I don't know that I have ever seen a cougar/mountain lion in the flesh. I guess my notion of their size was that they were the size of typical dog, like a labrador. I'm pretty sure they are considerably larger than I assumed. These two were bigger than any dog I can think of, aside from the exceptionally large Great Dane or Saint Bernard. They seemed almost as large as I picture lions being. Crazy. I hope I never encounter one on a hiking trail some day. What are you supposed to do? I don't really know. I did a search and found this intriguing story. Read at your own discretion; it is a little graphic. His story comes with a cool testimony :) How to Survive a Cougar Attack by Christopher Ketcham.