Coyotes

[Pomp]

Not sure if the 'health care' forum is the best place to do this, but preventing my dogs from being eaten by a coyote would be good health, no?

Anyway, my neighbor spotted a coyote walking across my driveway yesterday. I have two beagles and they play in the backyard, which is fenced in. Most of the time, I just let them out and let them have fun unsupervised. But, the coyote spotting freaks me out a tad.

I've done some preliminary coyote research, and I see wolf urine recommended as a repellent.

Any thoughts on coyotes and dogs?

[HayleyMarie]

Hmm. Well I am thinking your Beagles should be fine.

What I would be worried about is your dog following a coyote and then the pack ambushes your dogs.

But if they are fenced in I doubt the Coyote will try and jump it to get your dogs, especially if there are two of them. If you are too worried about that you can supervise them while they are outside. See if you spot the coyote again, Who knows, maybe he was just walking through.

But one coyote is not that big of deal they dont weigh a great deal. A coyote is not a match for my scottish terrier.

I live on a farm in coyote territory and what we do every spring and summer is shoot a coyote and leave their body in the middle of the field. That keeps them away as well as a big dog

[hankster]

As you can see from the signature Hankster hates coyotes and goes after them, then when he gets close he goes into herding mode to drive them off. He was year old when I got him and prior to being picked up he had obviously been lose for a quite a while and so had been competing with coyotes for food. He has been bitten 3 times when going after packs, once in my yard (live in a rural area without fenced yards and a lot of coyotes). One coyote breaks off and tries to sneak around and get behind him. The coyote then charges and tries to hamstring him.

Size of coyotes depends on where you live. Mountain coyotes are much bigger up to 50lbs.

During daylight hours one coyote and two dogs probably fine. After dark the balance tips more in favor of coyotes. Hankster is never loose after dark.

If you live well into an urban area it was probably a coyote just wandering through. May sure that you and your neighbors do not have anything that will attract coyotes such as dog food easily accessible.

[Pops2]

also complain to ACO & your WM agency A LOT until they trap it/them. do everything you can to reduce or eliminate food most common food sources garbage, rodents, loose cats & deer.

[Pomp]

Appreciate all the advice.

HaleyMarie, leaving the coyote body in the field reminds me of a mob hit. Hang the body up on a lightpost to serve as an example for others.

I'm also taking the advice to supervise them a bit more when they're outside, especially at night. The good thing is that beagles are quite vocal outside, so they get your attention when something's up.

[Renee750il]

I would not leave them in the backyard unsupervised unless it is in the middle of the day, and even then, with an ear out for anything.

Coyotes have been known to jump, climb, and tunnel under fences and -- if yours are anything like ours here -- a beagle is a good size for a safe snatch-and-go snack

[Maura]

Coyotes that get close to your house, unless you've had sudden urbanization and the coyotes have nowhere to go, are probably coydogs. Coyotes are not big canids, and hunt small game. They rarely hunt in packs unless it is a mother and her cubs. However, coydogs will pack up. Your beagles are probably safe if for no other reason than they are noisy. When a dog barks it interrupts the stalking pattern of the wolf or coyote by distracting them. But, I'd keep the dogs in at night.

[Romy]

Coyotes absolutely will eat your dogs.

They will climb your fence.

They will hunt in packs.

They will hunt in daylight.

They will bring down large game (deer, calves, etc.)

We had a pack of coyotes trying to bait my borzoi puppy into following them for a few months. One evening I heard the most gosh awful demon sound coming from our dog pen. One of them climbed the fence, into the pen with two wolfhounds (Borzoi) . That would be one 70 lb. wolf eating dog, and one 85 lb. wolf eating dog. It escaped wounded, but was later found dead by a neighbor. Two beagles are like popcorn to a coyote.

I wouldn't let them be out unsupervised with coyotes in the neighborhood. This is the time of year the youngsters are out and learning to hunt as well, so you're likely to encounter larger groups of them.

Coydogs happen, but they aren't as common as people make them out to be. Coyotes would rather eat a dog, the chances of a well fed coyote encountering a bitch in season or an intact dog encountering a well fed coyote bitch in season aren't really that great. From what I've seen around here, there is one obvious coydog and he's been sort of ostracized from the main pack. They get together to hunt dogs sometimes because he speaks "dog", but other than that he's always alone and they're always together.

The suburban coyotes where I grew up and in downtown Tucson definitely never looked like they had dog blood in them.

Edit: and I once saw a coyote in Tucson scale an 8 foot concrete block wall into my inlaw's backyard like it was nothing. They are great climbers.

[Pops2]

Originally Posted by Maura

Coyotes that get close to your house, unless you've had sudden urbanization and the coyotes have nowhere to go, are probably coydogs.

probably not, since wild canines almost never mate w/domestics. every study done has found hybrids to be less than 1% of the population for any given area.

Originally Posted by Maura

Coyotes are not big canids, and hunt small game. They rarely hunt in packs unless it is a mother and her cubs. However, coydogs will pack up. Your beagles are probably safe if for no other reason than they are noisy. When a dog barks it interrupts the stalking pattern of the wolf or coyote by distracting them. But, I'd keep the dogs in at night.

eatern coyotes average 5-10# heavier but only marginally taller than westerns which averag 25-35# as adults. and the wolf tainted new england coyotes average 5# heavier than other easterns w/a much larger maximum size. ALL eastern coyotes prey heavily on whitetail deer and unlike westerns that target fawns in spring & early summer, easterns also take adults year round through pack hunting. although a 40# eastern coyote is entirely capable of taking 80-100# does one on one.
canines are not really stalking predators like cats, so they don't get thrown off by barking the way a mt lion might (although there are many recorded kills of LGDs by western mt lions). the key to canine success in hunting big game is endurance to run it to exhaustion and then kill it w/ less risk.

[Grab]

Coyotes can kill Beagle sized dogs
http://www.chazhound.com/forums/t103993/