I let Dog2(tm) out last night and just a minute later she started barking and howling at something. I went out to investigate, thinking she had found a raccoon or something. She was barking and growling at the bushes out back. It was pretty dark so I walked up to Dog2 and peered into the bushes, seeing nothing but I could hear something rustling around in there. After a few seconds of listening to the sounds in the bushes, out walks this HUGE black bear! I fell over myself running backwards trying to get away and tripped on the edge of the porch. I think Dog2 thought she could take this beast because she took a few steps towards the thing with her hair standing on end and growling and barking, edging towards the bear. The bear just sauntered out, glanced at Dog2 with a look that said, "Whatever you puny animal, this is my yard now...." I grabbed the dog's rope and pulled her back into the house away from the bear who was now making it's way across my back yard. After catching my breath I thought of taking a picture, but all I managed was this:

I'm not sure if there is a bear in that picture or not, but it was off to the left side, about 15 feet into the tree line when I took that picture.

It looked a bit like this when I was falling back on my ass trying to get away:

That was my limit of excitement for the week. I think the bear was about 4 times the size of Dog2 (she's about 100 lbs.), she has some balls to face off with this thing. Or, she's just a very stupid dog trying to protect its owner.

Dog2, the bear killer: