Coyote Attack

The vet visit went very well!

Rory most likely wont need surgery. The vet said tissue inside the muzzle and facial area regenerates very fast and her swelling is very minimal. Worst case scenario is that she could develop a abcess and it would need to be removed but thats very unlikely. The vet called in two extra assistants to help load Rory on the table and hold her down for her rabies booster ( I thought this was FUNNY) I just had Rory jump up on the table and the vet was like Ok well lets hold her still for her shot and as the assitants were getting into position I gave Rory the down command but with everyone hovering over her she thought it was prime time for lovin so my lil ham laid oin the exam table and rolled on her back. They were shocked, LOL!

Then comes in Primo.....my big scardy cat. He had his tail tucked the whole time and he embaressed me horribly. We had him up on the exam table and I had his head inbetween my hands (thank goodness it was all ladies) and when they inserted the thermomoter in "you know where" the lil brat stuck his whole big head down the front of my shirt! Anyhoo his swelling is taking some time to go down but there isnt any puss or infection. He is scartching at his staples pretty bad and she wants them to stay in for two weeks versus 7 days we were first told so I just have to keep vaseline or neosporin on them.

They both had rabies boosters and they took there blood so everything looks great.

Ron- it amazes me as well how they can go from protective beasts to big love bugs. That is pretty much the breed description though and it reminds me of a article Louis Colby wrote telling how in the old days it was very common for families to load up everyone in the car on a sunday afternoon, children included to go fight there pit bulls that were previously cuddled soundly in bed with the kids, its just strange to witness this transition. My Dad always had hunting pit bulls that were sweet as pie but they wernt house dogs and they definitly were never given the opportunity to cuddle.

That's great news!! I'm very glad to hear, and glad that Rory most likely won't need surgery!!  

AL, I LOL several times reading your post. Glad that they're both doing well. My big strong Jaia embarrasses me at the vet too. He is fearless in most situations, but at the vet's, he has peed on the floor! LOL

Good, healing vibes coming to your babies...  

Auroralove, this is really wonderful news about the vet visit. Fingers crossed that all goes well with minimal scratching and also no abscess.   I am sorry that you had to go through this… frightening experience to be sure. There is no way I could have called my dogs off of that coyote.  Their prey instinct is too high… in fact some jerks actually breed greys to be coyote dogs and keep them off their property….so I am pretty sure my “come command” and all others would be absolutely useless in that situation especially in a pack situation.   You did great trying to keep your cool. 

DPU

I have no issue with that but I would use a bow and arrow.  Consideration for my dogs is most important.

Because everyone knows that an arrow would never hit a dog by mistake, and it always, always takes out the Coyote instantly, in a bloodless, painless way. 

Xerxes

DPU

I have no issue with that but I would use a bow and arrow.  Consideration for my dogs is most important.

 

Because everyone knows that an arrow would never hit a dog by mistake, and it always, always takes out the Coyote instantly, in a bloodless, painless way. 

and thats one reason why i dont like bow hunting and dont really care to learn......  i would wager that more game animals have been lost and have suffered horribly because of a badly aimed arrow.....  even if the entry point wasnt in a vital area... the risk for infection is almost 90% so the animal is doomed to suffer anyway.

no thanks. however i suppose if you live in a city you're limited to what weapons you can discharge.... also why i dont live in a city...

DumDog

and thats one reason why i dont like bow hunting and dont really care to learn......  i would wager that more game animals have been lost and have suffered horribly because of a badly aimed arrow.....  even if the entry point wasnt in a vital area... the risk for infection is almost 90% so the animal is doomed to suffer anyway.

 The truth of the matter is in the hands of a responsible hunter (one that keeps the laws and the limits) the animals are much safer with a bow hunter than with a rifle. My DH and sons are all avid hunters, when they go out on rifle hunts they are most often succesfull and they bring something home. There have been a few times when they had to track an animal that was wounded and did not go down on the first shot.

 When they go out with a bow they are more often not successful and most of the time they tell me "we saw tons but could not get close enough for a shot, or I shot long and missed it by miles' and they have never once (and DH has been doing this for over 20 years) had to track a wounded animal when bow hunting. They always kill it clean (in very few of the cases) or miss it by miles or not even take a shot at all (in most of the cases).

Dog_ma

corvus

Dogs will be dogs and coyotes - even the trespassing, dangerous ones - are coyotes and have a right to live like everything else (except Huntsman spiders, fleas, internal parasites, and cockroaches, in my books

 

But but but ...

I don't know that it makes sense to refer to a "right to live" when talking about wild animals.

Coyotes live by hunting and killing other animals. Who has the right to live, the coyote or the bunny? Nature is pretty fierce. Most wild animals don't die comfortable happy deaths, however they go.

