Man (and boy's) best friend

Hero dog saves boy, 11, from cougar attack: Angel the golden retriever became a guardian angel when cat pounced

The 11-year-old boy didn’t have time to react — and barely enough time to realize that a cougar was flying toward him with dinner on its mind. Luckily for Austin Forman, his dog, Angel, threw herself between her best friend and a lethal predator.

Never was a dog more appropriately named than the 18-month-old golden retriever who nearly gave her life to save Austin Sunday in Bar Boston, a small Canadian town some 150 miles north of Vancouver, British Columbia.

A constable was able to then save Angel by shooting the cougar. The dog suffered a fractured skull and several other injuries, but is expected to make a full recovery. Dogs truly are remarkable creatures. A friend once told me about a family member whose dog threw itself into water she was about to touch that was electrified, sacrificing itself to save her. I'm glad this story had a happier ending, and both boy and dog are fine.

I must also say that I feel sorry for the cougar, who was no doubt hungry and saw an opportunity to feed, coming closer to town than normal. But I understand also that the only way to save the boy and dog was to kill the cougar.