It probably preferred to scavenge for carrion, and it is possible that it habitually chased metatherian carnivores such as Thylacosmilidae from their kills.
They were once viewed as primitive carnivores, like the Paleocene family Arctocyonidae, and their diet probably included meat and fish.
Tedford was one of the foremost authorities on the evolution of Carnivores and had been working, often with Prof. Xiaoming Wang, on the fossil history of the Canidae establishing the basis on the evolutionary relationship of canids over the past one hundred years.
He is best known for having directed the field study and co-naming of the Argentinosaurus (possibly the world's largest land animal ever) in 1993, and the Giganotosaurus (one of the largest known terrestrial carnivores), in 1996 among other landmark South American dinosaurs.
Olsen’s work on the Thomas Farm Caninae (dog-like carnivores, including Metatomarctus and the bear-dog, Amphicyon, and their kin) in the late 1950s and early 1960s is regarded as foundational for subsequent studies of those and related species.
Since the filming of The Paw Project, the United States Department of Agriculture had enacted a ban on the declawing and defanging of wild and exotic carnivores.