An Afternoon Visitor

Our three dogs are constantly chasing and playing with the coyotes that live in the arroyo in back of our house. This afternoon the dogs were in the house just lounging around and I looked out the living room window to find a lone coyote hanging around the back behind our house. He or she is beautiful and looks very healthy. I sat and watched and took pictures for about 15 minutes. Here are a few of them.

Out for a Walk

Mid-morning I decided I needed to get out of the house so I went for a walk on the property. Daisy is always up for a walk so she tagged along. As I walk she tends to run just a little ahead of me but never goes very far - in fact she always stays where she can still see me. It was a nice day and we had a great walk. We did about a half mile and pretty much didn't see anything. It was a pretty boring walk truth be told. So anyway we sat for a while, well I sat, Daisy walked around and explored the area but soon got bored and I could tell she wanted to start heading back. We started walking and not long I looked up and saw a coyote about 100 yards away. The coyote hadn't seen us yet and Daisy hadn't seen the coyote. So I kept my eye on the coyote and we kept walking. We only went about three steps before Daisy spot the coyote. And she started barking. If you read my post - Daisy and the Coyotes - then you know that she doesn't like them on the property. She starts barking and it is very high pitched and very fast. Since I was with her she tends to be a little braver and she started toward the coyote. At first she didn't go far and she kept looking back at me and I kept walking trying to ignore the coyote and hoping that Daisy would follow me and leave him alone. No chance! She just kept barking and slowly crept closer to him. I finally realized that she wouldn't stop until he was gone and by this time she was getting closer to the coyote and he hadn't retreated at all. I looked around to make sure that there was only one coyote and then I made a decision. I decided to start running toward the coyote knowing Daisy would follow me but hoping that the coyote would turn and run away. I lucked up. Daisy stayed close to me and the coyote took off running. By the time we got to the fence the coyote was no where to be found and Daisy had calmed down. It still took me a while to get her back to the house and calm her down. I made her come inside the house with me just to let her relax and maybe forget about the coyote. Later I let her out again and the first thing she did was go to the back of the house to check things out. I was glad to see that there were no coyotes present and she quickly forgot about it and went on to play as normal. I am hoping that the coyotes will eventually stop coming to the house so that she will be safe and stop freaking out. Even with all this drama today we both had a great walk.

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.