VICTORIA -- The West Shore RCMP are crediting one of their officers with protecting a woman and her child from a dog attack.

Mounties say they received a report Thursday afternoon that a stray dog was attacking a small child near the intersection of Glen Lake Road and Monnington Place in Langford.

An officer arrived and found a large dog growling and lunging toward a woman and her three-year-old son. The woman put her son on the roof of a car to prevent the dog from biting him.

The dog bit through the woman’s rain boot but did not injure her, according to police.

The woman tried unsuccessfully to throw sticks at the dog to scare it away, police said in a statement Monday.

The officer on scene retrieved a leash from his police vehicle and was able to leash the dog.

The animal has been surrendered to Capital Regional District animal control officers who are following up on the incident.