Brave dog protects kid, scares a cougar away

A dog in Washington State came to the rescue of a child, and in the process, managed to scare a mountain lion away.

Put in “dog saves” in the Google or Bing search bar, and you’ll come away with scores of headlines that detail the heroics of canines.

You could add this Washington State dog to the list of recent canines who came to the rescue of humans. On June 3 in Leavenworth, a cougar entered the Enchantment Park and began to approach a 4-year-old.

According to Seattle news station KOMO, Cpt. Michael Jewell of the state’s Department of Fish & Wildlife said that the reason why the cougar may have entered the park was to protect a food source nearby. You see, cougars, like us humans, are very protective of their food, and anyone who goes near it could pay a steep price.

That was almost the case for an unsuspecting family and their 4-year-old, whom the cougar knocked down. Fortunately for the family, they also brought their dogs with them and sensing that the child was in danger, sprang into protection mode.

The parents turned their dogs loose, and scared the cougar away from the family, saving their son. After scaring the cougar away, wildlife officials used their own K-9s to search for the wild animal. Since he attacked a child, the officials had no choice but to euthanize the cougar.

“It is standard protocol that we lethally remove a cougar in those circumstances,” Jewell told KOMO. Cougars in that area, according to Jewell, are uncommon, however, if you run into one, back away, don’t run away, make some noise, or make yourself bigger.

If you are looking for more dog news, both heroic and entertaining, check out the rest of Dog O’Day for other stories about our favorite canine companions.