Found a coyote, I think

[RobertBrown]

Well I'm glad you are enjoying this encounter and it sounds like your making the best of it.
I would'nt worry about the game warden and I wouldn't get in a hurry to drive 160 miles to find safe haven for it.
It's not like it's an endangered species...... let your wife rear it until it becomes cumbersome, then take the drive....
your call dude
good luck with that.
Something you won't soon forget :thumbsup:

 

[Raspy]

Robert,

Well said and you are right. We are debating about the best time to go and my wife wants to wait a bit. At first she wanted to wait three months and now we are thinking a couple of weeks. We won't keep her permanently and a couple more weeks seems about right.

It's really fun to learn more about these dogs. We call her Sandy and are looking forward to her opening her eyes. It seems she can hear even though her ears are still sealed. The pads on her feet are beginning to be more defined and she has little nails. Surprisingly strong, she is climbing out of her box and exploring. She won't pee or poo unless she is held and her tummy stroked a bit, so she doesn't need house breaking at this point. Every two or three hours she needs to pee or eat and gradually gets more talkative until she gets help. Since she has imprinted on my wife she is always searching for her is more content when she finds her, climbing into her shirt or lying next to her and calming down.

One of our other dogs (a Maltese) is very concerned, hurt looking and jealous. We have to be careful. The other one (a little terrier) is simply curious with her ears forward and investigating. The cat has hardly noticed.

She yips like an adult coyote. The little yip yip yip goes on and on. Then she sleeps and seems to be dreaming, with little comments and twitches. While awake she climbs all over the place looking for a snug spot. Toady she was sleeping head first in my shirt pocket, for instance.

At first she was fed with an eye dropper, but now it's a bottle and she is really getting the hang of it. She gets completely involved and makes little whimpering sounds mixed with sucking sounds, as she eats, like it's the most important thing in the whole world, I guess it is.

At first she could only squirm around a bit and was shaky, now she is bigger, can stand up and is a lot stronger, able to get around pretty well. All in less than a week.

Here's a picture

 

[MotorSeven]

Facinating...keep us posted.

I have raised two baby raccoon's. Lessons learned on the first one as a kid...cages are bad mojo for 'coons. We ended up taking him to a wildlife area and setting him free because being caged made him angry(don't blame him a bit). The second one, older and wiser I was, so I waited until I thought he could manage on his own. Took him down the Peace River, let him go that evening while camping..watch him scamper off happy. The next morning, broke camp, loaded the canoe, and shoved off. Out in the middle of the river, I hear thrashing around in a tree, then a trill, then "Rockie" runs out on a branch, looks down at me, runs back to the trunk, and down the tree. He then ran to the shoreline, jumped in and swam out to the canoe Soooo, he came back home. We lived in an older neighborhood with huge oak trees. We just started leaving the back door open and eventually he joined the locals. Sometime he would bang on the sliding glass door, come in, get a treat and stretch out on the sofa like he owned the place. About a year later, he showed up with a wife and 4 kits and they all would hang around munching on dog food from time to time.

What a wild animal needs most is freedom. If they don't get that, their personality can change rapidly. Freedom has it's own risks, but well worth it for the animal.

 

[Raspy]

Motor,

That's a great story!

Animals are so much fun and interesting. And we know so little about the ones outside. Then it turns out they are nearly the same as the ones we live with, except for the wild side that allows survival.

We hear coyotes all the time here at night, but hardly ever see them. I sometimes go out at night and move toward the conversation, but when I turn on the light they go silent.

 

[Mousefield]

Facinating...keep us posted.

I have raised two baby raccoon's. Lessons learned on the first one as a kid...cages are bad mojo for 'coons. We ended up taking him to a wildlife area and setting him free because being caged made him angry(don't blame him a bit). The second one, older and wiser I was, so I waited until I thought he could manage on his own. Took him down the Peace River, let him go that evening while camping..watch him scamper off happy. The next morning, broke camp, loaded the canoe, and shoved off. Out in the middle of the river, I hear thrashing around in a tree, then a trill, then "Rockie" runs out on a branch, looks down at me, runs back to the trunk, and down the tree. He then ran to the shoreline, jumped in and swam out to the canoe Soooo, he came back home. We lived in an older neighborhood with huge oak trees. We just started leaving the back door open and eventually he joined the locals. Sometime he would bang on the sliding glass door, come in, get a treat and stretch out on the sofa like he owned the place. About a year later, he showed up with a wife and 4 kits and they all would hang around munching on dog food from time to time.

