Dachshund Saves Best Friend from Jaws of Mountain Lion
Mijo and Winston have quite the bond. By Austin Cannon November 16, 2020 Advertisement Pin FB More Tweet Email Send Text Message Print
What are friends for? In this case, to save us when we’re trapped in the jaws of a mountain lion.
Yup, that’s the story of Winston, a dachshund, and his best bud Mijo the Chiweenie (a Chihuahua-dachshund mix). Mijo narrowly escaped the big cat thanks to his BFF, but he lost his right eye in the process.
The pair were visiting family in Evergreen, Colo., on Nov. 7 when the two dogs slipped through an open door, 9 News in Denver reports.
That’s when the young mountain lion pounced, maybe 4 feet from the house, writes Winston’s mom, Sarah Moore, on Mijo’s GoFundMe page. The mountain lion seized the 6-pound Mijo in its mouth. Seeing his best friend in danger, heroic Winston started barking and ran at the mountain lion, who thankfully dropped Mijo and escaped.
“[A] 20-pound dog with the courage of a 200-pound dog,” Mijo’s owner Lindsay Golden told 9 News of Winston. In the news video, Winston sits in Moore’s lap next to Golden. “He’s a hero. Aren’t you, Winnie?”
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After the frightful encounter, Golden quickly scooped up her injured dog and rushed him to the emergency vet. The mountain lion had snatched up the 15-year-old rescue dog by his head, leaving lacerations on his scalp and neck and causing his right eye to come of its socket, Moore writes.
The vet surgically removed Mijo’s eye and closed his wounds.
“It is an absolute miracle that this little guy is still alive,” Moore writes. “There is no reason one bite from a mountain lion shouldn't have killed him. He could have easily been carried off, he could have easily suffered a broken back, neck, or a fractured skull. There is no reason that a wiener dog could have chase[d] off a mountain lion in the middle of an attack. Yet, here he is.”
While the pup survived the attack in time to get to the vet, little Mijo is not out of the woods yet. A seizure sent him back to the vet on Friday, and his owners worry that he may have sustained a traumatic brain injury, Moore writes. He’s walking in circles and needs help getting to his food and water. A visit to a veterinary neurologist is likely.
“We are overwhelmed with gratitude for the love and support we have received from friends and family,” Moore writes. “This could be a long road to recovery, but we have no doubt that her little man will survive.”
The little pooch may have a long road of recovery ahead of him, depending on the outcome of tests conducted by the veterinary neurologist. You can keep tabs on Mijo's progress through his GoFundMe for updates. Until then, we'll be rooting for him to make a full recovery thanks to his pal Winston.
