Lisa
Moderator
- Location
- Alberta, Canada
Welp. We had to take the pooch from home to the city to drop him off there for my daughter to take care of while we went to a wedding in BC. We stayed in Edmonton over night, intending to leave early the next morning as it's an approximate 6 hour drive from there.
So we got up around 6:30 or so and had a bite of breakfast, and around 7:15 - 7:30 AM headed out to take Simba for a walk before we left, as Sarah would be at work all day. Our downtown condo is right beside the river valley and there is a really nice path that goes down partway along the bank that slopes towards the river and then runs parallel to the river. There's nice tree cover and bushes and is quiet along there.
Being early in the morning there were not a lot of people. We were ambling along, chatting, with Simba sniffing and investigating every bush. There are hares, squirrels galore plus lots of dogs get walked along there so lots to sniff at. He had turned back a bit to sniff under a bush and I was in mid-sentence when I saw a flash of movement under the bush, heading away, and then turning quickly back. I thought it was a hare - same colouring- but suddenly a full-grown coyote was there, jumping out towards us!
THANKFULLY Simba was not on the extendi-lead we have been using the last few months. We had forgot it at home and were using the 5' leash. Otherwise I don't know what would have happened. But Simba's lunge towards the coyote was stopped short, and it stood there, looking at him. Simba was not reacting other than showing great interest, and he made a move towards it again, and it bared its fangs at him.
It was a very healthy coyote - lots of scavenging to do in the river valley, not to mention all the squirrels and hares. It was also not fazed at all by us or by Simba, he just stood there, looking at us as we dragged the pooch away. It stood behind us staring at us for quite some time. I say it was a bit bigger than Simba, but OH says it was a bit smaller.
It was a bit frightening, thinking about what might have happened. I'm pretty sure if Simba was a small dog he would have been a goner. As it was, he was big enough to give the coyote pause. There have been lots of coyote attacks on pets and people this summer in cities across Canada, so I'm very glad we had the pooch around to discourage it coming up behind and biting us...which has happened to others.
I don't know if I want to walk there alone in the early morning - actually I usually don't, more so because of the risk of running into nasty people rather than coyotes. But now I for sure will stick to the streets if I'm by myself.
If I would have been thinking I could have got a very close picture of a coyote to show you, or even one of him standing on the path watching us from further away. But all I was concerned about was getting out of there!
So we got up around 6:30 or so and had a bite of breakfast, and around 7:15 - 7:30 AM headed out to take Simba for a walk before we left, as Sarah would be at work all day. Our downtown condo is right beside the river valley and there is a really nice path that goes down partway along the bank that slopes towards the river and then runs parallel to the river. There's nice tree cover and bushes and is quiet along there.
Being early in the morning there were not a lot of people. We were ambling along, chatting, with Simba sniffing and investigating every bush. There are hares, squirrels galore plus lots of dogs get walked along there so lots to sniff at. He had turned back a bit to sniff under a bush and I was in mid-sentence when I saw a flash of movement under the bush, heading away, and then turning quickly back. I thought it was a hare - same colouring- but suddenly a full-grown coyote was there, jumping out towards us!
THANKFULLY Simba was not on the extendi-lead we have been using the last few months. We had forgot it at home and were using the 5' leash. Otherwise I don't know what would have happened. But Simba's lunge towards the coyote was stopped short, and it stood there, looking at him. Simba was not reacting other than showing great interest, and he made a move towards it again, and it bared its fangs at him.
It was a very healthy coyote - lots of scavenging to do in the river valley, not to mention all the squirrels and hares. It was also not fazed at all by us or by Simba, he just stood there, looking at us as we dragged the pooch away. It stood behind us staring at us for quite some time. I say it was a bit bigger than Simba, but OH says it was a bit smaller.
It was a bit frightening, thinking about what might have happened. I'm pretty sure if Simba was a small dog he would have been a goner. As it was, he was big enough to give the coyote pause. There have been lots of coyote attacks on pets and people this summer in cities across Canada, so I'm very glad we had the pooch around to discourage it coming up behind and biting us...which has happened to others.
I don't know if I want to walk there alone in the early morning - actually I usually don't, more so because of the risk of running into nasty people rather than coyotes. But now I for sure will stick to the streets if I'm by myself.
If I would have been thinking I could have got a very close picture of a coyote to show you, or even one of him standing on the path watching us from further away. But all I was concerned about was getting out of there!
