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Old July 11, 2009, 06:32 AM   #35
Daryl
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Join Date: July 11, 2008
Posts: 2,350
On coy-dogs...

I've hunted coyotes for over 30 years (actually, closer to 33 years), and I've yet to see a coyote that looked like anything but a coyote. I see a domestic dog loose often enough, but they're obviously used to humans and are domesticated pooches.

Feral dogs around here hang out in areas at the edge of town, and beg scraps from those who'll share. Some get adopted by tender hearted folks, but I suspect that most eventually starve. The desert is a harsh environment to dump your pet into.

Now, having shot well over 1000 coyotes in my years of hunting/calling them, I can honestly say that I've NEVER seen a coy-dog. Coyotes look like coyotes, and exhibit the characteristics of coyotes (walk with tail down rather than up, and so forth). Dogs exhibit the characteristics of dogs (tail up, friendly towards people, and so forth).

I know that it's biologically possible for them to interbreed, but I suspect that because of their natural activities, habits, and characteristically suspicious nature towards dogs, that it's almighty rare for a coyote to breed a dog, or for a dog to breed a coyote. In fact, I've some SERIOUS doubts about a bitch coyote letting a dog breed her. To understand my doubts, you'd have to study up on coyote habits though; they aren't typical dogs by any stretch of the wildest imagination. They don't have the same breeding habits, nor do they raise their young the same way a dog does.

Not saying it can't happen, but that it's almighty rare. I've shot an awful lot of coyotes in areas inhabited by both coyotes AND dogs, and I've yet to ever see a coy-dog...ever.

Daryl
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