Corgi Meets Coyote
Friday wasn’t the first time I’d run into a coyote while walking my dog in the hills of the Fremont Older Space Preserve, but I’d never seen one trot so confidently towards me and my pup across the open field.
He was moving pretty fast. As soon as I spotted him coming our way, I turned my body to face him, picked up Dargo and stared right at the wild dog, making low, loud gutteral sounds — a cross between a cowboy’s hollering “Whoa!”, and a growling Tom Waits song, circa the Rain Dogs album.
I could feel Dargo’s heart thumping powerfully against mine. He stayed still and quiet in my arms.
About 30 or 40 yards away the coyote stopped and looked at us. I continued with my Cowboy/Tom Waits noises until the coyote went into a relaxed sit. It probably took no more than 10 seconds for him to settle in, but it’s a long time to wait when you have no idea what the next move is going to be.
Dargo still in my arms, I backed away slowly along the track, keeping my eyes on the wild canid whose stillness gave him the demeanor of a distinguished spectator. That didn’t do much for my ego, but I’ll take that over an aggressive stance any day.
He never once let me out of his sight. Even when large bush came between us, and I thought “Here comes a breather”, he came around the side of it to continue watching.
It must have taken about a minute for us to get far enough away that I felt safe. So when the road curved and we went out of his sight a second time, I dropped Dargo to the ground, turned my back to the field, and we walked purposefully towards the parking lot.
I think Dargo enjoyed the excitement. He looked up at me a number of times with his happy face as we walked back to the car. “That was cool!” I can hear him say.
Heck, he’s an adolescent boy, of course he’s going to like excitement.
Addendum
I emailed the Preserve about my coyote sighting.
They replied that this is normal coyote behavior, nowadays. These are curious animals who should be afraid of humans. Unfortunately some folks actually feed them, which of course means the canids lose the fear that keeps the natural equilibrium, and everyone safe.
The Open Space rep also pointed me to this link, useful for anyone who walks in coyote lands.