What a wild animal needs most is freedom. If they don't get that, their personality can change rapidly. Freedom has it's own risks, but well worth it for the animal.

Last year I caught a guy just before he was going to release a raccoon he had in a live trap on our private road. Asked him why he would bring his problem to us, told him we had chickens and it was not appreciated. He left and I followed him for a while to make sure he kept going. We do have our own raccoon family that lives down by the creek, I really feel no need to increase the population. So far I have caught 4 mink in a live trap, I DO NOT relocate them to be someone else's problem, 2 other mink didn't get into the live trap but that's another story.

 

[moored4]

Raspy I have been following this thread from the sidelines and have enjoyed it and all of the DIFFRENT views presented. :laughing: If you keep it for a few more weeks you might need to consider worming it soon! Worm can develop fast in pups and become a serious threat! I have a friend that痴 a vet and the state brings her all kinds of """ PETS """"each spring to tend to. Some years her place is like the ark! :laughing:

 

[Raspy]

moored,

I think you are right about worms. We've been considering that and vaccinations, etc. This all came on unexpectedly and she is so helpless and cute, that we have been more interested in her survival.

That's part of the dilemma. Keep her longer and get her medical attention, or take her to the sanctuary and let their vets handle it. In some areas vets are required to call animal control if someone brings in a wild animal and we don't want that.

I was leery of bringing a wild animal into the house for that reason. We thought, at first, she was a domestic dog, she was abandoned and cold, so we saved her. Now the picture is quite different, but she is extremely cute, educational and entertaining.

This will all get resolved soon and we'll always cherish her memory.

Meanwhile we have let the other two dogs get close to her and watched their responses. The male Maltese, Eddie, is not very trustworthy, very jealous and self centered. Our little female terrier, Bei Bei, is very personable, kind and sensitive, full of fun and wants to be involved all the time.

Eddie gets in close to Sandy and sniffs her, but Bei Bei has decided to get in there and protect Sandy. Eddie and Bei Bei are the best of friends, but Bei Bei snaps and chases Eddie away from Sandy. It's funny because Bei Bei is so non aggressive normally and she seems almost embarrassed to intervene.

So now Sandy is sleeping in her box, out in the middle of the room, wrapped up in a snow cap and making little content sounds. I've read they have about twelve different sounds to communicate. She seems to be up on the language already and very verbal. Everything from calling for help to expressing contentment to physical exertion comments, to just random musings as she sleeps or is held, etc. Even sharp, high pitched yips as needed. It's funny, cute and touching. It goes along with my other experiences with coyotes in the wild, they are constantly yipping and carrying on, but not really barking. When potential danger comes close they shut up. Their talking is just the normal activity, an ongoing conversation it seems. Since they are so social, interdependent and work together with various hunting strategies, it makes sense that they would be in constant contact and understand each other well.

 

[Western]

Just my 2 cents, emotions aside, I would take it to the rehab as fast as I could get it there. The longer you have him, the harder it will be, (if even possible) for them to get him conditioned for release. In his best interest, I think it would be prudent to get him to the "pros" if you really want the fella to have a chance, or possibility of living the way he was intended to live.

 

[Mousefield]

Just my 2 cents, emotions aside, I would take it to the rehab as fast as I could get it there. The longer you have him, the harder it will be, (if even possible) for them to get him conditioned for release. In his best interest, I think it would be prudent to get him to the "pros" if you really want the fella to have a chance, or possibility of living the way he was intended to live.

The sooner you do as suggested by Western the easier it will be for you and the pup. :2cents:

 

[MotorSeven]

Last year I caught a guy just before he was going to release a raccoon he had in a live trap on our private road. Asked him why he would bring his problem to us, told him we had chickens and it was not appreciated. He left and I followed him for a while to make sure he kept going. We do have our own raccoon family that lives down by the creek, I really feel no need to increase the population. So far I have caught 4 mink in a live trap, I DO NOT relocate them to be someone else's problem, 2 other mink didn't get into the live trap but that's another story.

