Dog saves the day after 5-year-old boy attacked by bear in Akita

That's what high calibre rifles are for.

The article should add that the dog is a little shiba dog. Great job Mego!! (the dog's name is Mego)

For non-metric readers, one-meter is 3.28ft. A cub?

A man's best friend?

That's what high calibre rifles are for.

Unlike US, you can't get kiddy rifles in Japan.

Little dog saves little boy from little bear. Well done Mego

Shibas in my experience tend to be quite feisty. This fine dog deserves recognition.

That's what high calibre rifles are for.

No, no, no. That is what dogs are for. Waste not, want not - no reason to be killing indiscriminately.

Give that dog a scooby snack! well done little dog.

The article is from a sports tabloid so take it with a grain of salt, but supposedly it was a fully grown critter (成獣とみられる) so "meter high" probably means at the shoulder. Curious black bears are known to run from dogs and even house cats, but all the same allowing people in the country to possess hunting weapons (not handguns or military-grade weapons like in the US) with proper registration makes sense. If that had been a starving bear driven to approach human-inhabited areas for food the dog would have been lunch, and the kid would have been lucky to get away.

Wow! Great power! So doge

Yahoo news has a pic of the large cub sleeping in the hallway of their house.

That's the first time I've ever seen 'bitch' used correctly. Not going to lie, it caught me waaaaaaay off guard

Japanese Lassie to the rescue ! ;)

Local media identified the dog as a six-year-old bitch named Mego.

Really? Yes, it's technically correct but the dog was a hero. Was it necessary to use THAT particular word to describe the dog?

One of the bestest, loyalest, most affectionate, most loving friends I ever had was a bitch. Looks like little Mego was this little boy's Best Friend. Lucky little boy. Plucky little bitch. Well done that dawg.

Good dog. I have a Kaiken. Not a bitch but a bear hunting dog. He's never attacked a bear but I reckon he wouldn't take a backward step. He's a lovely dog. I'm considering getting some bitches after reading that story.