So you don’t think a few decades in the city is enough to improve on urban success methods through a natural selection process. Coyotes breed fast and produce quite few young. Coyotes, foxes, skunks, and raccoon have all increased their presence in the last few decades. For that matter so have rats. Rats are everywhere now where they used to be rare around here.
I called the ACO in my city when the coyote came right up to my dog and I was told nothing would be done unless the coyote killed 3 dogs or more . I didn’t want the coyote killed I just wanted to know how protect my dog , I was told to made a lot noises and get a walking stick which I do have and keep my dog on a short leash .
AOC don’t set out poison baits around here as it will get into the food chain for wild animals and I doubt this done near farm land where the OP live . We have a lot of chipmunks around our yard and I want the coyote to bring down their numbers .
FWIW to the OP:
I live in a subdivision that’s essentially isolated (a cluster of homes, surrounded by sparsely populated land). We see coyotes frequently on the outskirts of our neighborhood. I kept track for a while and it seems most of the “Lost Fifi” posts are from houses on the perimeter. The coyotes don’t seem to dine much in the interior yards.
I don’t know how you’re situated in your neighborhood, but I’d think the danger is much lower if the coyotes have to travel several streets, or jump multiple fences to get to your pet. Just my $0.02.
It’s awfully easy for people to give advice when they don’t have to live with it. I have a little dog. He has a doggy door and he literally goes out several times an hour. Sometimes I assume he’s doing his biological stuff, but a lot of it is that he likes to patrol.
Closing off that door and physically going out with him every time he left the house would be a massive pain in the ass. Before we got the door, he was scratching to go out all the time–but at least I could just open the door and go back to what I was doing. if I had to stop and go stand out with him? I’d never get anything done, or I’d have to life with a frustrating, whining puppy and probably housebreaking accidents.
Now, if you told me there was a 20% chance that he’d die a violent death by coyote if I didn’t do those things, I’d probably live with the inconvenience. But if you told me there’s a 1% chance . . . I think I’d take that chance.
So it’s easy to tell the OP “Don’t risk it!” because we don’t bear any of the cost. And I don’t think we have anything like enough information to help her assess what her actual risk is–nor what the cost is. Some dogs may be less mad to patrol their domain than my dog is.
Hell, I do the same and my dogs are a LOT larger (90-110 pound range) - And we don’t have a local coyote issue, either. Dogs can get into all manner of creative trouble - not least, bothering skunks (which we DO have). A lot less trouble to just take a few minutes and chill with them whilst they do whatever it is they need to do.
You are off the mark in this thread as most stating that one should supervise their dogs when out in even a fenced in yard or walk do actually have dogs themselves.
A dog who really needs to go out literally several times an hour? Been checked by the vet? Seriously that is not normal.
The risk is small, likely much much less than 1% over the lifetime of your dog, particularly if you are not seeing coyotes around, small enough that I personally do not think that your choice is a negligent one. For the usual dog owner going outside is not required quite so often and if the risk was really as high as 1% I’d say any dog owner not willing to minimally supervise their dog in their yard for that degree of risk just shouldn’t bother having one.
She didn’t say that the dog needs to go out, she said that he likes to go out.
As for the OP, your dog is in some danger of being coyote dinner (or breakfast, since they like to prowl around at dusk and dawn), especially if you have a low fence in some area. If you value your dog, you will not let him or her out at night and you’ll also be cautious during the daytime. Coyotes take dogs and cats all the time near where I live. They are not to be taken lightly.
It seems really to generalize how much of a threat coyotes are to pet dogs, depending on location. There are few place left in the US where there are no coyotes. They’ve been sighted now in every county in NJ, the most densely populated state, even in NYC. Here in Hudson Cty NJ they are around, have been sighted, and it stands to reason given lots of prey like woodchucks, rabbits, etc which live along the cliffs next to the Hudson, lots of Canada geese and their eggs too. We’ve seen foxes who feed on the latter right on the Hudson across from Manhattan, though I’ve only ever seen coyotes in the marshlands to the west further than I’d ever walk the dog.
Anyway the actual risk to a dog here is slight even if left outside. But we never leave our dog outside unsupervised anyway. If a coyote was on the other side of the fence she’d hop the fence to go after the coyote, just like she would with other animals. Other animals have to be protected from her, even besides animals that could beat her in a fight (which don’t exist in her mind, but in reality of course might). She goes outside only on her leash, and has been fine with that all her life. So that varies by dog also.
Used to live next to a State Park.
Fed all the wild critters, day & night, including neighbor’s dogs.
From 0 -5 coyotes at the feed station at night, sometimes in the day.
Had 5-8 cats all the time of our own.
They were outside all day, inside at night.
