I found out this morning that a very close friend of mine's little ACD Dingo was taken by a cougar yesterday evening. She was seriously the best little dog and she was very young.
It happened in such an unexpected way, my friend's boyfriend was coming home from visiting a friend and had Dingo with him. It was late afternoon and dark out, and they were walking up their driveway, he didn't have his headlamp on. Dingo was right ahead of him, maybe 10 feet away, and he heard a scuffle. He said he thought it was the neighbor's dog or something, didn't think anything of it, but then he heard a yelp and grabbed his headlamp, just in time to see the cougar, with Dingo, and then it took off into the woods. He was of course totally dumbfounded. They searched a bunch that night, through the woods and didn't find anything at all.
I went up there today just to offer some moral support, and I brought Jasper and Yarrow with me in the car. I knew that my friend really wanted to find Dingo's remains if possible, and I figured Jasper and Yarrow might be able to track where the cougar had gone (Onyx isn't as familiar with predators yet). We decided to give it a shot so we went out with Jasper and Yarrow on leash, and 4 people. I took the dogs to where Dingo had been taken and told Jasper "cougar" (he knows that word somehow), so he started sniffing and we followed him and Yarrow along this little pathway. They both got super intense and cut off the pathway. I knew they smelled it for sure, but was completely shocked when we nearly stumbled RIGHT onto the cougar it's self. It was laying on the ground with it's ears flattened, probably about 10 feet away from me and Yarrow. We all started yelling and the dogs were barking and it backed off a ways, but then started coming right back at us with teeth bared, snarling. Clearly it had Dingo's remains there and was guarding the space. This was all probably within 100 feet or so of their house! They must have walked RIGHT past the cougar the night before in the dark during their search. None of us thought the cougar would hold it's ground with 2 big dogs and four people, but we had to retreat and go back to their place. My friend was bawling, just wanting the cougar to chase off so she could find her dog
Such a crazy morning, bizarre mix of grief and crazy adrenaline.
Little Dingo <3
It happened in such an unexpected way, my friend's boyfriend was coming home from visiting a friend and had Dingo with him. It was late afternoon and dark out, and they were walking up their driveway, he didn't have his headlamp on. Dingo was right ahead of him, maybe 10 feet away, and he heard a scuffle. He said he thought it was the neighbor's dog or something, didn't think anything of it, but then he heard a yelp and grabbed his headlamp, just in time to see the cougar, with Dingo, and then it took off into the woods. He was of course totally dumbfounded. They searched a bunch that night, through the woods and didn't find anything at all.
I went up there today just to offer some moral support, and I brought Jasper and Yarrow with me in the car. I knew that my friend really wanted to find Dingo's remains if possible, and I figured Jasper and Yarrow might be able to track where the cougar had gone (Onyx isn't as familiar with predators yet). We decided to give it a shot so we went out with Jasper and Yarrow on leash, and 4 people. I took the dogs to where Dingo had been taken and told Jasper "cougar" (he knows that word somehow), so he started sniffing and we followed him and Yarrow along this little pathway. They both got super intense and cut off the pathway. I knew they smelled it for sure, but was completely shocked when we nearly stumbled RIGHT onto the cougar it's self. It was laying on the ground with it's ears flattened, probably about 10 feet away from me and Yarrow. We all started yelling and the dogs were barking and it backed off a ways, but then started coming right back at us with teeth bared, snarling. Clearly it had Dingo's remains there and was guarding the space. This was all probably within 100 feet or so of their house! They must have walked RIGHT past the cougar the night before in the dark during their search. None of us thought the cougar would hold it's ground with 2 big dogs and four people, but we had to retreat and go back to their place. My friend was bawling, just wanting the cougar to chase off so she could find her dog
Such a crazy morning, bizarre mix of grief and crazy adrenaline.
Little Dingo <3
