Thats funny. I thought you were going to say that you told the dude to climb up and knock the bear out of the tree.
I had a friend/outfitter in Idaho who used to run hounds for mtn. lion. Whild training, when the dogs had a lion treed, it conditions were right, he would climb up and while the dogs had the cats attention, he would yank it out of the tree by its tail and the chase would start all over again.
He had one hound he called Spaz. This dog had no fear - or brains. My friend told me that a dog can get right up in a lion's face and be barking without the lion making too much fuss as long as the dog didn't look the lion in the eye. Once it did, the lion would swat at it. He said Spaz never quite figured that out and he had to sew him up a couple times. Once after he had to re-insert his intestines after a lion put a huge gash in his belly.