Coyote Encounter
I often take my two male OES for their usual morning walk along the trail through the fields. In the past they usually content themselves with sniffing all of the wonderful smells, tagging all of the good marking places and occasional encounters with my neighbors with their dogs. Toby, my youngest usually wants to play whenever we run into another dog, hopping around and acting out. Charlie sometimes is interested, particularly if the other dog doesn't show him the proper deference as a big 7 year old male sheepdog who knows what he is all about and is an accomplished hunter of rats, snakes and other little critters that come into his yard. As often as not, though, he is only mildly interested in dogs we run into. Yesterday was different. I think the sheepies can smell the coyotes but have never seen them even though I occasionally spot one or both in the distance watching us. This time we were walking on the trail past a low hill, sheepdogs snuffling along with their noses to the ground when suddenly they both froze. I looked up and there was a large coyote, the male, not 50 feet away, standing on the mound. He was as tall at the shoulder as my sheepdogs although more lanky and probably half their 100 lbs weight. The sheepies just stared, frozen in place, not making any sound for once. Toby didn't react as he always does when we run into other dogs. This was different. The coyote was still as well, looking us over. I looked into his eyes and you could see he was utterly unafraid of two big sheepies and a human. I could see that although his face was more slender than a sheepie, his teeth were proportionately larger. I knew that coyotes can run up to 40 mph, fast enough to run down any dog but a few sighthounds like greyhounds. I also know that March and April are about when their one litter of the year is born and that for coyotes living near developed areas, they consider dogs, even large ones, as prey and unless there is a mountain lion in the neighborhood they are the top predator. I had the feeling that he was sizing up the possibility of a sheepdog meal so I decided it was probably time for us to leave. Both dogs followed me without a sound, glancing back at the Coyote as we left. None of them made a sound from the first encounter until we got out of sight. The coyote never moved. |
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| I live in a well-populated suburban neighborhood. Across the street and down the block is a retention pond that is home to a lot of wildlife. A few weeks ago I looked out the window and thought "that is one ugly dog." Turns out it was a coyote, probably heading towards the bush of the pond. He didn't seem too apprehensive walking down the street. Good thing people don't let their dogs loose in my neighborhood. I don't trust coyotes. |
| That must have been a tense encounter--so glad you and your dogs are ok. We have Coyotes around here too and we are well populated. You may have seen the story about the Elephant reserve and the Elephant and her best friend Tara the dog. The reserve is fairly close to us and unfortunately a Coyote killed Tara. Even the elephant couldn't stop it. The Elephant did carry Tara's body back to the elephant barn. That poor elephant is still grieving and spends most of her day every day in the spot where it happened. The Coyotes are getting bad and like you mentioned--very Bold.  |
Good thing your dogs were in tune to their surroundings.  I see coyote in my backyard a couple of times a month, just saw one on Monday. I've been seeing a pair lately as well. We live on a golf course, surrounded by a huge forest preserve and farmland, but beyond that, it's a suburban environment. The coyote here are fairly unconcerned about humans as well, though they do pick up their pace when I come flying out of my back door banging pots and pans.  We try to discourage them from trekking through our yard, as I don't need Oscar picking up some cootie from them.I take a Mag-lite out with me when I walk Oscar after dark, and I call it my "coyote thumper". Laurie and Oscar |
| wow Richard. I'm glad you came away from the encounter without any problems. |
| We have them here too - but it's totally expected. We are rural, have lots of good habitat and a large slough/waterway connecting lakes runs behind us. They howl at night and get my coonhound going! We've lost a chicken to them, but other than that they stay back most of the time. |
| Now that you know about the coyotes, please keep your dogs on leash. Even the best trained dog may decide to challenge or in some moment take off after the coyote. No calling them back and that will be the end of sheepdogs. Coyotes are very common in Phoenix's urban parks where people let their dogs run free. A coyote can out run a dog; distance, speed, time. Poor dogs are run to death or weakened enough the coyote turns and attacks. I've already written about my mother: when she first moved to AZ she noticed this strange dog in her back yard. It was summer, no water, so she filled a bowl with water and took it out to the dog. This went on daily. Soon the dog was at the back door every day asking for water, scratch, scratch. She obliged. She couldn't stand touching dogs........so never tried to touch the strange dog. One day she was busy when the dog came for his drink so she asked her husband to water the dog. He, being an old Wyoming rancher's son responded, "Jane, that isn't a dog, it's a coyote." The "dog" quit coming after that. We have them just down the road here along the irrigation ditches. I don't take my dogs outside the yard anymore.....just too dangerous. In fact I don't walk there anymore either. |
