We had our 150-lb bullmastiff in his own trashy 3-person tent with the door unzipped so he could go out and go pee if he needed. He was on a long leash. About 3:15am we woke up to him growling from his tent for a few seconds, and then charging at something and barking. The dog broke the leash, and scared the bear up a tree.

My wife and I came outside the tent to see the dog barking up the tree. When he heard us, he ran over to my wife and sat on her foot to protect her. We ended up bringing the dog into our tent, and about 30 minutes later the bear climbed down (which got the dog barking again) and ran away.

Turns out we accidentally left a cooler out. We woke up the next morning to find teeth marks where the bear had punctured the cooler trying to get into it.

It ended up being a bit of a sleepless night, but we were pretty proud of our dog. The rest of the trip he spent chasing chipmunks and squirrels up trees, which he normally is too lazy to do.

Here’s the hero: