Contrary to popular belief, I’m fully convinced now that dogs aren’t scared of bears.
In fact, I’d go as far to say that some bears are absolutely mortified of dogs.
We recently shared footage of a seven-month-old dog that went toe to toe with a bear, eventually scaring it off.
With that being said, I was digging through the vaults and found this epic video of an 11-year-old golden retriever named Pretty, who was casually hanging out outside of the owner’s house, when a brown bear entered the Sitka, Alaska, residence at around 11:30 PM last year.
At first, you see Pretty begin to bark and wag his tale, noticing a stranger approaching in the distance. Sure enough, it was a massive brown bear trudging along, probably in search of some late night dinner.
You would think that a normal house pet like a golden retriever would simply tuck its tail and run away, but that’s not Pretty. He bucked up to the bear with nerves of steel.
The brown bear even attempted to take a swing at Pretty, but he lunged right back at it, and it was easy to see the bear didn’t want any piece of him at that point.
Make no mistake about it, had that bear chosen to attack the dog it would have been over quick as a golden retriever would be no match for the bear in an actual fight.
With this video being taken in August of last year, bears in the area are in a phase of hyperphagia, a pre-hibernation phase where bears are more active and hungry, which is likely the reason why this bear was willing to show up to a residential area in the first place.
Needless to say, Pretty’s owner was ecstatic to see the security footage of his heroic actions:
“We have lots of bears, though I’ve never seen them engage this closely. Changing Pretty’s name to Legend! He’s always been a good bear dog.”
The owner also made a nod to the safety of the bear as well:
“This is their home too. So be respectful.”
7-Month Old Pup Doesn’t Blink At Brown Bear’s Charge During Intense Standoff
Man, this pup doesn’t know any better, but he looks like he has a death wish… and biggest balls in the animal kingdom.
It’s no secret that a bear has the potential to quite easily rip you to shreds if given the chance, especially if it’s a mama bear that feels like you may be a threat to her cubs.
But even though that may mean a number of us are terrified to get too close to a bear, that doesn’t mean a dog is…
Just like this one from Romania.
The dog and its owner went for a walk in the mountains, when a brown bear made its way to the roadside.
Unfazed, the dog makes its way over to the bear, getting as close as only a couple of feet away, just staring it down and barking ferociously enough to hopefully scare the bear away. While brown bears generally don’t tend to spook as easily as black bears, the only hope for this pup is that the bear thinks better of ripping it to shreds.
Sure enough, after it lunged at the dog with a false charge, and saw that the dog was going to continue to stand its ground, the bear didn’t want any part of the good boy and slowly backed away.
But my only question is… where is the owner in all of this? He said he was just going for a hike in the mountains, but that might be the most casual reaction to a near-death experience that I’ve ever seen. Near-death for the dog, not him…
However, the brown bear makes up 60% of the bear population in Romania, and have been responsible for several attacks on humans as more and more people continue to settle in the Carpathian Mountains.
So who knows, maybe this doggo saved its owner from being a victim in one of these attacks.
Good boy…
