When you don't leash your dog in bear country.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...t=#post1973134
If, using only voice commands, you can stop your dog from barking and moving towards a bear, great. Most dogs just instinctively attack other mammals.
If you can't do so (or aren't sure), then you definitely WON'T be able to control what can happen next:
1) the bear fights back, attacking the dog.
2) the dog, hopelessly out-classed in the fight, runs back to you.
3) the bear, having its chase instinct activated, now runs directly at you.
4) you get mauled by a pissed-off bear.
Will it happen every time a dog and a bear meet? Of course not.
Can it be prevented by simply having a dog on a 30-foot leash? Yes.
It may not be as fun for you or your dog.
But getting mauled by a bear is even LESS fun.