No one likes a yapping little lap dog — that is, until the yapping little dog alerts you to the hungry grizzly roaming your house at 4:30 a.m.

And so it is that Sid the Jack-Russell cross is being hailed as a small hairy hero in Kimberley B.C., after the dog’s frantic barks awoke a family in the middle of the night Sunday, warning them they were no longer alone in their home.

“The dog just started going crazy, and so my wife Niki got up to investigate,” said Mark Traverse.

“She started screaming and ran right back to the bedroom. She said ‘we’ve got a bear in the house.’”

Not just any bear.

In what could be the most dangerous situation for people trapped inside with a bear, the animal that broke into the Traverse home through an open kitchen window early Sunday morning was an adult male grizzly, and not a healthy, typically cautious bear,

Skinny, mangy and clearly hungry, the large bruin was desperate for food — whatever that food might be.

Aware that his 13-year-old son was also asleep in the house, Traverse knew he had to act quickly, and with a grizzly rummaging around in the kitchen, the choices were very limited.

And so Traverse loaded his rifle.

“I’m lucky that I keep my gun and gun safe inside the bedroom,” said Traverse.

“I got up and got the key, and loaded the gun, and then I went out to see what was happening.”

There are things that go bump in the night — and then there are large hungry things with claws and teeth that go bump around your kitchen.

“It was pretty scary,” said the homeowner.

Traverse admits his heart was racing as he reached for the light switch, his other finger on the trigger of his gun.

“I flicked the light on and the bear walked out right in front of me, and I thought ‘holy cow, it’s a grizzly,’” said Traverse.

“I couldn’t believe there was grizzly in the house, but I could see the claws and I knew right away.”

The bruin had been busy investigating a cupboard containing cat food, but when it saw Traverse, it moved towards him.

“I shot at it, and it took another step towards me, so I shot again and it hit the floor — and so I shot one more time, and then it stopped moving.”

Needless to say, with a dead grizzly on the kitchen floor and adrenaline pumping, there was no more sleep for the Traverse family that night.

Instead, they called the local provincial wildlife office, and a conservation officer was sent to the home to collect the bear and investigate what led to the unusual encounter.

While no one from the wildlife office returned requests for an interview on Sunday, Traverse said the officer’s initial assessment was that the grizzly wasn’t a normal healthy bear.

“The officer figured it was a sick bear, because it was pretty skinny and there wasn’t a good hide on it. The wear on the teeth showed it was probably ten years old or so,” said Traverse.

“It was hungry and was in the cupboard where we keep cat food, and I could hear it eating the food.”

Grizzlies aren’t uncommon in the wilderness around Kimberley, located 400 km southwest of Calgary, but the Traverse home is on the outer edge of the town proper, where bears don’t typically venture.

Clearly, the bear was desperate enough to risk entering a home — and if not for little Sid’s barks to warn the people inside, the outcome could have been tragic.

Traverse says Sid, a ten-year-old terrier/pomeranian cross, can expect a special dinner for his heroics.

“Oh yeah,” he laughed.

“He’ll definitely be eating with the family tonight.”

michael.platt@sunmedia.ca