Barking Coyotes

[Mountain Man Jim]

So, coyotes bark!? I didn’t know this. My wife heard an annoying, yappy kind of barking outside. She thought maybe a neighbor’s small, yappy dog was loose (the kind we call barking squirrels). When she got outside she saw a lone coyote barking in the field. And, then a pack of four other coyotes raced by with the barking coyote. Apparently, the barking coyote was summoning the others.

Details: This happened in the late afternoon. Our dogs were outside and engaged in protecting the yard, chickens were roaming around the backyard. The pack of coyotes ran through the field south of our property (fenced). But, the terrain forces them to come fairly close to our fence line. No biggy, they gave the dogs something to chase and bark about. It’s good to reminding why they are outside all day.

Jim

 

[4-H chicken mom]

They are getting ready to hunt.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FcN5kBXAiw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JWX_G1FbHk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3tIFazlxC4&feature=related

 

[madimorg]

Yes, they most definitely bark a yippy bark. We hear them pretty much on a nightly bases and the yippy bark is the most common.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

I usually hear them barking when they are trying to call out our dogs....

 

[gritsar]

I hear them starting their serenade every evening, about the time I'm locking the chickens up.

 

[Mountain Man Jim]

Quote:
Thanks, the first was the closest. It even riled the dogs.

Jim

 

[sourland]

A single coyote may bark for several reasons. She may have been trying to lure one of your dogs away so that the pack could attack. She may have been calling the pack to regroup. Regardless of how large your dogs are, a pack if large and hungry enough may give them a try. Generally they will not mess with two or more dogs, but a single dog frequently becomes a target.

 

[Whimsy]

I hear them yip more in the spring when there are pups around and when they have made a kill. I never let my two small dogs out alone for fear of an attack. The most dangerous are the Coys(dog and coyote mix) they don't have as much fear of humans and are very brazen.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
FYI The so-called coydog is a myth or, at best, extremely rare since the two animals do not have the same breeding cycle. DNA studies of coyotes found less than one-tenth of one percent have any dog genes. Besides, even if there were this kind of a mix, there is no reason to believe they'd be any more or less afraid of humans than the pure ones. It is just that some coyotes have learned not to be afraid of humans because humans have become a source of food either deliberately--some people feed them--or through garbage and/or pets being left where the coyotes can eat them. The Eastern coyote is more closely related to the gray or timber wolf than dogs which, once they have lost their fear of humans, makes them especially dangerous.