Either way, the dog showed a lot of courage! A dog trainer once told me, "There's no such thing as a 'brave' dog - only a confident one. And that confidence comes from the love the owners show that dog."

Thanks a lot for sharing....

I just attended a 2 hour seminar on mountain lions in the forest by the leading authority for the Los Angeles National Forest. He has been tracking and studying mountain lions here for over twenty years. They have GPS collars and cameras in their prey kill areas. The one question I asked him was how safe am I walking my dogs in the forest? He then smiled and told me the one funny thing about mountain lions is the old cat-dog relationship. Even though they can take out a dog in one swipe, they are scared of them and their first instinct is to run. They are big scaredy cats! He said only if they are provoked and cornered are they likely to fight back. He has documented their kill and showed us the chart 95% was mule deer . The rest other small wildlife. Not one domesticated dog on the list. He also showed us documentation of how they also run from humans in groups. I'm sorry his dog wasn't leashed. There are parks for unleashed dogs. People need to learn to obey the rules. They are there for good reason.

The thousands of dollars of vet bills the owners of the dog incurred after the lion got through with it will no doubt act as a strong re-enforcement to keep the dog leashed in the future.

Yes, LEASH LAWS - that's exactly what I wondered when I heard this story.

Don't blame the cougar - blame the OWNER: for not keepign his dog on its LEASH - against the LAW!

These laws exist precisely because lazy owners have habitually put wildlife and DOGS in danger when refusing to leash their dogs voluntarily. Dogs CHASE and FIGHT - it's in their nature.

BAD OWNER! Bad, bad!

Another story says the the wildlife officials are not going to track the big cat and will not kill it.

The initial story (flitered through the dubious source of the media looking for ratings) only made sense if the people and dog were out - way out - on a trail and got to near a lioness with cubs. Then she would attack to protect her cubs.

Now it seems they were in a campground....even if closed, still a site with too many human odors for the big cats.

We have cougars around here - very small village of 350 people in the middle of a US National Park. They few times they have been sighted by humans, they are in full flight to get away.

I have Kuvasz - very large herd guarding dogs bred to protect a herd from predators such as wolves or mountain lions. A couple winters ago, the 2 Kuvasz flew through the house late at night and were frantic to get out and were on full guard alert. I released them, the touched down once on a 12 ft deck and streaked across the back yard where they stopped at the unfenced property line as they had been trained to do. Both dogs went into full guarding alert - think crouched looking like huge snow white wolves ready to launch. They roared repeatedly and you could tell they were visually tracking something in the field behind the yard. They held position for close to 5 mintues and finally returned. The next day we found cougar tracks in the field. The large kitty cat was NOT going to hang about and confront those dogs. Nor were herd guarding dogs such as they are going to chase and gratuitously launch into a fight since they were bred to make a threat leave through intimidation and only fight as a last resort.

After 45+ years of training and handling, I can easily see a Lab cross bolting after something and giving chase. It is what they were bred to do - chase and retrieve.

A nice leash would have avoided the entire incident. The big cat would have fled the scene upon seeing 2 people and a dogm and the dog wouldn't have been able to chase and get into a fight.

I very much hope the dog - Hoagie - will be okay. I equally hope that the owners get some brains and (a) use a leash or long line (I use a 50 ft long line when out in the woods or the beach in the Natl Park if no one is around) when out of their yard and (b) train their dog to absolutely 100% obey the commands "come", "hold" "stay" and "down" even at a considerable distance. Obedience training can save your dog for injury or death.

More poor humans, noble dog glurge.

Thank god they can't figure out the wild animal.

Because it would inevitably be killed.

Usually that's watered down as euthanized, put down, etc.

Why do the wild animals have to pay for people's stupidity and their inability to control their domestic pets?

Which cougar? The one I met last night?

I grew up camping with the Boy Scouts of America in many Southern California Campgrounds. Currently, I love to jog at Will Rogers Ranch and other natural preserves. Caution, circumspection, and following rules and regulations are very important. Stay on the trail, do not enter restricted areas... Why was this family in a restricted area? Please be careful, dog on a leash, and enjoy God's country!

I am always surprised at how many people irresponsibly take their dogs off the leash when they are not supposed to. It usually works out ok and the dog is not hurt. Unfortunately for the dog this is one time it didn't.

incident would never had happened if dog owner followed usfs rules ,,dogs on 6ft leash at all times . a irresponsible dog owner .lonnie

This is very interesting. Up until now, I, like everyone else who heard this story, thought it was a remarkable story of a dog's heroism. I sure hope they do get to the bottom of this so an innocent mountain lion won't get killed. I do think those owners need to be fined or whatever for violating the leash law--this is a perfect example of why they have that law. Thanks for shedding more light on this story.