Me, a friend, and my 4 month old German Shepherd went out of town on Saturday to visit Payson, Arizona. Since there is a lot of snow out there, all the roads for camping were closed. We decided to park somewhere and walk up a trail towards the top of the mountain. We probably traveled for a good hour, and during the whole time we were goofing off, joking, and talking out loud. All of a sudden I feel my dog slowing down on the leash, and I look at him and all his hairs are up. Immediately followed by a VERY large growl about 50 feet away warning us to go away. This turned out to be my first bear encounter. Fortunately for us, we didn't actually see the bear and decided to take that opportunity and bolt out of there (probably not such a good idea to run from a bear, but with enough pressure you stop thinking about many things). The dog was actually barking at the bear as we were running, which again was probably a very bad situation. Obviously our hearts were pounding because me, my friend, nor my dog are a match for a full grown bear and we were glad to have escaped. But this really got me thinking as to what one would do in that situation? I've read and seen different methods about protecting yourself, but how would I go about saving my dog because clearly as brave as he was, he would've been most vulnerable. But in either case, I'm really glad animals have such hightened senses that Caesar was able to sniff/see/hear or whatever he used to notice the bear there, and most likely saved our lives or at least saved us from a full blown confrontation.

- Ali

I hope Cesar got a good reward for that! I'm glad to hear it all ended up OK. My family goes to Canada - we wear "bear scares" tin cans with pebbles and are noisy to scare the bears off when we're out in the middle of nowhere. It's probably a VERY good thing that you guys made plenty of noise and announced your presence before you got too close!

I rescued a 1 yr old, 1lb. minpin mix dog (1lb. from malnutrition and dehydration, it was almost dead when I got it). It survived and was the nastiest most aggressive little dog I've ever met. Anyway she did get a great home in the Southwest. Apparently, she saved the kids by barking at a rattlesnake in the back yard. The owner was pretty impressed.

I think your pup alerting you is great....

You asked in your post, how to save your dog?

As hard is at would be, the dog needs to be released if you are being chased by a large predator. This is the best diversionary tactic your are going to have (unless you carry a BIG stop them in their tracks gun ) IF the threat decides to chase you.
Most dogs jump around and bark and stay "out of reach".

Most bear charges are bluffs, however, I am of the mindset that I would rather not attempt to find out.
I would venture to guess you came upon a bear feeding on a carcass and were loud enough to warn him you were coming, sooo in turn, he was "nice" enough to give you a warning also.

The top 5 tactics to use in bear country are:

1. Be Alert
2. Go in groups and stay together
3. Stay on the trail
4. Hike in the middle of the day
5. Make Noise

It is actually restricted in alot of parks and recreation areas that dogs are not allowed in bear country.

I hate to "be the bad guy" here, but this is what I have learned and I go up by Glacier Park Montana to train once or twice a year and I do not like bears!!!!!!

It's funny you mention about rattlesnakes because I used to breed snakes, and all the dogs I've ever had were VERY interested in snakes. They thought they were really cool looking chew toys. I had the dog on lockdown before brining out any of the snakes. It's interesting though how animals have such a strong sense of danger, and how people can be so oblivious to the things around them (like we were on the mountain).

 Quote: carol boche

I think your pup alerting you is great....

You asked in your post, how to save your dog?

As hard is at would be, the dog needs to be released if you are being chased by a large predator. This is the best diversionary tactic your are going to have (unless you carry a BIG stop them in their tracks gun ) IF the threat decides to chase you.
Most dogs jump around and bark and stay "out of reach".

Most bear charges are bluffs, however, I am of the mindset that I would rather not attempt to find out.
I would venture to guess you came upon a bear feeding on a carcass and were loud enough to warn him you were coming, sooo in turn, he was "nice" enough to give you a warning also.

The top 5 tactics to use in bear country are:

1. Be Alert
2. Go in groups and stay together
3. Stay on the trail
4. Hike in the middle of the day
5. Make Noise

It is actually restricted in alot of parks and recreation areas that dogs are not allowed in bear country.

I hate to "be the bad guy" here, but this is what I have learned and I go up by Glacier Park Montana to train once or twice a year and I do not like bears!!!!!!

I agree, I don't think Caesar's loyalty would last very long if approached by a giant bear. The one thing I didn't know, but was soon to find out afterwards is that bears are more active around sunset and that's exactly when we were on the trail. I unforunately didn't have any guns with me, and even still the guns I have probably wouldn't damage the bear much.

I was kidding about the gun , usually people carry guns that would not stop a bear but would piss it off and most parks and camping areas prohibit them......I carry bear spray and am always looking for trees to climb, this is a tactic that is offered even though the bears can climb also. However, if they are not "serious" about getting you, they will give up and not climb.
Your right, they are definitely more active at dawn and dusk. We happened upon a black bear that was napping though. She jumped up and ran off, but still, it scared the crap out of me.

Scary stuff - bears. I had the misfortune of coming upon not only one bear but three! Mama bear and her 2
babies .

Gunnar was with me and we were on the trail in the middle of the day and Gunnar stopped dead in his tracks and stared at something just across the river. He let out a low growl. It took a lot of searching for me to see just what the hell he was looking at. Not because they were far away, they weren't . It's because they were moving in and out of trees that caused my to have a hard time spotting them. They were probably about, clearly an estimation here, 500 feet away!

The couple in front of us stopped to take pictures . I hightailed it out of there and up the trail because if I turned around, I would have been going in the same direction as Mama Bear and that was not what I wanted to do.

I got to the top of the trail and waited a reasonable amount of time for a person with a dog to keep me company on the way down. Perfect timing, there was a woman with two dogs and we were fine the whole way down. Whew.

One thing I sort of doubt is the fetal position. That just seems to give full access for the bear without any trouble. I understand that it shows that you are submissive, and the fact that you are protecting your vital organs, but if the bear really wanted to take you, fetal position wouldn't really do much. I've read some articles mentioning that fetal position should be last resort, that you should first try to avoid, but if the confrontation takes full charge, you should attack with as much force towards the eys and the nose as possible, and make lots of noise, and only if there seems absolutely no other way, than to go the fetal position.

This is my take on it.....500+ pound bear vs. me, you do what you can if the bear actually attacks, try everything you have heard, if you can remember it. BUT, if the bear wants you, he is gonna have you no matter what.

That sounds like a very scary concept, but it's very true. It reminds me of the movie "Ghost In The Darkness" with the lions killing everyone.