Parka may have saved my life on Saturday!

[BradA1878]

Saturday I took Parka out on his first hike. We live at the base of the Southern Rockies and I spend a good amount of my time hiking the mountains. I’ve wanted to get Parka out on the trails for a few weeks, to get him used to hiking with me, and finally I got some time to do that on Saturday. We hiked a trail called the North Boundary Trail, it’s a trail that starts close to town but snakes up into the mountains to a big meadow at about 11,000 feet.

So Parka and I were on the North Boundary trail, we had been hiking for about 2 hours. We stopped and took some pictures, then I decided we should turn around before it started to get dark. This whole hike Parka had been very alert and watchful, but I thought nothing of it (he’s a guardian, after all)...

Well, about 30 minutes after we turned to head back, as we were going around a blind ridge, Parka stopped dead. His eyes got very large, his nostrils got very large, and his lips started to wrinkle - then he let out a very deep growl. I figured it was due to a person coming toward us on the trail or something, so I reached for my treats to redirect Parka and move off the trail. while I was looking down in the treat bag Parka does this massive display - growling, barking, and dragging me forward (almost lost my balance)...

Then out shot a Mountain Lion!!! It ran up the mountain away from us, it was apparently hanging out behind a rock on the ridge to the left (about 4 feet above the trail)... If we had walked by we would have walked right under him!!!

At first I thought it was a deer or something, but then I could see his long tail, and he clearly didn't move like a deer or a Coyote. Crazy. I mean, he could have jumped right out and got both of us! I had NO IDEA he was there.

Maybe the lion was just napping, or chilling out in the sun. I dunno. But it was a kinda close-call even if he didn't want to eat us. This thing was BIG too... scary big.


Every year there is at least one person who is attacked by a cougar in this area (laster year the attack was only 15 minutes from our house)... I gotta wonder, if it wasn’t for Parka, would we have been one of those victims this year?

I take dogs with me on hikes a lot, and always thought they might be useful in a situation like this, but I never thought it'd actually happen, ya know? I’m so proud of Mr. Parka, he did his job!

I don't typically buy into much of the text written about a breed's history, especially with these recreated breeds, but I'll admit it: there is something rather romantic about my Boerboel protected me from a lion!

Here are a few pics from our hike...

Parka by brada1878, on Flickr


Parka by brada1878, on Flickr


Parka by brada1878, on Flickr

 

[Kandie]

Omg! I got chills reading this. It always amazes me how dogs protect their owners and try their hardest to get us to understand whats going on You have a wonderful dog and hes pretty handsome by the way

 

[Molosserlvr]

So cool! I would love to see a cougar. Well, I say that now, but I'm sure it would scare the crap out of me if I ever actually did, LOL.

Can you tell me what kennel you got Parka from?

 

[Cody]

Lol, living in an area where there are cougars and grizzly bears I would have to disagree with you Molosserlvr, I don't want to see a cougar, as usually by the time you see it you are well on your way to being dead.
That is an awesome story! And yes, very historically romantic at that
Glad he did his job and you can tell us about it, as my guess is he did save your life.
Also just add, he is STUNNING!

 

[TxHorseMom]

GOOD BOY PARKA!!!! Beautiful dog!

PS I hope he got a steak or something! lol

 

[Marrowshard]

Bravo, Parka! I first read the title of the thread and thought "parka" meant the item of clothing and was thinking "well, okay ... " but it makes sense now. Congratulations to you and your guard, sounds like he's a credit to his breed and his species.

~Marrow

 

[Bentley]

Highly impressed! Good looking dog too.

 

[Lorri monster]

Awesome...he deffinaltly did his job and what our breeds were bred to do, and that is to protect...
Very proud of parka, and he for sure deserves a big fat steak

 

[BradA1878]

Thanks all for the compliments on Parka. He's super cute.

Can you tell me what kennel you got Parka from?

Parka came from a lady that breeds and trains her BBs for Personal Protection. Her kennel name is "Dichotomy Boerboels". She doesn't have a website but she does have a YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/WorkingBB

PS I hope he got a steak or something! lol

Not a steak, but I gave him a few Hotdogs (his fav). He seemed happy with them.

Bravo, Parka! I first read the title of the thread and thought "parka" meant the item of clothing and was thinking "well, okay ... "

LOL... I read the title after I made the post and thought it might be confusing. I should have written "My dog Parka...".

----

Ok, so another part of the story....

As I mentioned above, this was Parka's first hike, and he is young, so I really wanted him to have a good experience. I had treats in-hand and I was ready start making positive-association for him.

Well, walking up to the tail head there were 2 guys sitting on a bench with their dogs. I noticed right away that one of the dogs was a Tibetan Mastiff!

