FOUR HOUSES UP FROM US.

‘Territorial’ poodle loses life in standoff with bear (Kay Moran, Daily Hampshire Gazette, 6/16/03).

NORTHAMPTON - A valiant little dog named Hobbes stood his ground, but he was no match for the bear that killed him Friday.
"My territorial one was going to tell the bear, 'This is my property and you have to go,'" Jennifer Whiting of Turkey Hill Road said Sunday.

At about 3:30 p.m. Friday, Whiting had just come home and let her two black toy poodles, Calvin and Hobbes, out into the front yard. While she was talking on the phone, the dogs began to bark.

She opened the front door to check on them, only to find a bear at the foot of the porch stairs, between her and the 7-pound dogs.

"It was a step away. I could have touched him," she said.

Whiting screamed at the bear and slammed the door, trying to scare it off. Calvin retreated out of sight from the large animal, but Hobbes stood still, barking at it furiously.

"(The bear) just picked Hobbes up like he was a baby cub and just took him away," Whiting said.

Posted by David Cohen at June 16, 2003 6:23 PM