Coyotes vs Dogs

This morning I'm lying in the bed trying to sleep and I hear a dog nearby. When I say nearby, I mean likely on our property, probably somewhere within a half a mile or so from the window. The dog is barking. Two quick barks, and then about a 10 second pause, then another two quick barks. This repeated for a while. Sounded like a little dog, more of a yap than a deep bark, but definitely a dog.

The neighbors down the road have a couple small dogs that are always yapping when I drive by their place, but if this was their dogs they were WAY off their property. I'm generally not a fan of errant dogs on our land, so I was paying attention. The barking went on for a few minutes. I was just about ready to get up and get a spotlight and shine it out over our lower pasture where are bulls are to see if I could spot it. About then the tone of the bark changed. It still sounded like a bark sort of, but now it kind of trailed off. It wasn't a distinct "Bark" anymore, more like a bark followed by a kind of whimper. Now, prior to this the sound of the bark wasn't one of alarm or distress, it was just more like a "hello?" bark in the night. This new bark continued for a couple minutes, and I could tell it was the same dog. Then, all of a sudden, the 'bark' turned into a full-blown coyote howl. Following this I heard 3-4 more "songdogs" join in from a distance. Coyotes!

What was interesting about this morning was the one coyote imitating a dog. He was doing a pretty dang good job with his impersonation too! He had me fooled. I concluded that the "barks" were an attempt to call our dogs in to investigate (which they would have if they weren't inside). Once our dogs got close, the coyote would have waited and then ran off towards the other coyotes and led our dogs...straight into an ambush!

Yesterday we had to turn the heat in the house on for the first time, so it's getting colder out at night. Today is colder still. I'm always wary about coyotes when the seasons change, especially when fall/winter starts rolling around. Coyotes are very clever animals and they work as a team.

With the exploding coyote populations in this country, and their increasing ranges, I post this message as a cautionary tale for other pet owners.

We're pretty used to coyotes living out in the country like we do, and I don't get fooled by coyotes very often, but this one this morning sure fooled me.

Watch out for your furry loved ones, it's getting to be that time of year.

Coyotes sound like our Dingo's, very cunning and very smart.

a reply to: Jamie2018

That's doesn't look like any Dingo I've ever seen! That's a Coyote!!

Is that what you guys call a Dingo? I thought Dingo's were brown and looked more like a Heeler.

If that's a Dingo, then I just learned something I did not know!! No wonder you guys have so many problems with them!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That's doesn't look like any Dingo I've ever seen! That's a Coyote!!

It's a Coyote pretending to be a Dingo to lure in other Dingo's

No, it's from an advert in the USA from somebody who picked up what they thought was a stray dog.

I reckon if Coyotes and Dingo's got together they would work together to eliminate Dogs.

a reply to: Jamie2018

OH! Okay, I was confused there for a moment! LOL! Yeah, there's a similar handbill about a guy who found a cat (but it's really an opossum).

Yeah, Coyotes and Dingo's would probably get along famously! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to learn they are closely related. They share a lot of the same behavior, almost identical in many cases. Though, we don't have a whole lot of 'Roo's for prey here in North America! LOL!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I live in the woods. Less than 5 miles away from me they cleared massive amounts of land to build a city.

The wild critters have moved out to my woods, because there is no other place for them to go.

My dogs smell them when they are close ad are very attentive. My Tamar is the coyote alarm. She goes rigid when one is near and she will not leave the porch.

Max, Bellah, and Goliath, are hyper aware, but they are more curious and will venture off the porch, honed in like a heat seeking middle.

I fear for them because they are Huskies and outside of Tamar, their temperament is mild and gentle. They are curious, but amazingly fast. They can catch a rabbit so fast is seems like magic. One minute they are just standing there, the next minute a quick blur, and there is rabbit in their mouth.

Tamar does not like strangers or any other strange critters on her property, and she can be mean as a snake, but is tolerant of those she knows.

Strange thing. My cats have Tamar's personality. They are loving and demanding of people they know and like, but distant and mean to strangers. My cats think they are dogs, so I guess it is not that strange after all.

Coyote are bad out here, but everyone has dogs, and no one has had a personal problem with them. There are plenty of rabbits out here, but I think the donkeys and the wild boar, we have a ton, probably keep them at bay.

