Coyote Behavior In Our Urban Parks for Dog Owners To Be Aware Of: Based my own first-hand observations of coyotes in the San Francisco Bay Area. [I just UPDATED this article on 4/2024 — originally written in 2010]
Coyotes are wary — they don’t really want to confront dogs, and much less so do they want to confront humans. They prefer maintaining their distance and normally will run off when they see you. If you happen to see a coyote, they most often are “passing through” the area. However, all coyotes, as all dogs and all humans, don’t follow a single norm — there are variations. I will try to explain some possibilities here.
A coyote may stop to observe you and your dog from afar, especially if you yourself stop on a path to look at it — and especially if your dog “looks” at the coyote. A coyote may even come towards your dog to see “what it’s are doing” and “where it’s going”. Please just walk away from the coyote and keep going. Be assured that the coyotes in our parks have never specifically approached humans — it is your dog which the coyote is curious about.
At their core, coyotes have a natural wariness, or even “fear” of humans. Along with the curiosity always will be the fear. Even though most of us move away from what we fear, sometimes we may try getting a little closer to what we fear to “test” it, maybe even to test ourselves. Maybe we should see such a parallel between ourselves and the coyotes. The coyote’s curiosity about the dog may be pulling stronger than the fear repelling it away from the human owner.
Regarding dogs, we all need to know that for the most part, coyotes keep “outsider coyotes” out of their areas and out of their tightly knit family group. Dogs are in this category. Coyotes do not want the dogs interacting with them. I do know that loner coyotes have *appeared* to solicit play from dogs, but it’s not really play, it’s a sort of “testing” behavior: coyotes want to find out how the dog will interact with them. It’s important to pull your dog away and keep walking away from such a coyote.
Dogs are often “monitored” and kept track of in certain parks by the alpha coyotes — these are the parents. I’ve watched as these coyotes moved to a better vantage point to watch until a dog group left the area. The reason dogs are monitored is because they are the coyote’s chief threat in an urban setting: dogs have chased coyotes, and are possibly seen as competition for the available resources in the park. Resident coyotes treat the dogs as they would any other coyote intruder. But also, once a coyote has been chased by a dog — and therefore has seen the dog as an aggressor — the coyote will forever be leery of this particular dog. Dogs often think such chasing is “play”, whereas for a coyote the chase is much more serious. But dogs also often feel protective of their owners or the group of dogs they are with, so they may chase a coyote for this reason.
Note that a coyote “pack” is always a nuclear family group — not at all like classic “stray dog packs” where unrelated dogs get together for mutual survival needs — these dogs are more on the level of “gangsters”. A group of coyotes is a nuclear family — and from what I have been able to observe, a very warm, caring and mutually supportive family — and one the coyote parents are going to protect.
There are exceptions to a coyote’s keeping its distance, depending on the coyote AND on the situation and the “history” of a particular coyote’s interaction with particular dogs. The parents in any coyote family will take charge of keeping their family safe and will come to the aid of the other coyotes if they see dogs getting too close to one of their family members.
Few humans are aware of the communication going on between our own dogs and other dogs. Well, the communication also is occurring between coyotes and dogs, through eye contact and body language and activity level. Keeping our dogs next to us and leashed lessens this communication. We humans are too absorbed in our own conversations and activities to catch the subtle messages between our dogs and the coyotes. It is important to minimize interaction, even eye communication, to prevent it from escalating. At the crux of what dogs and coyotes are communicating is their feeling of safety, and safety very often has to do with personal space. Keeping a large distance between a coyote and you and your dog, and keeping the dog leashed will minimize the dog-coyote communication since communication is normally carried on at a closer range, and will lessen the possibility that any communication might be acted upon.
If a coyote has been chased by a dog, s/he may often flee from the dog and then react with intense, high pitched, distressed screaming or barking: the coyote appears to be *complaining* more than anything else. However, if coyotes fee “intruded” upon when a dog comes too close without chasing — and it’s the coyotes who decide when this is the case — the situation could change, with the coyote circling the dog and even engaging in sequences of darting at the dog and retreating, and finally, if the coyote can get away with it, with a nipping at the haunches of the dog to herd it away from itself or the area, cattle-dog fashion. Pull your dog away from that coyote and keep moving away without running.
The problem is that although coyotes tend to go into hiding shortly after dawn, this is not always the case. I have seen coyotes out at all times of the day: 10:00 am, Noon, 2:00 pm, 4:00 pm — these are not the times one would expect to see a coyote, and although the chances are less at these times, the possibility is still there that you might encounter one. So a coyote might be just around the bend on a path or hidden behind a nearby bush where it will surprise you, and you will surprise it. This is another reason why it is important to keep our dogs leashed in coyote areas. Although a young coyote would normally just flee, the mother or father will stand up for themselves and for their pups, even if the pups have reached adult size. This kind of surprise encounter could easily lead to a charge-and-retreat sequence. If your dog is leashed please hurry off, rather than let your dog react.
