10-pound dog takes on hundred-pound wild cat and lives to bark

[Amelia]

10-pound dog takes on hundred-pound wild cat and lives to bar

Friday, May 29, 2009

By SCOTT BURTON, Kgw.com Staff

PHILOMATH, Ore. -- It's a neighborhood where families walk in the setting sun and wildlife is the finest form of entertainment. It's peaceful, and it's tranquil.

10-pound dog takes on hundred-pound wild cat and lives to bar

12:11 PM PDT on Friday, May 29, 2009

By SCOTT BURTON, Kgw.com Staff

PHILOMATH, Ore. -- It's a neighborhood where families walk in the setting sun and wildlife is the finest form of entertainment. It's peaceful, and it's tranquil.

And then there's Rosie and Chiquita, two of the most talented barkers in greater Philomath, Oregon.

They bark at the door.

They bark at the gate.

They bark at the grass if it moves too quickly.

"This is what they do. They run out into the yard and they bark," says their owner Lindsay Wingert.

Each bark has a different tone. Some are playful. Some are defensive. On Monday night, Rosie's bark was pure panic.

"It sounded like she was in a lot of pain," Lindsay recalled.

It was 10:30 p.m. and out went Chiquita through the doggie door to investigate as Lindsay opened the blinds.

"I rush to the blinds and I flick on the light and I'm trying to see."

Pinning poor Rosie to the ground was a 5-foot-long, 100-pound cougar. Rosie was about to become a cougar snack.

"I'm like, 'Oh my gosh.' I had no idea what to do," Lindsay said.

As the cougar let out it's best guttural growl and Lindsay grabbed the phone for help, little Chiquita went to work.

With all 1'3" flexed for battle, her 10 pound frame let out it's best attack dog imitation.

Believe it or not, the cougar let little Rosie go.

"I can't even imagine what it would have been like to see my dog get seriously injured," Lindsay said.

Without a single bite or scratch, Chiquita -- this little fighting banana of a dog -- had won. The cougar skulked in defeat to its home in the woods.

"She was very very close to being lunch meat, weren't you, Rosie?" Lindsay asked her Chihuahua.

In this peaceful hilltop neighborhood where a sunset walk ends the day, the cougar warning signs tell the story.

A heavyweight champ was defeated by a featherweight underdog whose bark was every bit the bite.

[Liz]

It skulked in defeat, because it lost to such a loud little dog. I am glad that worked out.

[GreatLakesGramma]

I think I probably would have grabbed the nearest thing that would serve as a weapon and run out there yelling and waving whatever I had, if I had seen a cougar about to eat my dog. They do not stay around if they see you are going to fight. They only want an easy meal.

When a cougar was sighted in our area a few years ago (totally unheard of here), they said that if attacked, fight back. They don't expect their prey to fight back, and they will often leave. I have kept that in mind, because before the article came out in the paper, we woke up and saw its tracks in the snow on our deck, coming right up to the French door.