I used to think of the wild boar as a nuisance, especially when I would find they had explored my garden, but now I don't mind them being around. They keep the coyote busy.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Yeah, we have coyote problems too. I live in the a Mid-Atlantic state. I understand that coyotes in the U.S. weren’t found east of the Mississippi until they managed to bridge the Mississippi River in the 1930’s (?). Had a scrawny yearling cross my driveway the other morning. They must have large territories because I never see or hear them in Summer, only in Fall. We can’t let our small dogs out at night or they might ‘disappear’. Had a coyote silently approach me within a hundred feet (from downwind) one night as I was walking one of my dogs—saw the eye shine and then a big male stepped into the circle of light from my flashlight. Lots of game around here: rabbits, squirrels, deer, possums, raccoons, groundhogs…. Why they’d want to eat a dog is beyond me.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

We have them here in the Detroit suburbs. They follow the tree lines into neighborhoods along the Rouge, Huron, Raisin, Clinton rivers...which all empty into the Detroit river/Canadian border.

We started seeing them in the West Bloomfield, Oakland County...about 4 yrs back

Looking for small pets, kids...nasty, scrawny things

Peace

I was living in NC a few years ago, and had recently gotten a Toy Australian Shepard puppy who, whenever he had to go, I let him out the front door even though our back yard was fenced (we lived on a cul de sac). One morning about 4:00 he woke me up, so I took him out the front and stood on the porch watching him. Just about that time a movement to my left caught my eye, and there was a coyote--straight as an arrow (which is what they remind me of when they have a target in sight) moving toward my dog. I'm a big guy at 6'4" with a deep voice, and I immediately yelled "HEY!!" at the top of my lungs, and the coyote diverted to the left, at which point I ran and grabbed my dog and then watched the coyote. He went to the intersection where there was a street light, then obviously still hunting trotted around in the intersection for a time, and I went in.

After that incident I saw several more coyotes in the area, and I agree with what has been posted here--they're very smart, they work in packs when they can, they're incredibly opportunistic and will eat whatever they can catch, and they're dangerous--there's a reason most states have a year-round open season on them.

Anyway, after that morning there were no more early morning out-the-front-door trips for the little guy, and he's doing well.

Reminds me of a book I read a few years ago. The Daily Coyote by Shreve Stockton. It's true story/daily diary about a lady that moves from the city to the upper west, Wyoming or Montana if I recall. Any ways, she's a city slicker out west learning the hard out west life. The first spring spring after her first hard and lonely winter she stumbles on a wayward puppy. She takes it in and begins raising it in her small cabin home. Neighbors and new friends tell her it's not a dog, it's a coyote. She ignores their advice to abandon it in the woods or put it down. One morning she wakes up to it latched on to her and growling.

Lesson learned.

It's a quick and easy read. I liked it and this thread reminded me of it.

a reply to: GenerationGap

Interesting. I grew up in Wyoming. Didn't see many coyotes where I was, but you'd see them up towards the Jackson, Yellowstone, area. Coyotes probably wouldn't have survived the cold where we lived.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

We have a very healthy Coyote population here along Sou’coast New England. Many people refer to them as Coydogs since they have an do breed with larger dogs in these parts.
My buddy has a Czechoslovakian long-haired Shepherd bitch that threw a litter of half-breeds some years back. They all ended up getting put down.
Over the years I’ve shot more than a dozen Coyote’s behind the house.
We had this beautiful brindle pup mutt that I rescued from highway traffic and one night my daughter went to get her from the kennel and when she opened the back of the garage to get the dog there were 7-8 Coyote’s surrounding the kennel. They ran off as soon as the lights came on but that encounter kind of rocked me.
One year it was so bad that I had to set up two 500w floodlights on a stand and shine them down the hill into the large pine grove we have (we have a bit more than 3 acres of woods).
Every time we let the Shepard (Kobi) out at night I had to turn on the floods and stand on the back deck with a 12g.
Like you, I have to pay attention because they roam the area hunting cats and trying to lure out dogs.
I have a pic of my old Shepard nose to nose with a Coyote
down in the grove.
Good thing Kobi was trained like he was because that bitch was trying to lure Kobi into the woods by playing with him.
Coyotes are crazy smart, crazy smart!
They circle back and forth in the wood around the house just beyond the light, calling back and forth.

We often have a large pack that dens up around here during the Fall and stays throughout the Winter.
It’s eerie to hear them running a deer out in the huge swamps that extends for miles down back.


Great OP FCD, as usual.

Thanks........😎

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Im in CO for a short time longer.....my house backs to open space and we have lots of coyotes around. I know their bark really well - very distinct from all the dogs arounds. I hear them every night. I actually love hearing them There are lots of trails around too.....you never go on a walk/run/hike w/out a weapon because the coyotes around here will attack if you come up on them.

The Coyotes here in North Idaho are used to being shot at, so they give humans a wide berth.

Coy-wolves have been a bigger problem here... the reintroduction of timber wolves has led to cross-breeding.

We had a very brazen coy-wolf, that was taking our birds in broad daylight for months. I could never get a clear shot at the stupid thing. The moment I grabbed my rifle, he would see me and haul a$$. One of our neighbors finally took it down a few months ago. We probably lost a dozen birds to that one hybrid.