MILL CREEK, Wash. -- A couple who said they were attacked by a mountain lion, were instead attacked by their own pit bull, said Bruce Richards, an agent for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

About a month and a half ago, the couple said they were attacked by a mountain lion near a Puyallup home, Richards said. The couple was so badly hurt that they were in the hospital.

When wildlife agent Richards went to visit the couple in the hospital, he said they were “ripped to pieces.” He said, “We’re talking a major mauling on two people.”

Richards took a tracking dog, Mishka, to the couple's house in an attempt to locate the mountain lion, but no trace was found.

Instead, Mishka led agents back to the couple's house and to the couple's pit bull inside the home. Richards said when he looked in their house he saw a white dog covered in dried blood.

The agents credited their tracking dog, Mishka, with preventing the department from spending hundreds of search hours, thousands of dollars in resources and saving the public a lot of turmoil for a mountain lion that didn’t exist.

The wildlife agents would not say why the couple said they were attacked by a mountain lion.

The Pierce County Sheriff's Office says no charges were filed against the couple. No word has been released on what happened to the dog.