i run plotts and walkers myself the only time we run a bulldog with the hounds is on hogs.

bulldogs, mastiffs, and rotts are too aggressive for bear hunting, you will lose more dogs if you use breeds like that. Deerhounds and wolfhounds might work better, but don't bey much and you will have a hard time tracking.

Vizlas make excellent bear dogs. So do airdales, when teamed with good beyers. Foxhounds are excellent bear dogs as well, though they are a little too aggressive for their own good sometimes. Coonhounds, redbone hounds, or any good beying hound (except bassets) should do well.

I've heard of Karelian Bear Dogs used for hunting bears, but they remind me of Norwegian Elkhounds, and if you are running a bear, they may not bey enough for you to locate a treed bear.

Hey tnhoundsman,

We are not permitted to run bears with hounds in Nova Scotia,but are allowed to use them if a hunter wounds a bear.
Plotts,Walkers,Blue Tics,Black & Tans all top hounds in N.S.
I'm a houndsman myself, we do a lot of coon and BobCat huntin up this way
I have a big ole Blu Tic, 2 Plott/Black/Tan cross,and had an old fashion type
"Walker" his name was Hank, turned Pro on coons when he was 8 months old
hard treeing dog voice you could hear 2 miles away,loud coarse ! when he turned 1 yr he weighed 110 lbs no fat all bone/mussel,He starting acting funny
then started having seizures,had to put him down because of Brain tumor. That hit me hard,like loosing one of the family.
The hounds we hunt hold tree HARD even chew bark off the trees if we are awhile getting to them, The types mentioned here are hard to beat ,for bear,coon,cats.

there are good dogs in all breds i just perfer the plotts and walkers myself the start faster usually and the faster you can get a dog to start the more good hunting ya can get out of it.

Got to agree with you there,its like Cat/Coon hunting.The faster they start the track the sooner they'll tree,the ole Blu Tic (Thunder) he's a bit slow on track but never looses it .I like a good fast hound also.Some times when its hard going to get to the tree,say an hour,the hounds start tearing bark off the trees,but the ole Blu Tic keeps bawling hehehe.

any breed is fine, all the same with differnt hair styles