Coyotes!?

There are hundreds of coyotes where I live. They really aren't that bad. Where I used to live, they'd come right into our back yard. One night I even slept in the tent in the backyard so I got to be really close to them. My dad didn't like them in the backyard, so he'd let Leather and Stitch (my old dog) out into their pen and they'd scare the coyotes away. Even in huge packs, they are pretty afraid of dogs.

Coyotes are extremely smart, and don't generally go around humans. They are the smartest of the canids, which is why there are so many of them and why they are extremely difficult to catch with a trap.

A lot of it is an encroachment issue. We encoarched upon their land (especially a problem here) and they moved to look for food. By and large they aren't dangerous to humans, but no one told them that our cats and small dogs were pets, to them they are no different than the animals they used to hunt on THEIR land, before we took it....

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Originally posted by luckies4me
Coyotes are not as bad as people think they are. And after all, THEY were there first, not US! :rolleyes:

For you to say you would just go borrow your neighbors gun makes me so angry, it is the stupidiest comment I have heard in a long time. Coyotes usually leave dogs alone and people.


If a coyote killed a small dog or cat of mine, would I be pissed? NO. Why? Because they were there first and if we hadn't had encroached on their habitat and destroyed it making them have to move into cities to look for food it wouldn't happen.

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I took just a few to explain myself, or express MY opinion for.

Coyotes may not be bad, and I understand they were here first. As I said IF they were to touch my dogs, I WOULD borrow my neighbor's gun. I WOULD NOT just let some wild animals, come in my backyard and kill my dogs, if they would even do so. That is wahy I said IF.

You wouldn't be upset is a coyote killed one of your animals!? I'd be outraged, If my dogs can't be safe in their backyard without some animal, which they would think is a dog and would want to play with it.

As for it being the stupidest comment, That I would PROTECT my animals, the ones that I HAVE brought to live with me -- In my opinion, you have surpassed that. ;) :rolleyes: :)

It's not my fault i'm here, it's not my fault that we have 'enroached on their territory' -- I can't apologize what I would do naturally, if needed.

I mean, Would you let a wild Coyote attack or maybe kill Dylan? Because that's exactly what Simba and Nala are to me -- My children.
P.s. Sorry if I spelt your son's name wrong. :p

My apologies, kafamr, if I am one of those who offended you. I forgot for just a moment that you don't post to pettalk for discussion but to express your unwavering opinion. My apologies, I wont make the mistake of presenting my differing, albeit knowledgeable in this regard, opinion.

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Originally posted by babolaypo65
My apologies if I am one of those who offended you. I forgot for just a moment that you don't post to pettalk for discussion but to express your unwavering opinion. My apologies, I wont make the mistake of presenting my differing, albeit knowledgeable in this regard, opinion.

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Um well, you say sorry for offending me, but then you go and offend me? :mad: :(

Anyone can express their opinion towards mine, but, if they're going to say i'm stupid for it -- Then why wouldn't I explain myself?

No need for you to apologize, as It wasn't your post who I quoted in the first place. :rolleyes:

we have LOTS of coyotes around here. I'm terrified to bring Kai to the park. I tend to take him around 4-5 while the sun's still out and lots of people are there. I guess I don't really have to worry about one taking them away because my dogs are never off leash (since I have no control over kai offleash)...so the moment I spot one, he's in my arms :p

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Originally posted by Kfamr


You wouldn't be upset is a coyote killed one of your animals!? I'd be outraged, If my dogs can't be safe in their backyard without some animal, which they would think is a dog and would want to play with it.

As for it being the stupidest comment, That I would PROTECT my animals, the ones that I HAVE brought to live with me -- In my opinion, you have surpassed that. ;) :rolleyes: :)

I mean, Would you let a wild Coyote attack or maybe kill Dylan? Because that's exactly what Simba and Nala are to me -- My children.
P.s. Sorry if I spelt your son's name wrong. :p

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If ANY animal were attacking any of my pets or my son you are damn right I would do something about it. I would try something else, no matter if that meant me getting bit in the process. It it were Dylan I would probably do ANYTHING for him because he is my flesh and blood and my SON. I would try not to harm the animal but I would do what needed to be done.


The way I read it was like you were trigger happy, not knowing how coyotes act and automaticaly assume they were going to attack your dogs. Sorry if I interpreted it differently. I can understand trying anything to help your animals. That is common sense...........it just sounded different to me. More likely, your dogs would get a big piece out of the coyote and it would be the wild animal that would need protecting.


And I never said I wouldn't be upset if a wild animal got to my dogs, I said I wouldn't be pissed. Because they do not know better, it's their nature and what they do. Of course I would be devestated, but I wouldn't let it happen in the first place. If I lived where coyotes were around my dogs would NEVER be left outside alone, never giving the animal a chance to do harm.

Maybe I am just in a bad mood today, I don't know.

Oh and your spelt my son's name right. ;)

You read it wrong.


I'm not "trigger happy" - Or whatever. I'm just saying, If needed I WOULD shoot the coyote. Maybe even just shoot into the air. Probably not even I would do the shooting, I'd have my neighbor do it. He hunts every year, so he knows how to use a gun.

If I saw a coyote walking down the street, I would put my dogs to safety and call animal control. If I saw them attacking my dogs in my backyard, I would do something about it.

And. My dogs would not know better than to want to play with them. It is in their nature, and they wouldn't know if this thing was going to attack them or not. That's why I said IF in my first post.

Sorry, it's something I've noticed before. this is just the first time it's gotten my ire. You are very strong in your opinions, and sometimes you just want support for them, not to consider changing them. It's your right certainly.

