A recent Facebook post I saw warned residents of a neighborhood in my city that a dog had slipped his leash on a walk and been ‘lured away’ by coyotes.
I was skeptical. I could not make sense of the concept of luring. It was not stated clearly in that first post, but the implication was that the dog had disappeared—with the assumption, I had to guess, that the dog had been killed and eaten.
I followed the story over the next few days and, frankly, I still have no idea if it was true or a hoax. I will say that social media posts from the supposed owners of the dog have a name attached, so it’s possibly for real. I do know for a fact that there have been multiple sightings in that same vicinity of a single coyote, described as fat and fluffy, trotting around the neighborhood.
I know because I live in that neighborhood and one of those sightings was on the street in front of my house.
Photo by Mary Hayward
I asked animal trainers from across the country what their experiences have been with coyotes, and got some very interesting responses. It’s not just an issue in my city, for sure. Coyotes are and have been a concern for pet owners in many states, and it’s been going on for a long time.
Margaret in California
I was out tracking (my dog was tracking our trainer) when another woman and her Rottweiler came hurrying back from the direction where the track had been laid several hours earlier. She claimed that several coyotes had attacked her dog, but I didn’t see it. It was either January or February when that happened. We took a riding crop and a cane with us, just in case, but saw nothing. We also made enough noise to let them know exactly where we were.
I think experiences will vary a lot, based on where you live and how accustomed to humans the coyotes are. We were tracking in a state park, so no hunting was done there, and there are always people and the food and trash they leave behind. I’ve heard of reliable sources telling of being followed by coyotes while on hikes. I know that coyotes in my sister’s area of Orange County snack on cats regularly, and that they have been known to follow people out walking their dogs.
Kim in California
We’ve frequently had them run through [agility] class in multiples. Quite a few of my clients live above the washes that run through the area and see multiples using the wash system to travel. Right up the street from me, I have a friend who teaches agility classes. He’s had them stand a safe distance from the class and observe. And I’ve sat at his table for dinner and watched two or three of them saunter across the agility field (though not during class.) I also have known of people who’ve been followed through the wash by them.
Cathy in Michigan
They can become rather desensitized/habituated to people and can behave in pretty bold and brazen ways . . . and their climbing skills are impressive!
Kim in California
I’ve seen coyotes try to lure dogs away. Once when I was hiking in Bishop, a single coyote tried to lure my three dogs from me by barking and yipping and acting injured. It was around sunset, and he tried for about two full minutes before trotting off as normally as any other healthy animal. And I wasn’t with all small dogs either. I had a mini poodle, an Airedale Terrier, and an American Pit Bull Terrier.
A friend of mine who was staying in Death Valley for a 5K run had one try to lure her two dogs away by acting flirty and playful. In her case, she was with larger dogs as well: an Airedale and an Aussie. It was early in the morning—about 4:30 a.m.
It does happen, although both of theses incidents I’m talking about happened in very isolated areas. Although we have a ton of coyotes here, I’ve never seen this kind of thing happen in my area, which isn’t so isolated.
I’d always thought coyotes were solitary animals, so the idea that a number of coyotes were working as a group, a pack, concerned me. How many coyotes really were involved in the incident?
Cathy in Michigan
When we see coyotes here (MI) they’re alone . . . in Colorado, when one saw one coyote, there were often two or more in rather close proximity. . . . Is that a ‘pack’?
Kim in California
Why do we often see them in groups of three or even four? I’m in California, and while we do see them by themselves sometimes, we most often see them in small groups.
Do coyotes live in packs, or are they solitary animals? As it turns out, the answer is quite simple:
Dawn in Hawaii
Most of the time the groups you see are families before they split up.
What is a coyote family? It’s a male and female coyote—a breeding pair—along with their pups from the current year and offspring from the previous year, joined by individual coyotes from other groups that have been accepted into the family. The size of the group depends on the amount of food available to sustain it. Adult coyotes can also live outside family groups as solitary individuals.
Why would coyotes attempt to interact with pet dogs? Is that actually ‘luring,’ as the initial post indicated about the incident in my neighborhood? Coyotes can be interested in dogs; dogs can be interested in coyotes. It’s not as if the coyote family is trying to get the dog to join up with the pack, to run away and join the coyote circus, to be jumped into the coyote gang. It may occasionally have something to do with breeding, since it is possible for dogs and coyotes to mate. But in most cases, it’s likely got a lot more to do with simple curiosity about another similar animal.
Do coyotes eat other animals? They do. Coyotes are not vegans.
Do coyotes eat pet dogs and cats? Yes, with great relish, any chance they get.
Are bigger dogs safe from coyotes? Not always.
Do coyotes ‘lure’ dogs away from their owners? No, not if the dogs are safely collared, harnessed, and leashed, and the owner is able to hold onto that leash.
If a dog ‘slipped his leash,’ could he run to a coyote and be caught by that coyote? Of course. That’s why you use properly fitted equipment and practice your emergency recall regularly throughout your dog’s life.
What really happened to the dog in the social media postings? If only he could tell us! It turns out that he was not, as his owners believed, killed and eaten by coyotes. He was turned in to a shelter, where he was scanned for a microchip and subsequently returned to his owners, who reported that after a few stitches at his veterinarian’s office, he was home with them, safe and sound.
Next week, I’ll outline some simple steps you can take to make your home and neighborhood as unattractive to coyotes as possible, in the hope they won’t visit you at all. I’ll also cover dealing with coyotes away from home, whether you’re out walking on city streets or hiking in wild areas. There is no reason to fear coyotes if you do all you can to keep your pets safe.
