A dog chased a cat up a tree Tuesday morning in Los Altos.



Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, except for that this cat is a rather large mountain lion.

The California Department of Fish and Game reported to an upscale home on La Barranca and Elena roads in Los Altos Tuesday morning to respond to the report of a mountain lion 30 to 40 feet up a tree.



An 85-pound German Shepard named Cody apparently was scary enough to cause the mountain lion to retreat Cody is owned by Denise and Larry Del Carlo.

Mountain lions have been known to eat things larger than Cody, according to the experts, but they say for some reason they tend to run from pet dogs. The theory is that think they are humans.

The mountain lion finally came down the tree just before 10 a.m. after the Department of Fish and Game decided to let it be.

Fish and Game also decided to let it go.

Cody's neighbor John Sphar said as soon as he saw that a mountain lion was in the neighborhood, he called all of his neighbors to tell them to be on the look out.

Sphar said he will put his goats in a locked barn tonight just in case the big cat comes back. He said he lost a goat to a mountain lion on Christmas Eve 2010.