GLENDORA - It was the day before Halloween in 1995 when Kurt Ruhl first brought home his beloved dog, Pumpkin.
Thirteen years later, on that very day, the shepherd mix lost her life.
A mountain lion attacked Pumpkin and Ruhl's other dog, Lilly, on Thursday evening in the backyard of Ruhl's Ben Lomond Avenue home.
Lilly, a 9-year-old golden retriever, was badly injured but is expected to survive.
"(Pumpkin) died very quickly," Ruhl said, "and very heroically. And at least we know that."
Ruhl was getting his hair cut when the attack happened.
His 16-year-old daughter was at home with a friend just after 7 p.m. when she heard a dog wailing.
When she opened the patio door, Ruhl's daughter saw a mountain lion carrying Pumpkin up the hillside, Ruhl said.
A bloody Lilly ran towards the house.
Ruhl's daughter called Ruhl, then 9-1-1, which notified the California Department of Fish and Game.
When Ruhl got home, he went up the hillside with a flashlight and a pistol. He found the mountain lion and Pumpkin at the edge of his one-acre property - about 40 to 50 feet above his backyard.
"The cat was hunkered down still on top of him ... It actually growled at me," Ruhl said. He shot off three rounds from his gun, causing the mountain lion to jump a fence and run off. Ruhl was able to retrieve Pumpkin, who was already dead.
Three Game wardens scoured the property and the mountainside later that night searching for the mountain lion.
They returned to the property Friday, where bits of fur were still strewn about Ruhl's backyard. They were unable to find the cat.
Attacks in areas abutting wildlife regions are not uncommon. In 2003, a mountain lion ate a family of pet goats in La Habra Heights near Whittier. In 2007, a mountain lion killed a dog in Altadena. In La Ca ada Flintridge in August, a mountain lion killed a dog.
Troy Swauger, spokesman for Fish and Game, said he did not know the estimated size of the mountain lion or whether the animal was full-grown. But "it was certainly a mountain lion big enough to attack two 70-pound dogs," he said.
Lilly underwent a one-hour surgery Thursday night to treat her injuries. She had several puncture wounds the width of a pencil on her head, shoulders and legs. Ruhl said doctors had to suture part of her fractured skull together.
"Mountain lions have kind of always struck me as the monster under the bridge," Ruhl said. "You know they're there, but you never see one."
He's told four his neighbors about the attack so that they could be aware.
Mike Schaub, one of Ruhl's neighbors, said he spotted a mountain lion a week ago about 25 feet from his front door.
"I looked at him. He was on the bluff. He looked at me and that was pretty much it," said Schaub, whose front door abuts the Angeles National Forest. "He wasn't scared of me at all. He looked like he was ready to come down the mountain."
Schaub said the attack on Ruhl's dogs has made him more aware of the area, which he likened to a zoo.
Ruhl said in the 11 years he's lived in his mountainside home, he's seen wildlife, such as bears, deer and coyotes, weekly.
"We have a really beautiful home up here, but it comes with realities... We've lost several cats. We take that in stride. We've been threatened by wildfires. We take that in stride. We'll take this in stride, too. It's just another lesson learned."
For information about mountain lions, visit
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/keepmewild/lion.html 
