Found a coyote, I think

[Vaquero]

Wow. What a great story.
Great thread. For the most part.

 

[Raspy]

Thanks /pine.

I'm working on it.

 

[Raspy]

Good Morning all!

It's been about 2 1/2 years since I posted here about our lovely coyote, Sandy. We visited her again a few days ago and here are my thoughts about it:

Every time we see her, it is an emotional experience. She brought so much joy, creativity and intelligence to the party, that it has been hard to not be able to play with her and live with her. Each visit is different and telling in its own way. She is older now, at ten, with no more than eight to go. And losing her partner has made her less stable, troubled, nervous. The days of a sparkle in her eye, a mischievous bent, as we played and schemed, are waning. Instead of the joy in every moment and willingness to always play, she is now more lost, more distracted by loss and confinement. And there is nothing we can do to help. If we lived closer, we could volunteer at Southwest and rekindle the earlier joy, play with her and give her treats. But it won't happen. No dog has ever touched me like she has. Or taught me as much as she has. No dog I've known has lived a life so fully, or so close to the edge as her. When she was with us, she could have been taken by Animal Control at any moment, and destroyed. She could so easily have been shot by those who hate coyotes and don't have the ability to understand them, or care. We could not get medical help for her, shots for her, or even keep her on our property legally. And yet she was joyous, in the moment, scheming, and so much fun. Aside form the friendship, I studied her carefully, documented her development, and watched her interaction with people and other dogs. She is a dog in every respect, except for being more wary and independent. And, of course, much more intelligent. She communicates perfectly with other dogs, can have pups with normal dogs, understands dog hierarchy and pack behaviors and seeks to mate for life. But never was dangerous to us in any way. At our place, she was not tied up or fenced in, she went camping with us, rode in the car, visited friends, went into restaurants and markets, understood many commands, and was always challenging us to games she invented. I practiced my howling, or singing, to match her, but it made her nervous. She loved to eat rabbit, and I tried to train her to hunt for them, but she didn't show much interest. Because we rescued her, at two days old and frozen to near death, she was considered disabled and could not be released. But she was physically perfectly healthy in every way. So she will live out her life at Southwest Wildlife in Scottsdale, AZ. She had a huge affect on me and will live in my memory for the rest of my life.

 

[Rock knocker]

Thank you for the update. Sorry Raspy lost her boyfriend.

Was she spayed? I think you did everything exactly right, too bad she is a little lost now.

Your story makes me wonder why wolves became dogs and not coyotes or foxes. These foxes became dog like in only a very few years

Russian domesticated foxes | Animal Conservation

The Russian domesticated foxes, or commonly known as Belyaev foxes, provide insight into how wolves became dogs.

www.jabcecc.org

 

[Threepoint]

John, thank you for this very moving update on Sandy. You have told her remarkable story very well over these years, with humor and sensitivity, yet always with respect for her as a sentient and independent creature of the wild. I'm sure that, through you, her story has touched many hearts.

 

[Raspy]

Thank you for the update. Sorry Raspy lost her boyfriend.

Was she spayed? I think you did everything exactly right, too bad she is a little lost now.

Your story makes me wonder why wolves became dogs and not coyotes or foxes. These foxes became dog like in only a very few years

Russian domesticated foxes | Animal Conservation

The Russian domesticated foxes, or commonly known as Belyaev foxes, provide insight into how wolves became dogs.

www.jabcecc.org

She was spayed about a month or so after arriving at Southwest. Breeding them is completely outside what they do as a rescue organization.
Thanks for the fox link. This looks like the second step in the Russian fox experiments that developed tame foxes.

 

[Raspy]

John, thank you for this very moving update on Sandy. You have told her remarkable story very well over these years, with humor and sensitivity, yet always with respect for her as a sentient and independent creature of the wild. I'm sure that, through you, her story has touched many hearts.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[Raspy]

Reviewing this thread again. Hope you are all doing well.

 

[Threepoint]

Hi John - Glad to see your post. Wondering if Southwest Wildlife has been able to match Sandy with a new companion.

I just visited their website. Very nice pics of their five coyotes, including your girl! What a great organization.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I've had a few wolves, squirrels, coons, armadillos, possums, gave away the skunks, but they still keep them in the house. Raise the coyote as a dog and it will be a dog.

