Hi Janet —
I had a very scary interaction with two coyotes in the heart of a park where the trail runs parallel to a dense brushy area. My dog Ginger and I were by ourselves, surrounded by two coyotes that would not go away. I jumped up and down, waving my arms allover the place and yelling and they didn’t budge. Finally one went into the bush but just stayed there and then the other on the trail started towards us.
I did the jumping yelling thing and the one backed away but turned around, started walking towards us again. Like 15 feet away. Finally I just pulled Ginger’s leash tight to me and ran. I know you’re not supposed to do that, but nothing else was working. We ran up to a knoll and were not followed there. It was getting dark, past 8pm, a bit scary indeed!
I wish that man was not doing that thing with his dog, challenging the coyote, corralling his dog to go after the coyotes. I have a feeling that sort of human behavior is a bad influence and perhaps contributed to this situation I had.
Scott
Hi Scott —
I’m sorry about your negative experience with the coyotes — and especially that it happened to you, a coyote sympathizer, even though it is best that it happened to you and not someone else with no feeling for the coyotes. In fact, you were being messaged to keep away from a den area.
Coyote messaging can be very, very scary — it’s got to be to be effective, otherwise dogs and people would just ignore the message. The coyotes you encountered were not pursuing you and they were not out to hurt you or Ginger — they were keeping you from getting closer to something important. You were simply being told not to get any closer — to move away: “Go Away!” But next time don’t run! Sometimes running will incite them to chase after you! And next time go the other way the minute you see a coyote, totally avoiding the animal from the word go.
If and when a coyote doesn’t back up, it’s almost always because of a den, and it’s always best to shorten your leash and leave right away. If coyotes don’t move after one or two attempts to get them to move, this should be the protocol: leave the area. You don’t want to engage with a den-defending coyote because they will nip at a dog who cannot read their “standing guard” message — we already know that this is what they do, and by not listening to their simple message, you would actually be provoking an incident.
It’s an instinct, and really has nothing to do with the idiot who was attempting to force his dog on the coyotes. That is a totally unrelated issue which needs to be addressed.
Encountering a den-defending coyote always creates a lot of fear in people, and I understand why — it’s meant to. People need to know about it, why it happens, and how to deal with it. It’s a situation which should always be walked away from, no different from what you would do if you saw a skunk with its tail raised, a dog warning you off, or a swarm of bees. We know how to read the messages from these animals, and we usually abide by the messages to keep the peace and not get stung or sprayed or bitten. We can do the same with coyotes. A defensive or protective coyote is only doing his job — such an encounter in no way means the animal is aggressive.
Janet
Coyote Yipps 
Jun 09, 2015 @ 18:15:18
Thank you, Janet. Excellent information!
Jun 10, 2015 @ 05:37:56
Hi Janet and Scott. Janet I agree with your reply to Scott entirely and a few years ago had many encounters with a family of denning coyotes. At first I misread their messaging and you helped me to understand where they were coming from. I hadn’t even noticed that the mom coyote was so obviously lactating. I found one thing that did work when I was surprised by a dad coyote with pups around that kept insisting I leave.
I had my dog with me just like Scott did; and I recognized that I had to leave no ifs ands or buts about it. But I didn’t feel comfortable turning my back on the coyote. So what I did was to walk backward while facing him. If he came forward I stopped and planted my feet and yelled. Once he stopped I continued on walking backward. At some point he let the distance between us grow larger, and at some point I felt comfortable turning my back on him, walking a few paces with my back to him, and then turning again back toward him to see what he was doing. I can’t say for certain, but the dad coyote did seem to understand what I was doing: leaving and letting him know not to get too close.
I read that between coyote neighbors, it is usually just one coyote who will chase out an intruding neighbor coyote. So with Scott, where one went away and the other didn’t: that seems to be behavior that matches the pattern I saw and read about. I had wondered in my retreat if the other one was going to try something funny. That was never the case in my experience, one acted alone and did not have another one deployed in some kind of master plan, e.g., never had one of the two circle around me and get us from the side or from behind or anything like that.
Aug 04, 2019 @ 20:18:35
Thanks for this excellent informational site. I recently had what I believe to be a coyote defending its den incident. In June I was walking my 40lb terrier in a relatively large (around 70 acres) semi-wilderness area in Columbus, Ohio. I noticed a very small pup in the distance. I had seen fox in there before but never coyote. So, out of curiosity, my leashed dog and I walked toward the area. When we arrived, we no longer saw the pup but did see a large hollowed out tree in the same area which my old and blind dog was vigorously sniffing. Suddenly I heard this loud, low grunting sound and when I turned toward it, I saw, no further than 25 feet away from me, a large coyote staring at me and jumping straight up and down on all 4 legs. I tried to scare it off by raising my arms and roaring but it would not budge from its position. I pulled my dog from its sniffing frenzy and we quickly started walking away while continuing to glance back over my shoulder. What struck me as odd was that the coyote followed us out of the area and at one point, another large adult joined him/her at following me out at distance of 40 feet or so. The further we walked from the area, the greater the distance they followed behind until they finally turned around. In thinking about this later, I believed this to be an instance of a mating pair defending their pups den. And now after reviewing your Site, I see many similarities. I’ve been very selective over any neighbors I’ve told about this because I don’t want to incite any of the area homeowners doing something to hurt them out of ignorant fear. I have respect for what these animals did to defend their young. My last point is that these coyote were larger, with a somewhat darker coat, than any coyote I’ve ever seen before. And because of this, I’ve assumed they are actually coywolves.
I’d appreciate any comments to my experience.
Aug 04, 2019 @ 23:26:48
Hi Tony!
Thank you for sharing your coyote encounter experience. Indeed, especially after having sighted the pup, it had to have been a den. Coyotes will defend, usually by visual means, as here, to get you to leave. They will also follow — “escorting” you and your dog out of the area. It’s all very “defensive” behavior, to protect their den site. During pupping season, coyotes become much more “assertive”, but this doesn’t mean these are aggressive animals, as you yourself were able to understand. An assertive coyote has a message for you, and you must listen. This is not “aggressive” behavior. Thank you for listening to your correct intuitions. Regarding your neighbors, all they have to do is keep away from that area and keep their dogs away from the coyotes: whenever they see one, they should turn around and go the other way, without running.
As for these being coy wolves, I don’t know. I believe coy wolves do inhabit Ohio, but please know that, although they are larger than the Western Coyote, the 30% wolf in those animals actually makes them even more aversive to humans: they stay away from humans and don’t want to tangle with us, UNLESS they must to protect their young.
Please let me know if this is the kind of answer you wanted. If you need further explanation, I will be happy to elaborate. Janet