City Boy Coyote Question

[Cupcake]

Uhhh, like, how do I know if a dog chasing my dog in the woods is a coyote or someones' dog?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[SleepingZ]

You shoot it, and take it to the Game Warden, and have him give you his professional opinion.

Maybe Google "coyote" and get a visual to see if its what's been chasing your dog?


Z

[Rock and Glock]

Here are some pictures of coyotes:



Note the long, thin nose.



Note the fuzzy, long tail



Note the fuzzy, long tail



Note the feet and the tawny coats

Coyotes consider it a great sport for one or two to draw a dog out for the pack to then attack. I'd study up on some resources to learn about coyote behavior. Pack animals, etc.

From WikLivestock and pet predation

Coyotes are the most abundant and often considered the most serious livestock predators in the western United States, causing the majority of sheep, goat and cattle losses.[6]

Coyotes will typically bite the throat just behind the jaw and below the ear when attacking adult sheep or goats, with death commonly resulting from suffocation. Blood loss is usually a secondary cause of death. Calves, and heavily fleeced sheep are killed by attacking the flanks or hind-quarters, causing shock and bloodloss. When attacking smaller prey, such as young lambs and kids, the kill is made by biting the skull and spinal regions, causing massive tissue and ossular damage. Small or young prey may be completely carried off, leaving only blood as evidence of a kill. Surplus killing, or killing more prey than can be consumed, is common with many kills not being fed upon. Coyotes will usually leave the hide and most of the skeleton of larger animals relatively intact unless food is scarce, in which case they may leave only the largest bones. Scattered bits of wool, skin and other parts are characteristic where coyotes feed extensively on larger carcasses.[6]

Coyote predation can usually be distinguished from dog or coydog predation by the fact that coyotes partially consume their victims. Tracks are also an important factor in distinguishing coyote from dog predation. Coyote tracks tend to be more oval-shaped and compact than those of domestic dogs, plus, claw marks are less prominent and the tracks tend to follow a straight line more closely than those of dogs. With the exception of sighthounds, most dogs of similar weight to coyotes have a slightly shorter stride. [6] Coyote kills can be distinguished from wolf kills by the fact that there is less damage to the underlying tissues. Also, coyote scats tend to be smaller than wolf scats.[21]

Although it is rare for coyotes to attack humans, coyotes are often attracted to dog food and animals that are small enough to appear as prey. Items like garbage, pet food and sometimes even feeding stations for birds and squirrels will attract coyotes into backyards. Approximately 3 to 5 pets attacked by coyotes are brought into the Animal Urgent Care hospital of South Orange County each week, the majority of which are dogs, since cats typically do not survive the attacks.[22] Scat analysis collected near Claremont, California revealed that coyotes relied heavily on pets as a food source in winter and spring.[18] At one location in Southern California, coyotes began relying on a colony of feral cats as a food source. Over time, the coyotes killed most of the cats and then continued to eat the cat food placed daily at the colony site by citizens who were maintaining the cat colony.[18] Coyotes will usually attack smaller or similar sized dogs, though they have been known to occasionally attack large, powerful breeds such as Rhodesian ridgebacks [23] and Rottweilers.[24] Even with a size advantage, large dogs are usually at a disadvantage against coyotes in physical confrontations, because coyotes have larger canine teeth and are generally more practiced in hostile encounters.[14]ipedia:

[retsupt99]

+

[Cupcake]

You shoot it, and take it to the Game Warden, and have him give you his professional opinion.
Z

Rock'n:

Thanks much not only for the pics and the tutorial, but for also pointing out the differences. I've seen pics before but to be honest, I always thought that they looked just like half the ghetto german shepherd/mutts I've seen.

[SIXTO]

They do look like ghetto shepards, just smaller. They have an odd gait too.

[pgrass101]

They do look like ghetto shepards, just smaller. They have an odd gait too.

Yeah they seem to lope

[Arkie]

"They do look like ghetto shepards, just smaller. They have an odd gait too."

I gotta quit reading so fast. I thought it read Gat vs Gait. I was thinking to myself, Coyotes are armed now? Oh Great, and I suppose they talk about what caliber for man too! LOL.

[Team American]

Coyotes also have the unique ability to "swap ends" if you shoot at them and miss...the head and tail suddenly change ends and the coyote is running in the opposite direction in the blink of an eye...

[HotGuns]

Unless of course its a "Coydog" which is a cross between a coyote and a domestic dog. It makes them bigger, with longer legs, and a more wolflike apprearance. They have little fear of humans whereas a coyote is about as coward as they come.

The fur of the coyote is worth something, the fur of the coydog is worthless. A furrier can telll the difference just by running his hand over it.

[Rock and Glock]

Yeah they seem to lope

A lope is an excellent term - the perfect term to use for their gaits.

Also note the hips and shoulders are almost exactly the same height - it gives them a very rectangular appearance, as contrasted to many USA bred GSD's that have the sloping hips such as this:



Most dogs (except for some specific breeds) generally have broader thicker muzzles.

[Miggy]

Coyotes also have the unique ability to "swap ends" if you shoot at them and miss...the head and tail suddenly change ends and the coyote is running in the opposite direction in the blink of an eye...

And I actually had a visual in my head of this happening
It is too early, I am going back to bed.

[Cupcake]

Excellent info guys. I promise to use my new powers of identification only for good, and never evil.

[ppkheat]

I've seen plenty of coyotes where I live. They'll come to your yard at night and steal your pets, especially puppies. We had so many here at one time, that we contacted the State trapper, and he'd come bait and set traps. With his permission we'd run his traps for him to save him a long drive. We caught a lot of them, apparently the troublemakers, since the problems stopped. I've got one mounted (head) and at the bottom of the plaque it simply says "Ex-Chicken Thief".

I've only seen one coydog though and he was pretty strange looking. His body was classic coyote-looking, but his head looked like a Labrador........Strange ! My neighbor saw him a day or so later too, I havent seen him since.

[swiftyjuan]

When I was stationed at Davis-Monthan AFB (Tucson), a family of coyotes (two adults, three pups) would come to the back gate every morning, and lay about 30 yards out in the field across from the guard shack, and watch the cars come in. When the main rush was finished, they would leave. They seemed to enjoy watching cars?