Some dogs will not even run a bear, then there are those that will run bear, and last of all, there are a few real bear dogs. As for needing a cold nosed dog, about the only thing in the woods that puts of more scent than a bear is a boar hog or a skunk. I have had plent of dogs of different breeds that ran bear, but the only "bear dogs" that I have owned were plotts. Most lines within the plott breed have lost the traits that are required to make real bear dogs. There are a handful of plott breeders that have bred bear dogs for years and could care less about coon, cats, lion, ect. they only want bear dogs and don't use coon dogs in their program. For a bear dog, get a pup from one of those guys.