Karelian Bear Dogs Take on Tahoe’s Bear Invasion

 The Lake Tahoe area is contending with an aggressive population of hungry black bears.  The area is seeing more black bear break-ins, trash raids, and property damage, especially in neighborhoods where bears have learned that human food is easy to find.

In 2025, South Lake Tahoe police reported 174 bear-related calls so far that year, up from 97 in the same period the year before.

One local couple told the outlet they were washing dishes when they looked up to find a bear standing in their living room.

The animal wandered through the house, sniffed a tube of toothpaste in the bathroom and urinated on the floor before leaving.

It was the couple’s second bear break-in within the span of a month, the publication said.

Same thing happened to a friend with a cabin in SLT.  Heard something in another room, went to look and there was a bear, in the house and looking for grub.

I was at that same cabin years ago with a crew, and we heard a bump right outside the door, at about 10 at night.  We all rushed outside to find a bear prowling and knocking things over.  We chased it away, but the bear really didn't want to go, and it was perhaps fortunate that there were five of us, all big and hairy, and only one of him.  

A guy I worked with for a while had a family cabin in north Tahoe.  One fall a bear got into the crawl space under the house, and stayed for the winter.  Tore all the insulation off everything it could reach.  

Here in NorCal, I work around a guy with some property in the pines east of Red Bluff.  He claims there are more bear than deer on his place.  He lets pals hunt them, and this is one that was recently harvested. A big boy indeed.  How would you like to meet that fellow in your living room or kitchen?

 

 

As encounters become more common, some homeowners have begun installing electric mats, reinforced doors and other deterrents that can cost thousands of dollars.

Nevada wildlife officials have found a fur-covered solution to Lake Tahoe’s growing black bear problem:Karelian bear dogs.

As homeowners around the lake battle increasingly brazen bears breaking into houses, the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) has been relying on two highly trained Karelian bear dogs, Badger and Banjo, to send the unwelcome visitors running.

The shaggy canines work alongside state biologists to chase bears out of neighborhoods, flush them from crawl spaces and urban dens, track injured animals and help return them to the wild, all while teaching the predators that humans are bad news.

“[The bears’] experiences for the most part around people have been positive,” longtime NDOW bear biologist Carl Lackey told The Nevada Independent. “We’re just trying to give them a bad experience around people.”

Unlike some wildlife agencies that haze bears with rubber bullets, bean bag rounds or tasers, Nevada has leaned heavily on its four-legged specialists.

POV of Nevada Department of Wildlife's Karelian Bear Dogs keeping bears wild and out of northern Nevada communities.  #Bears @vNDWO https://t.co/VQWEpa4NvRpic.twitter.com/HmyrLEXWR5

— Kim Burrows (@RenoKimBurrows) July 28, 2026

The two dogs help capture and release 40 black bears each year.

The dogs, a Finnish breed developed for exactly this work, chase and nip at bears during releases, replacing the rubber bullets and bean bag rounds other agencies rely on.