Daisy and the Coyotes

Our property borders an arroyo and there aren't very many house around us. So the arroyo is a great place for coyotes. I routinely see coyotes out in the back of the house. Usually one or two at a time. They will come pretty close to the house and one morning I woke up to find one peeking in the bedroom window. Needless to say I am not surprised when a coyote shows up for a visit.

The problem that has arisen is that Daisy is very protective of her territory. One day I heard her barking but it wasn't her normal bark. So I looked out the window and saw that she was barking at a coyote at the back of the property and I could tell she wasn't happy about it. I went outside to scare the coyote off. Boy was that a mistake. She seemed to think that she needed to protect me and she took off chasing the coyote. She didn't stop until she had chased the coyote off the property. I was very worried about this. Someone had told me once that coyotes will lure dogs away and then attack them as a pack. So I decided the next time I wouldn't go outside. Instead I would just open the door and call her into the house. Well, the coyotes have come around about six or seven times that I know of and I'm not happy about it. I keep wondering if they keep coming to get Daisy to chase them out to the arroyo. Luckily she usually doesn't chase them unless I go outside so I don't think she will ever follow them.

Today though I got more worried. I heard her barking again and I knew there was something going on. Her bark was high pitched and very fast. She was also at the back of the house and looking toward the fence line. So I looked out the living room window and saw two coyotes. I kept scanning the area and spotted two more. I have never seen four coyotes out at the same time. The most I have seen at once was two. Daisy is a little smaller than most coyotes so I don't want her to get too territorial and start chasing them. I watched out the window for a little while and Daisy never tried to approach them but because of her barking they kept looking toward the house. I then noticed two of them starting to come a little closer. So I went to the front door and called Daisy. This time it took her a little while to respond to me but eventually she came into the house. So I went back to the window and noticed that all four of the coyotes were a little closer. I left Daisy in the house and I went outside. I picked up a few rocks and a big stick and walked slowly toward the coyotes. As I approached them two of the coyotes ran off past the fence and disappeared. The other two slowly retreated but decided to hang out at the fence line and watch me. I waited a moment and they didn't move so I continued to approach them. That did the trick, the two of them finally left. I kept Daisy in the house for about an hour and the coyotes didn't return. So I let her outside and I noticed that the first thing she did was go to the back of the house and check things out. Gratefully the coyotes never returned. I love that I have a dog that wants to protect me but unfortunately she probably isn't big enough to take on a coyote. I hope they don't come around again and I definitely hope she won't try and chase them.