Another behavior I have seen — it’s in the category of *testing* behavior — is the short “chase-chase” behavior — this seems to occur only between a dog and a coyote which know each other, either through previous visual communication, or because of a chasing episode which they both remember. In this case the coyote will be traveling in the same direction as a walker and his/her unleashed dog, and will come in close with a little “darting in” and “retreat”. The dog will return the behavior. It is almost a “dare” or one-upmanship” interaction with no other intention than just this — it verges on play. A leashed dog can easily be led away from this to prevent its reacting.
A parent coyote may come to the aid of one of his/her full-grown pups and the two will work as a team to vex a dog to get it to leave: one coyote will distract the dog, the other will come around to dart in from the other side. This coyote behavior can be intimidating because of its intensity.
Pupping season is upon us — April for birthing and May through Fall for raising the young. We all need to know that all of the self-protective and defensive behavior coyotes display throughout the year will be intensified during pupping season. A coyote will be defending a den and a large area around it — at least 1000 feet or 1/4 mile — and they will be more sensitive to rambunctious or intimidating dog activity. Please be especially careful during this time about keeping your dog leashed and calm in coyote areas. Coyotes will most often leave your dog alone if your dog leaves them alone and gives them the space they need to feel safe. A dog off-leash cannot do this on his own. He needs your help and guidance in coyote areas.
With all of these behaviors, leashing the dog creates a barrier of sorts: it calms down the dog — and this can be seen by the coyote. But it also keeps the dog right next to the owner which serves to deter the coyote from coming in closer. Coyotes do not want to tangle with humans.
Also, if you are walking in an area where there are several coyotes who are either sitting on the lawn, hunting, or headed in a certain direction, it is best not to intrude upon them, but to leave — why test this situation with your dog. By simply being there, they have claimed the area temporarily.
There are various types of dogs that upset coyotes — that cause them to react. It is mostly the more active dogs that appear to arouse the coyotes. Leashed dogs are calmer and the coyote picks up on this — unless they come too close. There is an exception to this: if a dog owner becomes anxious, he communicates his anxiety, via the leash, to the dog and this causes the dog to become even more actively anxious. If you know you are an anxious type of person, maybe you should walk in a different park.
Small fluffy very active dogs seem to cause an instinctual adrenalin rush in the coyotes: I’ve seen a coyote monitoring when such a dog passed on a path — the dog and owner were unaware of the coyote perched on a ledge above the trail. The coyote stood up, hackles raised and began trotting back and forth on the hilltop. In this case, the dog’s owners moved on quickly, but the little dog was not leashed. Most dogs are calmer when they are leashed. I’ve actually seen a coyote calm down as a dog was leashed. Two different dog owners told me that when their dog sensed that a coyote was around, they actually “asked” to be leashed by hugging against their owners’ legs! Leashing gives a sense of protection to everyone.
Any extremely active dog may arouse a coyote. I’ve seen a calm, resting coyote jolt up to attention when it saw this kind of activity, even from the distance. I think this may be because coyotes themselves are not at all hyperactive unless it is in a predator type of situation. It might be that seeing hyperactivity, such as that engaged in in dog-play may arouse predator and defensive instincts in a coyote.
What do coyotes do when dogs are not around? Life is exquisite for them in our urban parks which are full of small rodents and sources of water! I’ve seen young ones play, I’ve seen them all hunt, I’ve seen them sleep, and mostly, I see them resting on hilltops, basking in the sun, just like the little bull Ferdinand. Ferdinand was discovered by his captors as he sat on a bee: he was taken for being the most ferocious bull in all of Spain, when in fact, he just wanted to sit in a field and smell the flowers. Coyotes, too, are not aggressive, but they will defend themselves from dogs. Dogs are a coyote’s main threat in an urban area. Thanks for reading this.
IN SUM
*coyotes are not aggressive, but may actively attempt to keep their territories safe for themselves and their pups. The biggest threats to urban coyotes come from our dogs. We can help keep both our dogs and the coyotes safe, and feeling safe, by keeping them well apart in our parks.
*keep dogs leashed in a coyote area and always walk AWAY from them. It’s not enough simply to leash.
*avoid active “play” with your dog, such as catching a ball, in an area where you see coyotes frequently — frequent sightings in particular areas indicates they live close by or claim the area.
*always be vigilant: if you even see a coyote, walk on and away from it with your dog leashed — keep your distance.
*if there is a negative encounter with a coyote and your dog, leave the area for both animals to calm down.
*you are unlikely to see a coyote often, but when you do, it is best to know what behaviors it might exhibit.
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Coyote Yipps 