That's easy: the coyote. And that's why I still eat meat myself. What I have a problem with is needless death. When a coyote comes across a wolf pack, the wolves will probably kill it and probably not eat it. Same way a lion will kill leopard cubs or cheetahs if the chance presents itself. Fair enough; that's how they deal with competition. Coyotes and leopards know to stay clear of bigger predators, and in a natural environment it's all in balance.

But when a coyote strolls into a suburban area because there isn't enough food in its natural habitat and gets ripped apart by dogs, well, that's just sad. Dogs are not a natural part of a coyote's environment, and nor is suburbia. And coyotes won't learn to find a niche in a suburban environment if they promptly get killed, by dogs or a gun the moment they stumble into someone's yard and get caught there.

I'm all for trying to help wildlife live alongside us. You won't be helping much if you feed them and they come to rely on you, but equally, shrugging and saying "it was in my yard and it needs to learn to respect me and my dogs" doesn't help much either, especially when the thing has just died a traumatic and unnecessary death.

I'd prefer the blue-tongue lizards and whatnot stay out of my parent's yard so Pyry wouldn't kill them, but I can't tell them to respect our boundaries or suffer the consequences. They don't even see boundaries. If I want them to live, the best we can do is provide them with refuges and try to give them the chance to find their own way out of the yard so they can hopefully learn not to plunge into blue-tongue hell ever again. I refuse to absolve myself of responsibility for the unnecessary death of an animal by a dog on my watch and that feels morally correct to me. But hey, that's me. 

dgriego

The truth of the matter is in the hands of a responsible hunter

It all comes down to your skill sets and experience and always looking to improve, whether it be using the bow and arrow or teaching the COME command. 

Mod's Note:

Alright, let's bring this back to topic. If you'd like to you, you are welcome to start a new topic on hunting methods and styles, which commands are most pertinent to dog training and the methods of doing such or move on. But let's keep this one on topic, please.

I'm so glad that the babies are going to be OK and that Rory took the opportunity for snug fest 2008, she deserved it.  And poor Primo.. erm, poor you? ... hahahahah :) 

Just caught this thread and I'm happy to hear that your 2 are doing better.  I can't even imagine what I would have done in that situation.  How scarey.  I'm a big animal lover of all kinds and it saddens me what happened to the coyote.  But unlike some of the others posting here, I agree that there certainly wasn't much you could do in the situation.  I hope that Rory and Primo continue to improve. 

 And there is more, 82,500 hits on Google for "coyote attacks child".

Your method of leaving the coyote alone and allowing him to come into suburbia only works up until he makes that mistake of attacking a child, then the entire neighborhood raises up and exterminates every coyote they can find.

 Which is better, teaching him a healthy fear and avoidance of man or leaving him be until he hurts someone and then watching the aftermath of his mistake.

  Coyotes do not belong in suburbia, we do not want them to adapt to living in suburbia, we need to allow them to live out on the mesa where they belong, where the deer and the antelope play and the rabbits are many, not in the backyards of humans, if we allow them to live in the backyards of suburbia then we will see these stories of dogs, cats and children being attacked and eaten.

 My friends neopolitian mastiff was killed on his own property about 25 yards from his barn late one evening. She was ripped up terribly, she managed to kill two coyotes before they killed her and he found her with her intestines trailing out and multiple cuts all over her body. She died hard, very hard, and it was dramatic, she was a great dog with a great heart. My kids loved her, everyone who met her loved her. My friend was also one who loved nature and animals and since this incident he has personally sent numerous coyotes to coyote heaven if they venture anywhere near his property.

 Neighbors who live near by lost their puppy to coyotes last spring. They both took the puppy ourside in their yard, they had just moved in so they did not have a fence yet, and in broad daylight the coyotes swept down an arroyo near their home, snatched up their screaming puppy and took off with it. They yelled, they screamed, they threw rocks and chased after them, but the only thing they got for their efforts were listening to the last screams of their puppy as he died a dramatic and unneccesary death.

 But it is not useful to instill a healthy fear of people in coyotes, it seems it is in fact very cruel to do so...... sorry but I just do not get it. I will continue in my cruelty, shooting them with bb's or paint balls or even a butt full of rock salt if they come near my house, if they linger at my fence if they come to my trash and if they are foolish enough to enter my fenced yard then I will kill them.

i'm glad Rory and Primo are going to be ok too

i told my husband about this incident and when i mentioned the possible damage to the nose he cringed big time..  then he mentioned how he wished he still had his pistol just for this sorta thing. and sorry but i gotta say... i would still prefer a gun to a bow and arrow for THIS situation. if it JUST happened to be a windy day you'll miss the nuisance animal and either have to draw again or go looking for a gut shot coyote to dispatch.... still not a fan for a bow and arrow for this purpose.

DGriego, thank you for you reply to Corvus. I couldnt have said it better myself.