Mouse, the year was 1969 and I doubt anyone was raising chickens in the Honey Island Swamp:
Honey Island Swamp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

:thumbsup:

 

[Raspy]

Update on our coyote friend:

She seems to be very smart and ready to be a "real" dog. Plays with the other dogs, eats from a bowl without any training, wants to play tug-of-war with anything made of cloth, has learned the microwave sound means meal time, knows the word "eat", is semi-house trained, growls as she plays, hears very well, is beginning to focus her eyesight and walks on a leash. All at 4 1/2 weeks old.

Our little terrier protects her from any other dogs that might be a threat, and from our cat, who wants to play with her.

She howls at the moon, with her head straight up, whenever we start howling or my wife plays the harmonica.

Just the cutest, most honest, playful and natural little animal I can imagine. Really fun. Settling into a routine. Developing a relationship with our other two dogs and our cat.

Now I suppose a lot of you are cringing and predicting the worst, offering warnings in advance, thinking she should be shot for the public good, etc. Well, I can tell you that this is a wonderful experience, very educational and we have an exit strategy. We also did not set this up to be a threat to others, or cost others. We won't allow her to become a nuisance. This whole thing came about innocently and we are learning a great deal from it. Unfortunately, we expect to give her up fairy soon and just don't want her to be killed for the "public good".

Any of you that love dogs and understand dogs can be confident that you also understand coyotes. At least in the early stages. What a fun loving, curious and sweet little animal she is. So far.

 

[MotorSeven]

This is very interesting and I wonder when the assimilation will stop and her wild genes will kick in? She sure is a pretty pup!

 

[dmccarty]

I cant remember if I have seen one or two documentaries that talk about the differences in dogs vs other K9s. I think there have been two shows on in the last year or two that have been very interesting. One or both shows interviewed researchers in Austria looking at the differences between dogs and wolves. The wolves have been raised with humans since they were born but at some point genes kick in and the wolves are wolves. They act like wolves and there is nothing that can be done to stop it.

The show has some really interesting video showing how a dog actually takes cues from humans. A human can point at something and a dog understands that the person is pointing and will get/investigate the object. Other K9's do not understand the pointing. The dogs genes are wired to very much read a human. Other K9's are not.

Either in the same documentary or another one, they showed research in Russia with other wild K9s. I think they were foxes. The researcher were showing how "wild" caged foxes behaved vs foxes that had been breed to remove the wildness from the animals. It took quite a few generations to remove the wildness but the animals still do not pick up on human mannerisms like a dog.

Later,
Dan

 

[Travelover]

I wish you both the best. Keep us posted.

 

[jonyyuma]

What a warm story...Good Luck with your decision. The photo of the pup and dog is great..Small animals can tug at your heart strings...It is too late for it not to hurt...I remember when my pup came to me in a sock, he lasted over 15 years in our family...

 

[RobertBrown]

See if you can get that song dog to sing.
Get yourself and your wife to howl softly at a high pitch and i'll bet you'll get a real reaction out of that one.
she might even call back

 

[Mousefield]

I just hope her bark or howl will always be worse than her bite.
Having wild animals as pets in NOT always a smart idea. Just saying.

 

[El Wood]

Raspy,

I know a lot of people would disagree, but I would keep her and name her "Wily" the coyote (if you didn't already have a name). I would just keep a close eye on her and watch for any aggressive behavior. I would also build her a den that has access to the outdoors. I wouldn't cage her up. If she becomes a problem later, you can always cross that bridge then. You may never have a problem with her and she could be a great part of the family. My friend had a coon once that was just like a dog. He would roll on his back and you could rub his belly like a dog. He would come inside sometimes but mainly lived in a tree off the deck. He just made sure he had access to the wild. If you go to YouTube there are lots of videos on coyotes as pets. Keep posting the pics!

 

[Raspy]

Robert,

She does howl pretty easily. We are doing as you say and softly howl together. Another excellent way is for my wife to play her harmonica. Whenever she does, our little terrier starts right in howling like crazy. So funny. That sets off Sandy and off they go.

There are a lot of coyotes around us and we hear them every night. They cross our place and we hear them, as a pack, on either side at different times. I have tried to go out at night and see them. I can get close but when I turn on the light they all go silent and disappear. Just blend into the night.

We are away right now so her pals are out of range.

I can't figure out if she is making us howl or if we are making her howl. :laughing: