Five large dog breeds that look like bears

Whilst dog lovers tend to like dogs of all shapes and sizes and enjoy mentally ticking off breeds that they meet out and about in the street, many people are a little taken aback at the unexpected sight of very large dog breeds, some of which look fearsome and noble and would certainly make you pause if you met them unexpectedly down a dark alley!

However, most very large dog breeds are slow moving, friendly and very cuddly, often having a laid back and tolerant nature that would put many smaller breeds to shame. Some of the most adorable large and giant dog breeds are those that look somewhat like bears-big, heavy dogs with long, thick coats that would not look out of place wandering around a mountain range somewhere distant!

If you have fallen for the charms of these large bear-like dogs, you might be wondering what sorts of breeds look the most like bears; and so with this in mind, in this article we’ll look at five large and giant breeds of dog that look like bears! Read on to learn more.

The Chow Chow

The Chow Chow is a large, fluffy dog breed that can stand up to 51cm tall, and that is most distinctive for having a blue tongue! They have large heads with side necks that adds to their heavy, bear-like appearance, along with their slightly grumpy-looking faces!

The coat of the Chow Chow is one of the thickest, densest coats that you will find on any dog too, and you can lose your whole hand in their fur just trying to find out where it all ends!

The Maremma sheepdog

The Maremma sheepdog is one of the breeds that we don’t see very much of here in the UK, but they are very popular in their home country of Italy.

They are very tall, long and stocky dogs, with males standing on average up 73cm high, with some even larger! They have a dirty-cream looking coat that can run to almost pure white in some lines, giving them a similar appearance to that of a polar bear.

Their known history in various forms goes back for millennia, and they are widely used in the Abruzzo region of Italy as livestock guarding and herding dogs.

The Newfoundland dog

The Newfoundland dog is one of the giant breeds that regularly makes people stop for a second look-these shaggy, larger than life large dogs are universally very gentle and calm, often seeming to move almost in slow motion. They can be seen in a wide range of different colours including black, brown and grey, with black being the most common colour.

They also have a real affinity for the water, and have the webbed feet to prove it-plus, they’re really cuddly and very loving, and not at all fearsome!

The Tibetan mastiff

All dogs of the mastiff type tend to be very stocky, heavyset dogs with sometimes fearsome-looking faces, although like the Newfoundland, they tend to be slow, gentle and very pleasant to cuddle up with, albeit they will take up most of the space on your bed or sofa!

The Tibetan mastiff is no exception, and while they are not the most common of breeds in the UK, if you keep your eyes open you might see one when you’re out walking in areas that are popular with dog walkers.

The first thing that will hit you when you see one is their sheer size-not only are they very tall but also very heavy, weighing up to around 80kg on average or over 90 in some cases-which is heavier than most women and many men! Their huge heads are what gives them their distinctive bear-like appearance, and they have a thick mane of hair behind their ears that almost looks leonine too!

Their coats are very dense and heavy, and grooming a Tibetan mastiff thoroughly from top to toe could easily take all day.

The Ovcharka

The Ovcharka is a giant dog breed that is sometimes referred to by other names too, such as the Caucasian shepherd dog, and is native to the Northern Caucasus regions such as Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

They are not that common in the UK once more, and would certainly be enough to stop you in your tracks if you saw one-they are enormous, tall and heavy dogs with a fearsome expression when they have their mouths open displaying their large teeth!

They are a strong, confident breed that you really wouldn’t want to cross in a fight, and are in fact one of the few breeds of dog that stand a relatively good chance of running into actual bears in their home region-as well as coming off better in a fight!

However, with their families they are gentle, loving, loyal and very protective.