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Description
Two Epicyon haydeni (130 kg) squabbling over their kill, a Synthetoceras tricornatus, Texas, 7 mya.

If this canine was still alive it would have made the ideal guard dog that even the most fool-hearted intruders would steer clear off.

Epicyon haydeni is the largest dog species we know of, it grew twice as big as a grey wolf with some estimates suggesting that the largest specimens reached 170 kg in weight (comparable to a lion).

It was part of an basal offshoot canine subfamily called the borophagins (or the bone-crushing dogs) which aren't closely related to any modern canids.

Despite being a dog, it was built more like a hyena or even a big cat, with a bulkier, stockier body and powerful jaws designed to crack open the bones of large herbivores. It wasn't a pursuit hunter like modern wolves or Cape hunting dogs, but rather an ambush predator.

It thrived troughout North America 12 to 6 million years ago, during the Late Miocene. Back then, America's grasslands and forests were overrun with a plethora of diverse megafauna rivaling that of Pleistocene America.

Large plant-eaters like camels, horses, rhinos, protoceratids, tapirs, peccaries ancient and forms of elephant were abundant. The bone-crusher dog likely preyed on most of them, but it likewise faced stiff competition from saber-toothed cats like Amphimachairodus coloradensis and the likewise saber-toothed near-cat Barbourofelis fricki, as well as bears like Agriotherium.

Description
Two Epicyon haydeni (130 kg) squabbling over their kill, a Synthetoceras tricornatus, Texas, 7 mya.

If this canine was still alive it would have made the ideal guard dog that even the most fool-hearted intruders would steer clear off.

Epicyon haydeni is the largest dog species we know of, it grew twice as big as a grey wolf with some estimates suggesting that the largest specimens reached 170 kg in weight (comparable to a lion).

It was part of an basal offshoot canine subfamily called the borophagins (or the bone-crushing dogs) which aren't closely related to any modern canids.

Despite being a dog, it was built more like a hyena or even a big cat, with a bulkier, stockier body and powerful jaws designed to crack open the bones of large herbivores. It wasn't a pursuit hunter like modern wolves or Cape hunting dogs, but rather an ambush predator.

It thrived troughout North America 12 to 6 million years ago, during the Late Miocene. Back then, America's grasslands and forests were overrun with a plethora of diverse megafauna rivaling that of Pleistocene America.

Large plant-eaters like camels, horses, rhinos, protoceratids, tapirs, peccaries ancient and forms of elephant were abundant. The bone-crusher dog likely preyed on most of them, but it likewise faced stiff competition from saber-toothed cats like Amphimachairodus coloradensis and the likewise saber-toothed near-cat Barbourofelis fricki, as well as bears like Agriotherium.