This urban coyote, to me, is a little strange looking. The other 9-month olds that I know do not look quite like this (see photos below). I’m not sure I can say exactly *how* he looks different — possibly he’s just a little bit compressed or stunted in size? But maybe I’m wrong: it did occur to me that his oddness might just be a variation of normal that I’m simply not accustomed to. That would be good news. Alternately, he could be *handicapped* or even *challenged* in some way, and that would be bad news. OR, I even wondered if there might be the possibility that he’s an urban coydog? Probably not, but I decided to do a posting on coydogs.
The Coydog is a hybrid between a coyote and a dog. It has many features common to the coyote, both temperamentally and in appearance. A true coydog is 1/2 coyote: it has one pure coyote as one of its parents. Coydogs are MUCH less common than people think. For one, coyotes have a once-a-year breeding season (January through March), while dogs are on a twice-a-year schedule which is well after the coyote’s. The vast majority of reported or claimed “coydogs” are not coyote crosses at all, but simply husky or German shepherd crosses that look vaguely coyote-ish.
Coydogs vary in appearance, depending on which dogs they have bred with. I found that, “they can be differentiated by their typical dark neonatal hair color, a white face mask, ebony coat color in adulthood, and a bushy, downward tail. Like the coyotes, their ears are triangular, and they have piercing eyes.”
It is not known whether fertility drops in coydogs — it does not drop with wolf/dog breeding. Coydogs do only two things that wolves & dogs don’t do: they have the unique ability to gape (instead of a doglike snarl) like its coyote parent, when threatened. And, they can emit a hissing sound like a cat, which other dogs can’t. Besides these two similarities, coydogs make sounds that are a fusion of a howl and a high pitch bark.
The individual disposition of coydogs might range from a shy, timid nature, to a gentle, friendly one, to one who is so overly fearful that it would feel threatened and afraid very easily, resulting in aggression or even biting. Coydogs, as coyotes, are very territorial. Their behavior is skittish and can be outright aggressive towards “intruders”. This is one of the reasons they do not make good pets.Another reason is that they need lots of individual affection and care — much like a human child — which is, of course, what their parents give them. They are intelligent, aggressive (compared to most domestic dogs), strong, loyal and energetic.
Most 9-month old coyotes look like this
another 9-month old
Jan 18, 2018 @ 21:33:19
Great article. I didn’t know…
Jun 07, 2018 @ 20:18:09
I would like to find out what my dogs DNA is exactly. I dont have alot of money. What do i have to do?
Jun 07, 2018 @ 20:31:07
Hi Joanne, You’ll have to go online to find a place that will do it. There are a lot of businesses that now do this. I think the price is about $50 to $100. Janet
Jul 02, 2019 @ 15:06:15
We adopted a dog from the shelter. I have had a lot of people tell me that she looks like a coyote. In doing some other research this weekend, I stumbled across some articles and pictures of coydogs. My dog looks just like some of the ones in the pictures. And reading up on it, her disposition is a lot like them also. I don’t mind doing the DNA testing because I have children in the home and I am not willing to take the chance of them being in danger. Before ordering the test, however, is there someone who knows a lot about these animals that could take a look at her picture first?
Jul 02, 2019 @ 17:06:40
Hi Brandi —
Coydogs tend not to look so much like coyotes, they look more like their “dog” parent from what I’ve read. I know a lot of dogs that LOOK like coyotes but have absolutely no “coyote” in them. Frankly, ANY dog can inflict a bite. Children tend to be most vulnerable to dog bites because they have such erratic behaviors. Children should be taught to be calm around all dogs. Having said all this, the ONLY way to know if you have a coydog is through a DNA test: each one LOOKS very different from the next depending on what the “dog” parent looked like. Hope this helps! Janet
Jun 26, 2020 @ 19:10:07
A vet said a coy dog probably bite m cats tail off , im missing 2 cats from last yr. It must been hungry, 1000 bucks to op but had to give up my rights, ill miss my blackie & he’ll miss us im sure. Not ur regular cat!
Jun 28, 2020 @ 16:30:47
Hi Tammy — I’m so sorry about the loss of your cats: I’m sure Blackie will miss you as much as you miss him. Cats are killed out of doors by multiple entities, including mostly by cars, dogs, and coyotes. Also, when they get old, they often wander off to die on their own. You can protect your kitties from now on by not allowing them to roam free. Please take care of them.
Jan 30, 2021 @ 21:10:28
I worked at shelter in Florida. A woman brought in a tiny puppy and said they had their farm dog breeding with a coyote. The mother and 3 of the puppies had died. I took it home because they were going to euthanize her. She was gentle with our kids and other pets. She was not food aggressive, nor strange animal aggressive though she loved to chase squirrels.
