I generally feel quite safe in the woods.
Young (9 months at the time, she's just turned 2) Caucasian Ovcharka Female "Wicca" of Caucasian Legend Knls. and American Bulldog Male "Zero" of Contender Knls.
Myself temp. testing Wicca's Uncle.
Zero doing civil agitation under gunfire.
I've done plenty of large critter hunting here in Canada with bulldogs (American Bulldog, American Pit Bull Terrier...). Large critter however, to mean up to Coyote... In the past, dogs have been ran against tethered Bear (Bear Baiting) not to any great success most of the time, and it bears mentionning (Pardon the pun) this was done in an environment alien to the Bear (stress), the Bear being tethered (stress) and having been kept to what degree of good husbandry one can only guess (More stress).
Even in these conditions, fresh Bears proved all but impossible for a dog to master to any degree, as even one caught by the jowel as a catch dog would catch Bull or Boar would usually be badly torn up by the Bear's claws, which are no joke. I have heard of a 40 pound Pit Bull on a chain in Alaska grabbing a bear by the face while the woman of the house was tending her flower beds one evening in rear of the house. The woman managed to get in the house and grab a scatter-gun, and the dog was dead by the time she came back out.
That is the reality of a bulldog against a Bear.
Coyote are tricky bastard beasts. Most people that have an encounter with one or two are totally un-aware that an entire gamut of CoyoteS may be waiting in stage left for the act to commence... I have seen Coyote approach a dog on a chain faking a gimp leg before... Only to run perfectly fine when he heard the 30-06 go. I have also seen a Female Coyote in heat lure a GREAT and missed Pit Bull into a hornet's nest of 30 or more and just get ripped to shreds... Most bull breeds, Mastiiffs that can still move... Could handily clean one Coyote's clock. Nature often works in numbers and trickery however to take down bigger prey and the Lupoid predators are a prime example of this.
In Argentina, Dogo Argentino are used to find, catch and hold Puma... Our Mountain Lion equivalent. The good ones do it, to their great torment often... But do it none the less. However, nobody I know has access to true working Feline hunters that I know of in the Western world... You would need more than money to get your hands on a true working line, and even then, anybody will tell you good Dogos often die in holds with a cat or shortly thereafter... They are not "Mountain Lion stoppers".
The original poster should realize a good American Bulldog (As an example) from solid working lines would die before she/he let one of his own get harmed... But against a Bear, Mountain Lion... It would be death for the dog likely. If that is the owner's only line of defense, it will likely leave him/her at continued risk, and the dog's sacrifice in vain.
