Coyote, the dog

Today you get a funny story.

Several years back, someone called me to come help with a dog they’d recused as a puppy. He was now about a year old, but still terrified of people.

I went out and met the dog, and couldn’t help but ask about his unusual name.

The owners explained that someone had found a female Australian Shepherd wandering, so they’d called animal control, who’d come to get her. But when animal control took her, she was frantic. They could see she’d had puppies recently, and, worried they might have left a litter behind, they took her back (on leash) to where the person had found her. Sure enough, she led them right to a little of pups.

The shelter took them all, relieved that they’d gotten to the litter before any coyotes had. (Coyotes are far more dangerous to dogs than people realize, and especially to puppies.)

Once the puppies were old enough, the shelter adopted everyone out. My client had named their puppy Coyote, because he’d been rescued from them.

As I sat there looking at this very tall dog and thought about hybridization. This is when you breed two species, and end up with an animal that’s larger than either. Breeding a 500 lbs tiger with an 800 lbs lion, for instance, creates a liger that’s 1100 lbs.

Coyote had long, long legs and a heavy skull that made pitties and rotties look petite. His eyes seemed small in his head; unlike a pittie or rottie, they weren’t bigger to seem in ratio with his bone structure. He was an interesting gray and brown brindle-ish, mottled-ish color, with a coat that had a ruff like his mom’s, but a much more sleek coat over his body.

He was painfully wary (as opposed to fearful), despite being socialized since he was a pup. When I introduced him to my shepherd, Cash, he would get low and try to slink away.

Midway through the session, I sat down with the owners. “Guys,” I said. “I don’t think he was rescued from coyotes.”

They looked at me with concern. I think they already knew what I was about to say.

“I think,” I said, “his daddy was a coyote.”

JB