Strange Coyote Behavior

[N80]

We have lots of coyotes around our place. Sometimes you can hear them howling in all 4 directions at once. But, this weekend we had a weird experience. We had just waked up about 7 am (braod daylight by then) when our Labrador started barking like crazy. We could hear another dog barking just outside. It sounded like a small dog and was barking non stop in a high pitched bark. When I looked out the back door I could just barely see a beige colored 'dog' pacing back and forth looking our way and barking. I have not heard a lot of coyotes bark but as it moved around it looked like a coyote. Tail looked bushy but I never got a clear look at the tail. I ran back inside and got my rifle. When I came back outside it was moving away from me but continued to bark and to keep me in sight. I never got a real clear, full body look at it and I only got it in the cross hairs once. It would have been an ify shot and in the back of my mind I knew my neighbor had recently acquired a stray dog as a pet but had heard it was a short haired dog. Anyway, that second of doubt kept me from pulling the trigger and it finally moved on out of sight and quit barking.

Anyone else seen this sort of behavior in a coyote or have an explanation? My first thought was rabies or distemper but even though it stayed in sight for a while it was fairly wary about maintaining a good 100 yards distance as I approached it. However, most coyotes around here vanish as soon as they see you. Then I thought about puppies but never saw any and that still would not explain why it would sit there and bark at our cabin. Our dog is a male, no nearby dogs in heat.

 

[rekees4300]

Anyone else seen this sort of behavior in a coyote or have an explanation?

Coyotes will send a scout as bait in an attempt to lure a pet dog to chase him. The pet doesn't know the whole pack of coyotes is waiting out of sight to attack him. That is how they kill big dogs. It would be prudent for your Lab to be indoors at night.

 

[Sigarms]

Coyotes will send a scout as bait in an attempt to lure a pet dog to chase him. The pet doesn't know the whole pack of coyotes is waiting out of sight to attack him. That is how they kill big dogs. It would be prudent for your Lab to be indoors at night.

I understand that coyotes are not stupid animals, however in another thread, a member claimed that yotes will send a female in heat out to lure a dog to kill it as well.

Can you humor me and provide any studies where yotes will send another member of the pack in as "bait" to lure a unsuspecting animal back to the pack?

 

[N80]

I have seen pairs of coyote chasing deer (rarely) but never in a coordinated way. In general it is believed that coyotes, at least in this region, do not work in packs at all. I rarely see more than one at a time. So I'm not yet willing to believe in the baiting behavior as a concern here. There is a lot of misunderstanding about coyotes and coyote behavior and a lot of 'mythology' to put it nicely. However, I think the reason for that is because coyotes are very adaptive and I suspect their behavior probably varies widely from region to region. So I'm not saying it is impossible that coyotes work in packs to bait dogs. I'm skeptical. But , maybe they do in some places. Nothing close to that sort of organized behavior here so far, even with calves and deer. When I've seen a pair chasing a deer the one in the rear hardly seems aware of the lead coyote which is usually out of site of it.

 

[oosik]

I lost our first dog, two year old black lab, to a technique the coyotes used. This was spring and into the year comes a young coyote - I'm sure it was a female and she was probably in heat. Our lab was gung-ho on this coyote and followed her down over the hill and into the valley. Three more were waiting down there - I sure hope they enjoyed black lab for breakfast.

 

[dodge man]

I have hear them bark, its different than a dog bark, sometimes more of a yip, but it is common around my house to hear them bark. Its often lost in the background because there is usually several of them howling at the same time also.

 

[95XL883]

N80, I have seen somewhat similar behavior, just without the barking. But I live in suburbia and the yotes here have lost all fear of man. In my instance, there is a vacant tract that had a lone female living in the north part. (I'm guessing it was a female as it was observed to have a pup in its care for a while.) It would watch from a respectful distance. It tried the stare on my GSD a couple of times but my dog is a spayed female so if it was trying to attract it, it just wasn't going to work. Then a couple of males (I'm guessing they were males by there somewhat aggressive demeanor (head up, eye contact, staring, following, stalking), showed up. They also stared but it seemed a more aggressive stare than the lone yote, heads more erect, unflinching when challenged). They followed us for a while and, IMO, were stalking us. One came up from behind while the other flanked us. It got within a couple of yards of me before I was aware of it being there. It darted to the side as I challenged it. Then the other showed up on our left flank. As we were now aware of them, they kept a little distance but clearly didn't want to give up the hunt.

The single may have been looking for a pack to join. The pair were clearly hunting. The single may have been trying to lure my GSD to a meal but I doubt it. The pack seemed more than willing to just move in rather than try to lure my dog away.

 

[beowulf]

More than once I have seen coyotes - three at a time - trying to lure our dogs away. At least that was what it appeared to be to me. If not, I don't have an explanation of what they were trying to do. One would approach in a friendly way, and when our dog would timidly get closer, the coyote would retreat a bit. Then repeat the process. Our dog was moving farther and farther away from safety. I first saw one, then two other coyotes back on each side. It seemed our dog was completely falling for it until I yelled and ran that direction. The coyotes took off.

 

[N80]

Well, in this case, the coyote was barking before my dog ever went outside. All of my neighbors have dogs that live outside and no one has lost one to coyotes. But, they are all large dogs except for one. So, maybe this dog baiting behavior is real (I remain skeptical) but I don't think that was the case here, especially since he stayed in my sight even as I advanced towards him.

And I have heard coyotes bark. Like someone mentioned above it is usually when others are howling. The strange thing, among many, about this one was it was just a constant stream of barks, no howls, broad daylight in early morning.

 

[beowulf]

Yeah, I've heard the barking too. . .barking, yipping, howling - sometimes a real frenzy. But when they were - I assume - trying to lure my dogs away, they were totally quiet. I don't know if the dog baiting is real or not but it sure did look like that was what they were trying to do.