Those with dogs in coyote areas

[dalpal]

I have been taking my dogs to the lake trail now for about six months (we just moved to the lake area).

Its a nice trail that alot of folks let their dogs off leash as no one uses it…other than hunters during hunting season.

I ran into my first coyote today. I was lucky the dogs chased him, but came back. I saw him slink up a hill, watch us briefly, then duck into the woods, I could hear a frantic bark in the area that we were in…so I leashed up and got the dogs out of there.

Husband thinks I’m crazy to say…that’s it…no more lake trail. I’m scared they will get lured into a coyote pack.

Can I get input from folks with coyote experience?

[ReSomething]

We have Coydogs here, that’s the cross bred, I’ve never seen one but we hear them a lot. I don’t worry about my dog running off to join the pack - first he’s neutered, second we work on his recall a lot, he has all his shots so there’s no fear of disease and he lives in a secure pen when not under direct supervision.

I’d be more worried about him flushing a deer and running off ignoring his recall, running so far he is out of my voice range and then getting lost - but that’s excitement - he has a pack with us, without sex there’s no reason for him to change it and if he drives off the interloper coyotes then his knowledge of his territorial boundaries must be strong. I wouldn’t worry myself.

The coydogs are hybrids, so the dogs weren’t neutered or spayed, and were probably not kept up/well bonded, or might even have been dumped.

[dalpal]

Mine are fixed…I’m not worried about them joining a pack…I’m worried that they would be lured into a pack and killed. All three are 70 plus pound dogs. Mine have recalls…but today, they chased…they did come back, but it was enough to give me the Willies…especially knowing that there was at least two coyotes.

I have read that Coyotes have been known to lure dogs into the pack and kill them (saw this on the AZ wildlife site). Has anyone found this true.

[Guin]

We have them here in very suburban Boston. My husband had both dogs out one morning about a month ago, and the Corgi took off chasing a coyote. My husband and big dog scared it off. Fortunately our big dog was on a leash or there would have been bloodshed.

It wouldn’t stop me from walking my dogs anywhere but I would ALWAYS have them on a leash.

[Guin]

“I have read that Coyotes have been known to lure dogs into the pack and kill them (saw this on the AZ wildlife site). Has anyone found this true.”

Yes, this is true. They will send a single coyote out of the pack to “play” with a small dog and get it closer in to the pack so they can eat it.

[MistyBlue]

Coyotes, wolves, dingos and other wild or feral canines may try to remove other canines as food competition but it’s extremely rare for canines to target other canines as a food source unless they’re starving.

Coyotes may go after dogs for the same reasons they may go after fox…removing another predator that eats the same prey as they do. It’s a territorial/competition issue.

I’ve always had dogs and not only do I live in a coyote-dense area, I rehabbed coyotes for decades so also had them contained on property where my dogs also lived. And for years had a handful of past “guest” coyotes hang out here more than not, often with my dogs. Not a dog was lured, eaten or ganged up on. I’m in New England, coyotes can be different in other areas but still aren’t prone to targeting other predators as food. (not nutritionally dense nor tasty)

FWIW, leaving unattended small canines/cats outside in an area that may have coyotes and/or having them off leash in forest/woods areas is similar to wearing a birdseed hat in a bird sanctuary and wondering why the birds keep pecking at your head. Or wearing a sardine necklace in the ocean and wondering why the barracuda follow you everywhere. If we inhabit their areas…we take precautions with the animals we introduce to that area. :winkgrin:

Just keep your dogs leashed, you’ll all be fine.

[Bluey]

About 15+ years ago I told our then new neighbor that he needed to fence his dog in or the coyotes would lure it and kill it.
He said that one evening, his wife heard their four month old border collie puppy screaming, walked out the door running, just in time to see one coyote running off dragging the puppy into the brush and several more coyotes come out of the brush and jump on it.
They never found their puppy.

They built a fence and kept their next dog in, then bought a pair of great pyrenees to guard the house and within a month one disappeared also, the other a few months later.

Around here, any unsupervised or not penned up dog tends to end as wildlife snack, mostly killed by coyotes.

Here is one coyote I raised when the litter was gassed and killed and somehow was still alive when I happen by:

[fivehorses]

I have heard the same, about a coyote luring a dog out and then the pack surrounding and ganging up.
Why, is it kill the competition? Hunger?,

I am very cautious with my dogs, and they are good about recall.
But, if I hear coyotes, dogs go in the house. I don’t want any issues.

I would keep my dogs on a leash unless you can ensure their recall. Electronic collar would help in that training if you really want them off leash.

[cowboymom]

I’ve watched a pack of coyotes try to lure a dog out… the dog knew better and stayed close to the tractor that he was determinedly following in circles around the hay field but he was scared… the “bait” coyote would approach him and bow down as if s/he was trying to play and flirt and pester and Angus wouldn’t go… they spend all day pestering him as he followed the round baler. Those coyotes were doing it mostly for fun; the dog was an old hound dog that was just out in the field that they usually controlled.

I’ve always lived in the middle of coyotes and more recently, wolf packs. I just make sure my dogs come when they’re called, no matter what, and have had no issues with them being attacked or even baited, to my knowledge. The dogs I’ve seen in the vet clinics that got attacked were unsupervised, either out alone or ran away from their owners. My GP stays close to the house and doesn’t range out far enough to get out-numbered; if he ran free range I would worry about him a lot, especially since I hear the wolves nearly every night of a full moon.

What I worry about more than anything when the coyotes are thick is parvo.

[catzndogz22]

My neighbor lost her 6 month old, 45 pound, Ridgeback puppy to coyotes a few years ago. She (the puppy) was in the company of several fully grown Ridgebacks at the time, but had wandered a little bit away from her pack.

[wendy]

don’t let them chase the coyotes and you’ll be fine. If you don’t have a good enough recall to call them off game, you should keep them on leash until you establish that level of training.
Coyotes are pretty much everywhere these days- even in cities- so trying to hide from them won’t work.

[Guin]

Around here, cats and small dogs are Coyote Snax. A half-mile from me, a woman let out her little fluffy yapper, and a coyote came right into her back yard and took the dog off for breakfast. This is not a lone occurence.