 

[Raspy]

Southwest Wildlife has not yet, to my knowledge, been able to find her another mate. I've asked them to try. It has been interesting, if sad, to see her unsettled and nervous at the loss of Shorty. She seems somewhat lost and distracted. It will be eleven years in March, since we found her and started this amazing story. Once of the interesting aspects of this whole thing is discovering how long she will live. With good medical care, no predators, a good diet, and a good emotional life, she will have the best chance of a long life. The only period of emotional stress has been this recent period after losing Shorty and it may shorten her life by an amount we can't measure. In the wild, their lives could end for a number of reasons and they probably don't last very long, but it was suggested that at Southwest, she might last as long as eighteen years.

I hope to see her again in January and we'll see if she has settled down a bit. One aspect of her interaction with us has been her emotional range. It has been so obvious how she feels about situations, other animals and people. Easy to read her emotions, desires, fears, etc. This, I'm sure is part of what endeared her to us as we see ourselves in her. We can relate. We can help. We want to play too. We have fears too. She is a person in a different body, hardwired a bit differently, but full of goodness, curiosity, the will to live, have a family and have fun. She has self awareness, secrets, and personal interests. She enjoys time by herself and interaction with others. We bonded and became a pack. I try to protect her as I would a child or a friend. But she can never come visit us again. We can't take a nap next to her, go on a hunt together, go camping together or ride in the truck. So, I'll do what I can, from here.

I will always be grateful and continue to contribute to Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center.

 

[Raspy]

Meet Mica. Our new Cattledog/Border Collie mix. She just turned four months old. I first met her when she was one week old and we brought her home at seven weeks.

Much of this thread was comparing a coyote to a domestic dog and asking the question, what is the difference? Sandy was five months old when we took her to Southwest wildlife and she had a small female dog to help her get settled here at home. Mica has another small female dog to help her get settled and the similarities between Mica and Sandy are numerous, but they are not the same.

Like Sandy, Mica is sort of independent, gets very excited and runs and runs, is very cautious with strangers, very observant of the world around her and plays continuously with our other dog. She is very affectionate and loves to be touched and she takes lots of naps. Her favorite game with me is Keep-Away, where she grabs something and won't let me get near it. She invites me to play. This is the same thing Sandy loved to do.

Mica catches on to new tricks quickly, like shake, high five, sit, roll over, etc. Whereas Sandy was more cat like and not so interested in those things, but Sandy was more analytical and could problem solve better. Mica barks a fair amount, but Sandy very seldom barked. She would let out a low woof sound more than a shrill bark.

The two dogs were about the same size at four months, both love their crates/dens. Sandy was better house trained than Mica at this age. Neither one wants to stray off when let out. Sandy spent more time outside. She built her own den and buried food for later. Both of them have been great riding in the truck.

The main reasons why Sandy could not stay here were that we could not legally get medical attention for her, or shots. If there was ever a problem, Animal Control would have taken her and killed her. But, of course, Mica doesn't have those problems. Sandy was never a danger to anyone and is now eleven years old.

Of course, Sandy is just one out of millions of coyotes, so generalizing is tricky, but she was an interesting case of a wild dog living with us that touched us deeply, became a family member, and offered a lot of insights into coyote life and personality.

The differences between her and a domestic dog seem pretty insignificant. The differences we did see, such as her tricky nature and amazing intelligence, made her very interesting and fun.

 

[m1garand762]

It’s a tote. Just shot it when the wife is gone

 

[dodge man]

I know very little about dogs but I don’t see Border Collie in it. It looks more like German Shepard. I know as a Christmas gift we gave out daughter a dna test for her dog. The results were surprising.

 

[Raspy]

I know very little about dogs but I don’t see Border Collie in it. It looks more like German Shepard. I know as a Christmas gift we gave out daughter a dna test for her dog. The results were surprising.

I agree. But here is the breed summary. I have no idea how accurate these are.

 

[tacticalturnip]

I'd not seen this thread before; what a lovely story with many beautiful pictures. Thank you for sharing it all.

 

[dodge man]

Raspy, that report looks similar to the one my daughter got back, it was surprising and not what we would have guessed. I assume they are pretty accurate. It’s a nice looking dog, enjoy its company.

 

[MossRoad]

I agree. But here is the breed summary. I have no idea how accurate these are.

My kids did a DNA test on one of their dogs. It came back Rottweiler and American Pit Bull Terrier. We could kind of tell that's what it was going to be, as his head looks like a basketball with teeth.

 

[dodge man]

My daughters dog came back with a lot of American Bully and something similar. Looking at the DNA results you think pit bull but it doesn’t look like one at all, more like a black lab mix.