Bear Chases Tiny Terrier Following Brief Standoff in Connecticut Backyard

A scrappy eight-year-old terrier mix had a brief standoff with a bear before being chased onto the porch of a Farmington, Connecticut, home on May 11, with the tense interaction caught on a Ring camera.

The homeowner, Julie, told Storyful her terrier, Dixie, is all of 20 pounds, but regularly defends the house “by barking at anyone or anything that comes into our yard.”

Julie said she let Dixie out in the morning and that she initially thought nothing of her barking, but explained that Dixie’s bark turned into an “alarm/something-is-wrong” bark, so she went outside to scoop her up.

“As I turned to go back inside the house with her, the momma bear poked her head up above the deck floor we were standing on. That’s when I knew just what had happened,” she said. “I did not know Dixie had been chased by the bear until I had watched the surveillance video our backyard camera had caught.”

The video shows Dixie running toward a line of trees while barking. She then stops running but continues to bark when the bear starts to run toward her. She can be seen turning and dashing for the house as the bear follows. The dog makes it to safety as the bear peeks through the railing. Credit: Julie via Storyful

Video transcript

[BARKING]

[SNORTING]

[FRANTIC BARKING]

- Let me in. Hey, stop, no. No.

[BARKING]

This way it sounds like picking. Stop.

[BARKING]

Dixie. Dixie. OK. Stop. Freeze.

- There, there's a bear.

- Thank you. The bear was on the deck? No. OK. [LAUGHS]

- Facilities don't need you to go to main.

- Oh, there he is. Oh, my goodness. OK.