I've never actually seen a TM out in public like this, I've been to a number of breeders places and visited with their TMs, but I had not ever seen one out an about. I was excited to see him...

Then he charged Parka! This guy had his TM off-lead at a busy public park. WTF?

Parka didn't seem to care much, and the TM didn't put very much effort into the display once he didn't get much of a reaction from Parka. I think he was an older TM and just wanted to keep the youngster in-check or something.

The guy was super apologetic, and said he had never done that before. I told him "no worries, I'm pretty used to that type of thing"... but, still, I was a bit annoyed that we had not even started the hike and Parka was already getting charged by off-lead dogs. Off-lead dogs is a big issues around here, it makes it impossible for me to hike some of our other dogs (like Blue and Masha). If I had been hiking Blue and that happened it would have been a very bad scene.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that part f the story too.

----

 

[BlackShadowCaneCorso]

Way to Go Parka! That is great to hear Brad and you certainly should be proud of that handsome boy! He is maturing well and looks like he is going to be another great addition to your crew.

Off leash dogs are a big problem here...and then when they charge people say...oh they wouldn't hurt him/her they just want to play.

 

[moose]

That is scary!! Love, love love Parka so good looking!

 

[mia]

GOOD BOY PARKA!!! I was almost killed by a cougar last year so for those who want to see one up close, you don't! Always take your dogs with you for a hike as they will most likely save your life! Mine was saved by a Maremma and two Dobermans! Also if you are venturing in the forest please educate yourselves on what to do when you see certain animals, i.e. NEVER turn your back on a cat EVER.

I can post photos of the cat that almost got me but he's dead in the photos so some may not like it. I was at my sisters farm up North.

 

[chris410]

We have them in our area and I can tell you 100% if you were under him you would have been attacked. Buy your boy his favorite meal for at least a month I am happy to hear that neither of you were attacked...and you might want to carry some sort of knife or whatever is allowed when you hike. Good boy Parka!!!! He is a great looking dog, sounds like he's the total package.

 

[J-Varns]

Parka is absolutely gorgeous!!

 

[BigMac]

Congrats on a well breed dog! Loved the YouTube of Parka as a pup.

 

[ElJayBee]

Hooray for Parka!!! So proud of him. And that's awesome you got him from DB. Tashi is an awesome lady and I think a lot of her for what she does in her program.

 

[BradA1878]

Thanks all for the compliments on Parka!

GOOD BOY PARKA!!! I was almost killed by a cougar last year so for those who want to see one up close, you don't! Always take your dogs with you for a hike as they will most likely save your life! Mine was saved by a Maremma and two Dobermans! Also if you are venturing in the forest please educate yourselves on what to do when you see certain animals, i.e. NEVER turn your back on a cat EVER.

I can post photos of the cat that almost got me but he's dead in the photos so some may not like it. I was at my sisters farm up North.

WOW... Scary! Were you hurt? Were any of you dogs hurt?

Congrats on a well breed dog! Loved the YouTube of Parka as a pup.

Thanks! Did you see him on Tashi's page where he is playing with Pirate?

Hooray for Parka!!! So proud of him. And that's awesome you got him from DB. Tashi is an awesome lady and I think a lot of her for what she does in her program.

I've known Tashi for years. When she had this litter I was not really looking to add another dog, but I couldn't pass on the opportunity to own one of her BBs. And clearly it was worth the wait and I am super glad I made the choice! She was the first person I called when I got off the trail. lol

 

[mia]

BradA1878 - Thankfully nobody was hurt - except the cougar in the end.... I will say having spent much of my life outdoors, being 10 feet from a cougar about to pounce really changed things for me. I am more than thankful to those dogs and also thankful Dobes are silly enough to give chase!!!! I was terrified they were hurt but they treed the cat and came back not realizing what they just chased.... LOL

Here's the cat, young male, they ended up trapping him as he kept coming back to the farm and killed a sheep or two.

Cat at the trap:

At the trap:

Paw size:

Paul & the Cat

 

[ElJayBee]

I've known Tashi for years. When she had this litter I was not really looking to add another dog, but I couldn't pass on the opportunity to own one of her BBs. And clearly it was worth the wait and I am super glad I made the choice! She was the first person I called when I got off the trail. lol

yeah i had wanted one out of that litter really bad, but the timing just wasn't right. plus im not in a situation where i can feed RAW yet, which i think is a requirement of hers. congrats to you for being able to get him tho! i hope when she is able to put another litter on the ground, i will be in the right situation for one.

 

[BradA1878]

Sorry, I missed these pics. Thanks for posting them. That's a big cat! lol His/her paw is huge... crazy!