Scared both Max and I

[Julie and Max]

On the 23rd Max was crying to go outside at about 3 in the morning. Now usually he doesn't do that so late, but we figured he had to go. We have a very large backyard and it's pretty dark out there at night.  My husband had thought he heard a dog bark just before he let him out but  didn't think too much about it.

My husband let him out, and he ran half way down the yard, and suddenly all this yipping started, and Max had run to the back fence. Now I consider myself very lucky because so far Max doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body, and all he wants to is play with other dogs. My husband called him, but he would not come back to the door, and the yipping was louder and now there was howling too. Now I was scared, even though I knew nothing could get in our yard through the six foot privacy fence it was just a lot of noise.

My husband put on his boots and coat and went out to get Max. When he got to the fence and peered through, there were three coyotes standing at my fence, yipping and howling at Max. I was standing at the door, but that really freaked me out.  

We live in the city but our house backs onto a nature trail pretty much and I have always known that there were coyotes living on the other side of the trail but never thought too much about them. I walk on the trail, but I always go before dark and I've never seen a coyote.

The next day we went for our walk on the trail and there had been a new snowfall the night before. I could see three sets of paw print tracks and no people tracks, and Max kept looking around like he was nervous which is unlike him. 

The next night he didn't even really want to go outside once it was dark and I had to go out with him, I guess he had figured out that those other "doggies" weren't friendly?

Anyhow, after our close encounter with the coyotes I went and read a lot about them, but hopefully we won't encounter anymore.

[Stella]

I live in the country and have had both wolves and coyotes on my property. My property is not fenced and the dogs only go out on leash after dark.

[Julie and Max]

Sally coyotes can go over the fence?

Nicky that is a great idea, I guess I didn't worry about it too much before we got the pup, but now I don't like that I can't see him when he goes to the back of the yard at night. 

[Sally S Miles]

We do live in the country and the coyotes can be freaky - so we fenced of two sections of yard for my own piece of mind, (small one for business and large one for play)   still they can pace the fence and if they want over it they will go over - but in the dark it's scary.  We also have raccoons and last week there was a loud tussle that had our pup clinging to my leg for a long time.    The coyotes are wary of people, but do pay attention to lunar cycle and keep a bright light handy.   Hubby keeps a pile of rocks, toss one their way and they scatter - not to hit them - just go away.  

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Yikes, that's pretty scary. We don't have coyotes but we do have a big back yard and if the dogs go out at night we have a big sensor outdoor light that helps us see where they are. Maybe you could put in one of those sensor lights that would scare off any unwanted visitors.