15-year-old Leah Reeder was out on her usual evening walk with her dog, Ralph, when he started acting strange. Ralph, a Springer Spaniel, began acting restless and then started barking. When Leah looked up, she was suddenly under attack from what she described as a "black blur".
Her attacker was a bear. The animal pushed Leah to the ground and began mauling her and biting her back. The teen screamed for help, but was too far from the nearest home to be heard.
When Leah realized no one was coming, she tried a tip taught to most children in school: play dead. To her surprise, the bear did stop its assault soon after she stopped screaming, but it didn't seem completely disinterested in her yet. While no longer mauling her, the bear was now dragging her towards a ditch.
That's when Ralph sprung in to action. The 25 pound dog began barking and staring down the 200+ pound animal. Ralph continued trying to intimidate the much larger creature until it finally released Leah and began to back away, eventually falling in to the ditch and running off.
Leah continued to play dead for a few more minutes in case the bear returned. Once she was certain it was gone, Leah made her way back to her father's Franklin County, Florida home.
Leah is thankful to be alive and credits Ralph with playing a big part in that.