May 20th, 2011 Flying Poodle

[BigV]

Now this poodle, Shmoopy, has nothing to fear from birds of prey. Nor from bears either.

A hunter in his spare time, Robert Carroll has encountered many bears.

But certainly never in his backyard.

At approximately 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Carroll's daughter Danielle, 21, was sitting on the porch when she heard rustling noises from the corner of the yard at Carroll's home in the 10700 block of 128th Avenue Northeast in the Rose Hill neighborhood. When an approximately 200-pound black bear approached her within 15 feet, she yelled, "There's a bear in the backyard!"

Carroll ran outside and thought his daughter could be mistaking the bear for a dog. But sure enough, it was a bear.

Carroll watched as his teacup poodle, Shmoopy, ran straight for the bear and chased it up a tree.

This city, Kirkland, is just a short drive across the lake from me.