# Can Dogs and Coyotes Interbreed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 24, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-and-coyotes-interbreed/209418 "2003-10-24T23:15:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-and-coyotes-interbreed/209418/1 "2003-10-24T23:15:17Z")
I know that dogs and wolves are basically the same thing, but waht about coyotes? Can a dog and a coyote make viable pups? ---
**Author:** ![ChocolateJesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@ChocolateJesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChocolateJesus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-and-coyotes-interbreed/209418/2 "2003-10-25T00:33:08Z")
Well according to [this](http://www.desertusa.com/june96/du_cycot.html') site, coyotes are in the same family of dogs (same family and genus, only t he species differs), so I can’t see why a dog and a coyote couldn’t mate and produce puppies. BUT I suspect, that like a mule, the puppies would be infertile and incapable of reproducing themselves. But IANA vet. I am WAG. CJ ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-and-coyotes-interbreed/209418/3 "2003-10-25T00:48:01Z")
These are my suspicions, but I think that things like rabbits, hares and jackrabbits can’t. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-and-coyotes-interbreed/209418/4 "2003-10-25T00:51:57Z")
From the site you provided **Coyotes can breed with both domestic dogs and wolves. A dog-coyote mix is called a "coydog."** I suspect that my dog might be one of these, but I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-and-coyotes-interbreed/209418/5 "2003-10-25T00:54:16Z")
According to [this](http://www.ualberta.ca/~jzgurski/coyote.html) site, yes they can > [@](#): > > Coyotes and wolves can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. In fact all members of the genus Canis (dogs, wolves, coyotes and jackals) are interfertile. However, in the wild they generally do not interbreed, as wolves often treat coyotes as though they were unwanted competition because they often chase or kill any coyotes they come across. However, when dispersers (wolves that leave their packs and live as lone wolves) fail to find another wolf to mate with, they may turn to breeding with coyotes. …Coyotes and dogs will occasionally interbreed to produce animals generally referred to as “coydogs,” though such matings are somewhat rare. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-and-coyotes-interbreed/209418/6 "2003-10-25T01:04:29Z")
As noted by **bnorton** , most or all members of the genus Canis can cross. Dogs, wolves, and coyotes are all interfertile and can produce fertile offspring. It is not overwhelmingly common, but it happens. With wolves and coyotes the crosses _tend_ to be unidirectional for behavioral reasons ( female coyotes crossing w/male wolves, with the puppies subsequently backcrossing with wolves ) and some wide hybrid zones exist in North America. As I’ve noted in a few previous threads, one on-going controversy is that of the Red Wolf, with some contending ( based on morphology and natural history, among other things ) that it is a “true” species, distinct from the wolf and coyote and others contending ( based in part on some molecular work ) that it is in fact merely an historical ephemera, consisting of a semi-stable population of wolf-coyote hybrids created by human impact on southeastern ecology in the 17th-19th centuries. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dogs-and-coyotes-interbreed/209418/7 "2003-10-25T01:10:03Z")
By the way, although wolves and coyotes _are_ interfertile, almost no one considers them a single species. For instance they are far more distinct from each other molecularly, than say wolves and dogs ( who, as noted, a majority now lump together as a single species. ) - Tamerlane