Lost one kitten to a hawk or owl.
New place, feed critters & birds, 7 cats at present, 1 dog-104 pounds of St Bernard/Pyrenees. Coyotes abound. Do not bother our critters or our place. Free range chickens & guineas do just fine at the neighbors.
Nature does not care about your feelings, never forget that.
Time & place make all the difference. Who & how are people losing little dogs around your area.
How much time & $$$ can/are you willing to spend for your furry friend?
There will always be those who say you did not do enough. No job is too hard for those who do not have to do it.
World is round.
It is not fair.
Just round.
Where I live cats are running free in most homes. They just call them outside cats. The cats are being taken nightly, Most of the dogs that I know of that were taken had either escaped the yard or the owner put them out front for a quick pee because the dog is know to behave and not run off. We also have a good share of what I call neighbor friendly dogs. People have been neighbors for decades and the dogs tend to run free between a few houses. These are the main ones being taken, almost always at night.
Good point. As long as the perimeter houses keep replacing their edible pets the coyotes don’t need to work harder by going farther into the center. So they won’t.
Nature is real good at “efficient”.
↑↑↑ Perzactly. 
I would be concerned about a dog. Actually I have a dog who’s pretty much the same size as a coyote and I would still be concerned. We live in a neighborhood where coyotes and foxes are seen pretty frequently, and a few months ago, walking in the early evening, my dog and I were followed by a great horned owl. About the same time of day, the dog and I encountered a coyote. My dog wanted to chase him (he wants to chase everything) but the coyote avoided him, possibly because he was accompanied by a human. Too close for comfort in my opinion.
So no, I wouldn’t let him out after dark without going out with him. If you have a light, motion activated or otherwise, I’ve heard coyotes don’t like those.
There are lots and lots of rabbits in the neighborhood but apparently docile, domesticated pets are much easier prey. (I hope that is not disturbing.)
My 18lb Bichon mix found a coyote sleeping in the oleanders in our yard, and chased it out of the bushes and up over a fence. But, I was outside with him, along with our two big labs (who were totally clueless, until the coyote popped out from under the bushes with the little dong on his heals.
We never let the dogs outside after dark without human supervision, but I will leave them in the backyard for awhile during the day unsupervised. The coyotes out here are generally only active from evening to early morning.
My neighborhood is surrounded by protected wetlands and has a golf course at one of the borders. Coyotes are commonplace, especially during the spring (females give birth in mid-late April here so the males do the hunting) and summer when they’re teaching the pups how to hunt. It’s not unusual for the houses bordering the wetlands to have coyotes hanging out in their backyards during the day. Unnerving? Certainly. But not unusual.
IIRC each pack has a territory which can roughly extend 5-10 miles square. Our neighborhood pack follows the network of wetlands to the marshland adjoining our local beach. Lots of food there most of the time. They only hang out in the neighborhood when pickings there are slim.
Every spring we have several “Lost Dog” posters put up on telephone phones and in the windows of local stores. All of them are “littles”, maybe topping 15 lbs. One has been missing for over two months. A neighbor told me that she thinks the owner knows what probably happened but doesn’t want to admit it.
Like I said - I do have a dog the same size as your dog and I don’t ever leave him outside on his own recognizance, because, as his person, my Number 1 job is to keep him safe. It’s a responsibility that I take seriously.
And yes, the dog wants out all the damn time. He doesn’t have a doggy door specifically because the rampaging wildlife in this neighborhood. He doesn’t always get what he wants. He copes. He’s the dog. He’s used to it.
Obviously no one in this thread can give you an exact percentage of how likely the coyotes are to kill your dog. Forget about that number.
Here’s a different number. Ask yourself - if my dog gets eaten alive by coyotes, and I wasn’t there to save him, how many years will it be before I forgive myself?
I have coyotes in the woods behind my house, for the first time in the almost 20 years I’ve lived here. They showed up here this past summer.
And no, the dogs do not go out unsupervised now. I’ve got a 30-pound Beagle, and a 16-pound Border Terrier. I don’t think it’s worth the risk to see if either of them could defend themselves against a coyote, so I simply don’t put them in that situation.
This is highly variable, based on dog’s size, local coyote population, and whether or not they’ve started taking pets in an area. Once pets have become identitfied as a food source, the risk goes up severely. Other places, with low population or no history of pet loss, well, it goes down precipitously.
In the OP’s case, the dog is in the ‘food’-size range, there is a known population coyotes, and pets have gone missing. That puts the risk up considerably.
Precisely.
It’s less of an issue in broad daylight. I only see them in morning and evening.
Yet literally every dog-owner in a dense urban area has figured this out.
For every one you see, there are a dozen you don’t.