When we moved in last May, our neighbors told us others had told them there were coyotes who lived in the neighborhood. There are railroad tracks behind our fence, and on the other side, the back of another neighborhood with all wooden privacy fences (most of our neighbors have chain-link). Our neighbor also said they used to have an indoor/outdoor cat which disappeared.
So we were always careful about having Pooka out at night. A few months ago, at 2AM we heard a very loud howling which sounded like 20 coyotes (and of course was probably only 5) and it was very creepy. Put a hatchet by the back door.
Then a neighbor across the street told us she'd seen 2-3 coyotes running out of her yard and back across the street. A few houses down there is a waterway/ditch that has no fence so I think they go through there and into the neighborhood to look for food. This made me feel a little better that they don't seem to like to jump fences. I have seen a skunk in that same area. But it also made me worry about having Pooka in the front yard too. We installed motion-activated floodlights in the backyard.
Our housemate was out in the backyard with his husky a few weeks ago and said he heard a few coyotes howling, and they must have been close because they stopped when he went outside.
AND THEN! last week, in the afternoon, I was standing at the back door watching Pooka sniff around the back fence and she started barking (kids and people with their dogs sometimes go walking back there along the tracks) and then from behind the brush a rather large coyote starts trotting by. He doesn't care that Pooka is barking at him and doesn't even really look at her, just trots along, going north. For a split-second I thought "my that is a rough looking dog who actually looks a lot like a .... coyote!" and I opened the door and yelled at Pooka NO and COME and then remembered my recall "PizzlePizzlePizzle!" it took her two barks to finally hear me (it seems like so long) and she turned and ran to me like she's supposed to. (a very very very good training tool). By that time the coyote was pretty much gone and Pooka was whining and wanting to go back outside to defend our territory.
It was very scary and I was all panicky. I calmed down because I was actually very very happy that the coyote was not interested in Pooka one bit. If he had been, I probably would've been too late, or it could have caught up to her in the long run. My husband told me coyotes aren't really inclined to jump fences. They're not like deer. Now I watch Pooka when she goes out pretty much all the time because this happened in the middle of the day.
I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge on urban coyote behavior. If coyote's are less inclined to go after other canines? (I remember there was a sad story on here a while ago of someone's corgi getting dragged off and being put down) or if it was simply because this coyote was by itself, or if they tend to only hunt at night? Can someone confirm they won't really jump fences, especially as a pack?
My husband said ranchers would buy human hair from barbers and spread it along fence lines to keep some animals away. Any tips like that? I don't know if that would work with urban coyotes.... any thoughts would be appreciated.