| My dogs are always on a leash when we walk near home. If they weren't, I'm not sure what might have happened. Both dogs seemed to know this wasn't just another dog, although Toby probably would have tried to greet the Coyote eventually. He is not the brightest OES I have had. I was amazed how large the animal was when I saw it up close. I had always thought they were smaller, about the size of a border collie, but this male was every bit as tall as my male sheepdogs's and they are both fairly large for the breed. Big bushy tail and a stare unlike any dog. I have been reading up on Coyotes since. There seems to be evidence that they will try to move large dogs in range of their mates by circling and nipping at the heels much like herding dogs and then gang up on them. Some people think they are trying to play with the dog but adult Coyotes do not play. It is hunting behavior. One goes for a throat hold and the pack eviscerates the dog. Even large fighting dogs like Rottweilers don't fair well against more than one Coyote apparently. I now have a healthier respect for these animals that apparently are all around us. I read that even large cities like San Francisco have Coyotes living in places like Golden Gate Park and the Presidio. Fascinating really. |
sheepiezone wrote: You may have seen the story about the Elephant reserve and the Elephant and her best friend Tara the dog. The reserve is fairly close to us and unfortunately a Coyote killed Tara. Even the elephant couldn't stop it. The Elephant did carry Tara's body back to the elephant barn. That poor elephant is still grieving and spends most of her day every day in the spot where it happened. I've seen the video of the elephant and her dog and it saddened me to read this. I feel so sorry for the elephant. |
| coyotes are like rats around us. We are out in farm area and across from a park so great hunting grounds for the coyotes. The farmers around us shoot them if they come across them and the DEC doesn't regulate or ticket for killing them. At night in the spring and summer you can hear them yelping inside the house. Not that I like killing things but if I saw one around our area I'd call my brother in law or cousin to "fix" the issue. I have a "small" 45 lb rescue and barn cats that are great mousers that I would hate to lose. |
Paula O. wrote: sheepiezone wrote: You may have seen the story about the Elephant reserve and the Elephant and her best friend Tara the dog. The reserve is fairly close to us and unfortunately a Coyote killed Tara. Even the elephant couldn't stop it. The Elephant did carry Tara's body back to the elephant barn. That poor elephant is still grieving and spends most of her day every day in the spot where it happened. I've seen the video of the elephant and her dog and it saddened me to read this. I feel so sorry for the elephant. That was one of the saddest segments I ever saw, I hope she can find another animal to love some day. I had seen also when the dog had to be confined because she was sick. The elephant stood outside the infirmary until they could be reunited. They say animals don't think and feel, don't ever believe that. |
| Reading that had me on pins and nails until I got to the end. I was scared something happened. |
rfloch wrote: I have been reading up on Coyotes since. There seems to be evidence that they will try to move large dogs in range of their mates by circling and nipping at the heels much like herding dogs and then gang up on them. Some people think they are trying to play with the dog but adult Coyotes do not play. It is hunting behavior. One goes for a throat hold and the pack eviscerates the dog. Even large fighting dogs like Rottweilers don't fair well against more than one Coyote apparently. I now have a healthier respect for these animals that apparently are all around us. I read that even large cities like San Francisco have Coyotes living in places like Golden Gate Park and the Presidio. Fascinating really. We live on the edge of the desert. We routinely hike the open desert trails with our dogs. The story we hear all too often is about the coyotes getting someone's dog to chase them back to where the pack awaits. Worse is to hear it and we have too often. We've fired gun shots but in the dark you just can't get out into the box canyon they use quickly enough to save the dog. But hearing it is awful. Recently three coyotes started triangulating my husband and the two dogs while they were on their morning walks. My husband started hiking with an air gun, but that just scared our dogs. So we've taken a hiatus from open desert hikes. In the last month, we have had three occassions where we have found 'yotes up against the fence in our yard trying to either get in - or to entice our aging girls to come out to join them. It's a great enough concern that our dogs are no longer allowed the luxury of having free reign through the dog doors when are not home. And we have a completely fenced yard with no yote food source, other than our dogs in the yard. It's been a good couple of years for the 'yotes. They have had a decent food supply and seem to be bigger, in better shape and there are more of them. So I'm not surprised they are getting more aggressive in getting food. And these seem to be unafraid of people too. I have started keeping a loaded gun and a large flashlight by my front door. If I were you, I'd find some place else to walk your dogs. Yotes are cunning. I NEVER thought they would come into my front yard and stalk my dogs behind our fence. Good luck! |