The only problem was she was very protective of me which is a little hard with 6 kids. She wouldn’t growl or bite, just get between or if our lab came up for a scratch, Lady would nose her way between us.
This is just one family’s experience. We had her 15 years and it was traumatic for our whole family. She was a wonder.
Jan 30, 2021 @ 22:03:57
Hi Cinda — Thank you for sharing your story! I’ve had no experience with coydogs, but I’ve been told that neither they, nor full coyotes make good pets BECAUSE they are so protective of their owners. They tend to bond for life with their mates, so you can see that they are extremely loyal — and it’s this that probably dovetails into your own experience. Very interesting also that she lived 15 years “in captivity”, i.e., under the care of humans and not in the wild where they live much shorter lives because of the rough lives they live. If you have any photos, I would love to see what she looked like! :)) Janet
Feb 18, 2021 @ 19:28:20
We have 5 dogs one of them is a coy dog. We don’t know what to do with her…she attracts our little dogs to where they are hurt. She’s a really good dog but she can’t be alone or around them. We want to keep her but just don’t know what to do!
Feb 18, 2021 @ 19:46:23
Hi Sandra — I don’t know much about coydogs — I’ve never seen or been around them. But what I’ve heard is that they are at the same time too tame to survive in the wild for long, and too wild to make good pets. I would think that your little dogs after a time would not be attracted to the coydog if she hurts them. Or, maybe set up a child-proof gate within the house and yard to keep them separate? I found this article online and am hoping it might help you: https://www.perfectdogbreeds.com/coydog/
Nov 18, 2023 @ 05:12:23
Hi Janet,
We have a dog, Peanut, who is 9 months old. DNA testing told us she is 50% border collie 25% Australian Cattle Dog and 25% coyote. Her dad was a coydog. She is wonderful with all kinds of people and children, loves to play with other dogs, and smart as hell. She only looks vaguely coyote-ish and that’s mostly due to her slim build and bushy tail.
She makes some of the craziest sounds I’ve ever heard from a dog, when she barks it starts like a normal bark and ends up turning into a high pitched howl or a coyote like yip.
She’s about 30 lbs and stands 16 inches at the withers.
We found her abandoned under my car at 2 1/2 weeks old. Here’s a pic of her from that night: https://imgur.com/a/qVga1Hv
And pictures I took of her a couple afternoons ago: https://imgur.com/a/2dAYhk5
I’m certain that if she were any less dog and more coyote, she’d definitely make a poor house pet. Her prey drive is very high but is tempered by her herding instincts.
We live outside of San Diego. Coyotes are thriving here, Peanut thinks they are like her! At night, when the coyotes are outside in our backyard, she sits at the window and whines because I won’t let her go play with the other “doggies”!!
They are so interesting to watch, amazing how in many ways they are just like our dogs but still remain very different and wild.
Nov 18, 2023 @ 06:28:03
Hi Madeline —
What a great story! I love what you say about her vocalizations and wanting to be with the other coyotes! As you say, she doesn’t look much like a coyote except for her small size, but I’ve read that coydogs tend to always look more like the *dog* in them than the *coyote*. Thank you so much for sharing! Please keep me updated on any behavioral developments, or anything else about her that you’d like to share. Janet
Oct 26, 2024 @ 00:24:00
I just had a run in with what I believe was a coy dog. It was playing in the woods with my dog while we were on a walk, I have a smooth collie and we generally walk off leash. The ‘dog’ was as tall as my collie and about the same height and weight. When I came around the corner and saw the animal, it immediately took off and I put my dog on a leash. About 3 minutes later I heard the animal barking like a regular dog but then at the end it’s barking ‘session’, it would yip (just once) like it had gotten hurt. This went one repeatedly for about 5 minutes with me walking as fast as possible in the opposite direction.
I would like to know is if these animals are known to be aggressive.
Nov 10, 2024 @ 06:00:34
Hi Martha — I do not have any experience with coydogs. I do know that many people have approached me telling me that they have a coydog (half coyote), which in ALL cases I knew not to be true. From what I’ve read, coydogs exhibit characteristics that make them too wild to be pets, but too domesticated to survive well in the wild.
Coyotes — pure coyotes — are not known to be aggressive towards humans. However, dogs and coyotes do not like each other and the best protocol is to keep them far apart. I’m giving you a generalization here: I do not know if the animal you have been running into is in fact *mostly* dog or *mostly* coyote — I think this would be an important factor.
Sorry I can’t be of more help. Janet