Coco vs. the Bear

Coco, the household dog,  is pretty brave and would do anything to protect her home. She frequently chases bears away from the yard and warns us of any oncoming danger. Unfortunately, there was a bit of an incident with a bear in the yard this evening.

Tonight, Coco wanted out badly. Once she got outside, she bolted toward the trash pile in the yard. (Many people here have an area in their yard to burn trash in order to reduce the amount they have take to the dump. Our pile was recently burned.) It was twilight, so it was difficult to actually see what was going on, but I could make out a large brown lump near the trash pile. I assume that this was the bear. Coco started barking and going crazy, which made the bear flee instantly into the nearby bushes. Coco bounded after it into the bushes, leading to a lot of commotion. I kept calling Coco, trying to get her to come back inside, but she wouldn't come. All I could hear were the sounds of breaking tree branches and Coco's barking.

I called and called until finally she jumped back out from the bushes and ran at full force back into the house. I chased after her and closed the door behind us. She was riled up and panting pretty heavily. Coco seemed okay and was acting normally otherwise. Then I got a good look at her face. There was a large gash on her muzzle, which looked pretty deep, and she had a narrow strip of fur sticking up out of it at an odd angle. The bear must've swiped her right across the face with its claws. She didn't seem to be in any pain, so we calmed her down and put some ointment on it for now.  She's going to have to see the vet in the morning.. might need stitches this time.