

I suspect, though, that cars (and urban dogs) are far more dangerous to dogs than bears and cats and coyotes.

paulj