Elvis Xerri fights off cougar to save girlfriend's dog southwest of Calgary
Couple was sleeping and heard the dog yelping in the yard of Priddis, Alta., home
Southern Alberta resident Elvis Xerri is lucky to be alive after rescuing his girlfriend's dog from a cougar attack — in the front yard of his home in Priddis.
Luckily, Xerri escaped with just some scrapes and bruises, after he picked up the cougar and tossed it while it was attacking the Bernese mountain dog named Boomer.
The drama started around 3 a.m. MT, when Xerri was awoken by the dog, which was yelping outside his home southwest of Calgary.
Xerri saw Boomer lying on its back — the cougar had pinned the dog to the ground.
"I was expecting it to be a coyote, but once I heard the yelping, it wasn't a question in my mind he was getting attacked by something," said Xerri, who didn't hesitate to act.
"The dog is on its back and the cougar's on top of him," said Xerri, who proceeded to throw the big cat "as far as I could."
But the cougar returned and bit Boomer on the head. Xerri held onto the dog and pulled it from the cougar.
"I was worried when we were face to face, thinking he was going to jump straight at me."
Xerri says he would do it all over again, although he wouldn't want to.
"It's the craziest thing ever, but it worked out really well."
Boomer is back to being mellow, lucky to be alive and nursing the wound to his head showing the cougar's teeth marks .
"We've got Boomer here and that's all that matters," says Xerri.