BRAVE DOG

A South San Francisco Bay dog must have had a heart of steel Tuesday when he chased a 110-pound mountain lion into a tree in his owner’s Los Altos Hills backyard. Either that, or he had no clue what he was doing. Cody, an 85-pound German shepherd, spotted the male mountain lion around 7:30 a.m. near La Barranca and Elena roads and chased him into a tree, said Janice Mackey, spokeswoman with the California Department of Fish and Game. A state biologist arrived a short time later and monitored the big cat until it slunk down the tree and into the nearby open space. The mountain lion was never a threat, Mackey said. “The dog didn’t know what he was chasing,” Mackey said. “He probably thought it was another dog until it climbed the tree.” Despite their fierce reputation, mountain lions are “scaredy-cats,” Mackey said. “They’re solitary, they prefer to be on their own. “He was probably cruising around looking for breakfast and maybe he chased a rabbit into the yard,” she added. NBC Bay Area captured exclusive video of the cat in the tree.