There's also studies showing that dog attacks occur with more frequency than bear attacks so the odds of getting attacked by a dog are actually greater. And while bear attacks are more severe they tend to occur when the animal perceives a threat to themselves. I might be an actor but that doesn't mean I didn't do research and learn as much as I could about the animal that I was spending days gaining the trust of and learning to work with for the scenes we had together because it was necessary.
This wasn't a spur of the moment decision by either of us - we'd been discussing it since early in the project and had been working on the paperwork to make sure it would all be legal when the time came.