Consider this done, I really dont want to argue.

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Originally posted by Kfamr
Um well, you say sorry for offending me, but then you go and offend me? :mad: :(

Anyone can express their opinion towards mine, but, if they're going to say i'm stupid for it -- Then why wouldn't I explain myself?

No need for you to apologize, as It wasn't your post who I quoted in the first place. :rolleyes:

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Well then I must have read it wrong. I also felt that a child need not have a gun for any reason!

Now lets all stop bickering and move on. I am sorry if I offended you. Simba and Nala are sweet dogs and I can understand you wanting to protect them. :)

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Anyone can express their opinion towards mine, but, if they're going to say i'm stupid for it -- Then why wouldn't I explain myself?

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Kayann, I never said YOU were stupid. I said the comment was stupid...........not stupid, more like a little extreme. But that is my opinion, and yes we can all think what we want.

We have hundreds of coyotes and coy-dogs around here. At my parents house you can hear them howling at nite. When I had Shaianne I couldn't tie her to the tree at nite to potty and now with Keegan, I try not to let her go out of the lite of the secuirity lite. In the county where my parents live, they are hunted. And that is all I am going to say in the matter, I do not plan to discuss it further, just so anyone knows, before someone tries to blister me. My dad does not hunt them, noone in my family hunts.
My aunt and uncle have an outside Lab/GR mix and she runs all over the 100+ acres of their farm with no problems. They also have about 20 cats. Some of them may come up missing, I am not for certain. But as with outside cats anything can happen.
The coyotes are big around here, probably close to 50 pounds but a lot of them are mixed.
I live in town about a block away from the country (can walk to the end of my alley and see fields, this country girl likes that!!!) and on a clear night, if I stand out in my yard, I can hear them howling to each other.
Up where Amy lives (Cincy's mom) in Toledo they have them
downtown, I remember seeing on the news one running thru the streets. There have also been cases up there where people let their little dogs out to potty at night and the coyotes came up and snatched it, before the people could do anything. Kinda like Ozzi! :(

We have coyotes here, but not many, or at least they stay well-hidden. I've never seen one in Utah, but my mom saw one on the street a few months ago. You'd think we'd see them more, as we're right up against the mountains.

I think it's unfortunate that these incidents between coyotes and people occur, as it's really not the coyotes fault. They aren't doing things out of evil or anything, just doing what comes naturally.

If I lived in an area where coyotes were abundant and frequently found in the cities, I'd certainly be more careful about letting my dogs out. I'm sure I wouldn't let them out alone, especially at night. Though I wouldn't be carrying a gun around either.

Maybe I'm strange, but I envy any of you that have had the chance to hear the howl of a coyote (or wolf!) at night, that's something I'd love to experience.

Oh I just remembered a little experience I had last week. We visited a friend of ours who owns a large patch of land. She told us that lots of coyotes live around her area. She said that sometimes, they wait outside her fence...she spotted one a couple days before we visited. We were outside enjoying the night when I heard the coyotes running and then a howl after. I was freaked out! Not for my safety but for Kai and Kaedyn's...who knows what might pop out of one of her many blue berry bushes and snatch kai or kae.

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I kind of feel sorry for coyotes because the only reason why they are the way they are is because of people encroaching on them and forcing them to live in close residency to people. People's pets get picked off because they are roaming, which they really shouldn't be doing anyway, and there is no natural food available to the coyotes. In most cases, wild animals prefer their natural diet, but if the natural diet is removed they have to resort to unnatural diet and scavanging. Coyotes have learned to do this from years and years of encroachment. It is a sad and potentially scary situation for anyone

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I agree. Coyotes, in their wild and natural state, will do almost anything to avoid having any contact whatsover with a human. I live in Wyoming, and we have quite a few coyotes, although not nearly so many as before people trapped them in leghold traps, poisoned them, dug pups out of burrows and drowned them, ran them to death with snowmobiles, etc.

If you love your domestic dog, admire his qualities, intelliegence and personality ... then it is more than a little hypocritcal to hate coyotes. A coyote and a domestic dog can inter-breed and have puppies together - that is how closely related they are. Coyotes act, think, react and live almost exactly like domestic dogs would, in the same situations. Coyotes are smart, funny, playful, loving parents, loyal to their pack members, shy and useful. Coyotes natural diet is mice, rabbits, lizards, etc. - not dogs and cats. I'm not saying a coyote whose territory was overrun by a new subdivision won't eat a cat or tiny dog to keep her pups from starving ... but it is NOT the norm.

If you have never seen a coyote up close, I can almost guarantee you are overestimating a coyote's size and strength. They are actually very small. The only dogs a coyote might be able to kill would be a chihuahua, yorkie, etc. - something less than ten pounds for sure.

It really, really irritates me when people who know absolutely nothing about an animal are so quick to give their almighty, always-right opinion about what that animal can or can't, will or won't do, and what should be "done with" that animal. (Before anyone gets all upset here, I'm not addressing this to anyone in particular.) Think of the root of the word "prejudice" ... PRE-judgement - judging before having the facts. Doesn't matter whether it is prejudice towards a race of humans, a breed of domestic dog, or a species of wild animal ... if you don't know what you are talking about, do some research, ask some questions and learn the facts before spouting off your opinion - which will probably be wrong.

If you are interested in learning more about coyotes, I recommend a book called "God's Dog" by Hope Ryden. She did years of research on coyotes, living near them and watching them. Very interesting, and heartbreaking book.

Twisterdog, as always you took the words right out of my mouth!!!