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Around here, I seem to hear this excuse often"Oh he's just a coon dog, or Oh he's just a bear dog".
I can see some coon dogs not having the grit to be a good bear dog. And I'v been hunting with some terrible coon dogs that the owners claimed were great bear dogs.
Whats going on here, shouldnt a good dog hunt both coon and bear?

Not really why would you want you bear dog to run a coon or your coon dog to run bear? Its true some dogs will run both well, some of them don`t. for example my top bear dog was bought to be a coon dog, he would run and tree a coon, but just didnt so that much interest in it. on bear its a different story.. I start my pups on coon then change them over to bear, Everyone one is different, but with me if im bear hunting when my dogs strike i wanna know for sure its a bear.. not well he runs coon/bobcat/lion etc....

All but one of my dogs will tree both Coon and Bear. But it's no secret they aren't coondogs. They tree coon. Some of them better than others, one of them won't run a coon at all. My dogs first and foremost better be beardogs, fast, gritty and tough - truck to tree to bayup solid dogs. If they can tree coons (and fox) in the off season, well, its that much easier to keep them in shape and in the woods. I won't get rid of a dog for not being a coondog, but you better believe I won't keep a coondog that can't get it done in the bear woods.

Ok whats everbodys definition of what makes a coon dog, and what makes a bear dog?

my dogs will do both, I don't mind it too bad just because of the way our seasons run in VA and I am not a competition hunter.

Tom A, just keeping being around both dogs and you will see which are which. In my opinion I want one or the other. If I wanted a coon dog I would have gotten one, I want bear dogs and that is what I have. I don't want to walk my butt off during bear season to get to a den tree that has been a coon den. My opinion.

To me, if my bear dogs run or bark at anything but a bear then I consider them trashing. If I end up walking into a tree thats got something in it but a bear, somebody is getting lit up.

I would say in California most of the hunters run coon and bear with the same dogs. There is not many bears in the valley coon hunting areas, and not many coons in the mountain bear hunting areas.
When I say I'm going coon hunting I catch coon. When I go bear hunting I usually run a bear. Some of the guys do competition nite hunts here too. The 2009 ukc world champ bluetick came from Cali and he is a bear dog too.

We start our pups on coon and roll over to bear. gets them fired up real young.

A dog that tree's coon isn't always a coondog. Just like a dog that tree's bear isn't always a beardog. It's a lot harder to find a true beardog, one with grit, speed, nose, heart, and can hold up to hard tough hunting, that can CONSISTANTLY tree most any bear with or without company.