Watch: Vancouver Island resident captures standoff between cougar and dogs in his yard

In the Highlands, a rural area northwest of Victoria, most residents are used to seeing cougars around their properties. However, they are rather elusive and solitary creatures so they rarely get too close. But last Saturday, one resident captured an encounter on tape between one and two dogs.

Khanh Vu was sitting in his living room reading a newspaper when he heard his dog barking up a storm outside.

“And I stood up and I saw over the window, my dog chasing something,” said Vu.

As Vu got closer he saw a cougar in his yard being chased around by his dog, Kovu, and a friend’s dog, Teaka.

He grabbed his camera to capture the action.

In the video you can see the two dogs barking at the cougar, who appears to be quite young. The cougar hisses at them a number of times, but is not interested in fighting with them. However, it hangs around for a couple of minutes at least. Eventually the cougar runs away and escapes up a tree.

Vu said they have seen some cougars in the area before, but always from a distance. “We never would imagine they would be about 10 feet from our main door, our entrance. That’s quite concerning to me, my family and my children,” he added.

There are a number of comments on the YouTube video from people saying Vu should have called the dogs off, but he said he tried.

“I called my dog in but they wouldn’t listen,” he said. “They tried to protect themselves and were occupied with chasing the cougar.”

Teaka’s owner, Brittany Kinahan, was at work when the cougar came around, but said seeing cougars is just part of living in the area. “We are in their territory, so it would make sense to see them now and then,” she said.

“It feels a lot safer having the both the dogs around knowing that they could take care of themselves and us in the house if they need to.”

Bob McMinn has been living in the Highlands area of Victoria since 1953.

In all that time he has never seen a cougar, although he does get alerts of some sightings.

“I guess it’s of concern, it would be nice if they would run away if the dogs barked at them,” he told Global News.