Think you’re tough? Try punching a bear in the face.

So you think you are pretty tough huh. Well, I’m betting that you probably wouldn’t be willing to punch a black bear in the face in order to save your dog eh.

Unlike you, or me most likely, a lady by the name of Brooke Collins didn’t think twice about it when it came to saving the life of her pet dachshund by the name of Fudge when it was being pinned down by a black bear in the yard of their home in Alaska.

Besides the fact that the idea of living somewhere where a black bear could casually meander through one’s backyard is unsettling to say the least but to actually confront the bear and punch it in the face is one hell of a brave thing to do.

Collins said she didn’t see the bear outside when she let the dogs out around 7:30 p.m. Sunday. She said Fudge just darted out and the barking could be heard almost instantly. She said that barking was “the most horrible sound in the world.”

Collins said when she looked outside she saw a bear was crouching down with Fudge its paws and was biting the back of the dog’s neck.

“That bear was carrying her like a salmon,” she said.

She said she almost instinctively went up and did the first thing she thought of. She punched the bear’s face and scooped away her dog when it let go.

It all happened too fast to really think about but she had flashes of hearing about how some animals will back off from a punch to the nose, she said.

She said her boyfriend Regan O’Toole came out upon hearing the screaming. O’Toole said the bear already looked startled from being punched at that point. He said the animal went down the driveway and into the bushes to the mountain as he ran toward it.

via Juneau Empire

Other than a few scratches it seems that Fudge came through the ordeal okay and probably really thankful for having an owner like Brooke Collins.