| Years ago I was the steward of our local offleash dog park. While the city was doing the yearly cleanup they came across evidence of a coyote den (yes in the middle of the dog park!) and came to inform all of us about coyote behavior. This is what I remember from that conversation. If you see one in front of you...changes are very high that you also have one behind you. This apparently is one way they sometimes hunt an animal. The animal will hear the one behind and turn their head and the one in front will then attack the neck. Coyotes will usually send a female in heat to attract dogs to chase her while the remaining pack will then pounce on the dog who is then isolated away from other dogs or his humans. They will also entice dogs to chase them and again then attack the single dog as a team unit. Dogs will "smell" wild animal instead of view coyotes as a fellow canine. Small dogs and cats are especially vunerable to coyotes. Coyotes tend to hunt more at dusk. If you come across one with your dog - pick up your small dog, hold on to your larger dog. Retreat slowly and make a lot of noise. We have many in our city so that I've seen them numerous times walking down city streets at dusk. Still, I can't help but admire them (from a distance of course) as they can't help who they are and often humans have encroached on their land with new developement that they and humans are bound to clash. However, saying that I would even be more sad if a pet is lost to a coyote. The story of Tara and the elephant is heartbreaking. I'm so glad you and the boys are okay. My heart was pounding when I read your post. |
| we're dealing with a coyote problem in our neighborhood in Atlanta! We've seen several walking up the middle of the street in broad daylight. One approached me while I was doing yard work-- I had Tonks and Luna with me. I thought it was a stray or lost dog, and told the girls to do a sit stay while I went to the gate to see if could lure in to me. That's when i saw it had someone's long haired cat in it's mouth. I've since joined several concerned neighbors in contacting a trapper. In the weeks we've been trying to arrange the trapping, we've lost 4 cats that we know of. My own indoor-outdoor cat has been strictly indoor and hating it. I'll be glad when the trapping is done and the neighborhood can return to "normal". |
| Oh gawd Allison I would have lost it right there seeing someones pet in the coyotes mouth. What a terrible sight to have viewed! Several years ago the newspaper had a story of new developement in an area and the construction crew came apon a den which had numerous cat collars. I can't get that image out of my mind and I didn't even see it. Please stay safe Richard as well as your two boys. Marianne |
| They can be very dangerous especially in packs. Very sad story of a girl that was killed here in Nova Scotia. http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20091028/coyote_attack_091028/ |
SheepieBoss wrote: I've already written about my mother: when she first moved to AZ she noticed this strange dog in her back yard. It was summer, no water, so she filled a bowl with water and took it out to the dog. This went on daily. Soon the dog was at the back door every day asking for water, scratch, scratch. She obliged. She couldn't stand touching dogs........so never tried to touch the strange dog. One day she was busy when the dog came for his drink so she asked her husband to water the dog. He, being an old Wyoming rancher's son responded, "Jane, that isn't a dog, it's a coyote." We have them just down the road here along the irrigation ditches. I don't take my dogs outside the yard anymore.....just too dangerous. In fact I don't walk there anymore either. Haven't seen the two coyotes for the past few days. It's been raining pretty heavy though so maybe they are laying low. I DID see a new sign on a telephone pole in my neighborhood that reads," FOUND: 2 Dogs". No. Can't be... Your mother doesn't live near me does she, Susan? |
| I haven't heard coyotes up here since the first summer, 2004, when we moved here. My next door neighbor said there was a pack in his back yard this winter but I didn't believe him, no sounds and no sightings plus there was remains from hunting that Butchy found but the coyotes would have eaten. Last night it started. Just after dark I could hear them yipping and howling, don't know how close they were but they sounded close. At 5:00 this morning it was horrendous, I don't know how many there were and almost sounded like a couple outside our place, couldn't see anything but it just went on and on. Last night Butchy just looked at me like what's going on, this morning he barked but he does that if he hears anything unusual. Now I am afraid to put him out, don't worry, he will be guarded but don't remember worrying about that when I was a kid and lived on a farm up here. I know they were around, they've been hunted forever up here but the packs keep growing. Might have to get some shells for the gun, can't hit the broad side of a barn, nor would I want to, but it might run them off. I hate guns so that's going some for me. |
That's scary!  I hope they don't settle in and become trouble near you. Knock on wood - ours have not been up close all winter or into this spring. With lambing season coming up in mid-April, we always worry. Having the llamas does give some reassurance - they are super alert and protective. But we still don't tempt things - we now keep the back barn door closed and keep them all penned up until everyone is old enough and fully mobile.  |
| Talked to the other neighbor next door and he said there have been a lot around here. Sure don't know how we missed them but we won't anymore. Can imagine how scary it is with the sheep and other animals you have. |
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