Dogs and Coyotes

   / Dogs and Coyotes #1  

JeremyL

Silver Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2002
Messages
182
Location
Louisville, KY
Tractor
Kubota MX5000 & L3800
We are at our barn most evenings after dark with our 3 small dogs. The smallest dog loves to bark out into the dark void, just to hear herself make noise. We know there are coyotes around having seen them and heard them regularly.

The question I have and have not been able to find any information on is: Does a barking dog attract coyotes or repel them?

I can see them wanting to avoid a confrontation, but also know that they are hunters.

Here is a picture of our daughter's little dog with the big need to bark at The Void.
 

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   / Dogs and Coyotes #2  
Her pretty little dog might be irresistible to the coyotes....beware!
 
   / Dogs and Coyotes #3  
We had coyotes come into our yard after our German Shepard and my son had to shoot the main aggressor possibly the alpha. After that we put our dogs up a bit after dark. My brothers, pen theirs in after losing one to coyotes.

This is just anecdotal l am no coyote expert.
 
   / Dogs and Coyotes #4  
Small dogs and cats beware.Coyotes will take them in a heart beat.Around here they hunt them with Walker's,which are like a log legged beagles.
 
   / Dogs and Coyotes #5  
Her pretty little dog might be irresistible to the coyotes....beware!

Yep, that little Pom is a cutie! I think my next pup will be a Pomeranian. Please keep it safe from the coyotes, they would love to invite it for dinner!
 
   / Dogs and Coyotes #6  
Small dogs and cats beware.Coyotes will take them in a heart beat.Around here they hunt them with Walker's,which are like a log legged beagles.

There are a number of videos on youtube showing guys that hunt coyotes with "decoy" dog's. The first time I watched one of those videos, I thought they (the dog owners) were crazy for letting the coyotes get so close to their dogs and not shooting them. They had rifles, but they just let the dogs spar back and forth with the coyotes for a while, each species trying to get the upper hand, before the guys eventually shoot the coyotes. It took me a while to figure out they were doing all that on purpose! (Yeah, I'm slow lol) This video is a prime example:

A Freep'n Double - YouTube
 
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   / Dogs and Coyotes #7  
I'm thankful for the coyotes around here they keep the rodents down and stray cats that come for my birds.
A small dog may be on the menu but the Shepherd I had for 12 years and 28 lb. poodle spaniel cross would take after as many as 3 at a time and not return for 1/2 hr. so I know they chased them a long way. After the Shepherd past on the poodle thinking he was a Shepherd did the same thing with coyotes and bears for the next 5 yrs. and died of old age. The last dog we had was a small city dog we inherited from an old friend so she was never out side the house out of our site. I was raised in the bush and the rules were you don't shoot it unless you plan on eating it.
 
   / Dogs and Coyotes #8  
Small dogs get taken around here fairly regularly. My vet even witnessed one but couldn't shoot to defend the dog at the time.

Last week my 100 lb German Shepherd, Jack, turned up with a couple of mysterious wounds on his back. The next night I also caught him sneaking back in to the homestead at 3AM (grinning, but sheepish like) through a gate that I hadn't meshed yet. Other than that gate, the whole 2 acre homestead is meshed, and so far the dogs have been kind enough to respect it and not jump it. The area coyotes were very close and active the night of the injury and the following night when I caught him sneaking in.

I took him to the vet to make sure the wounds were just something simple like a fence wound and not some disease process. The vet took a look at the two wounds on either side of his back, spread his hand across them, and said "coyote bite radius". He examined Jack for other injuries and found none. He said that the first wounds a larger dog being pursued by a pack usually gets is on the rear legs. If they get away, that's usually all there is. If the pack gets him down, you'll find other wounds on the body, and finally, killing wounds are on the neck.

My interpretation of the events, and his wounds, is that he left the property to "communicate his displeasure" to the pack about their choice of locale, and that he was the aggressor rather than the victim. I figure one of them jumped on his back and got a bite in while he was otherwise occupied. Indeed, the pack has moved about a mile south now, despite the fact that there are still young calves here.

Here's a pic of Jack waiting to see the vet.

jackvet.jpg
 
   / Dogs and Coyotes #10  
I seriously doubt that a barking dog either attracts or detracts any coyote. The coyotes know the dog is there - its the human presence that might detract them.

I have lost all my cats to either coyotes or owls and a couple of my dogs to coyotes also.

When the dog & I go out in the evening the coyotes start barking/howling within a minuet. And this is from some of the groups that are at quite a distance.

I would not send any sized dog outside at night on their own. Coyotes are masters at attracting dogs - which will become a meal.
 
 
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