Hunting & Heritage,Bird Dogs & Training  |  10/23/2013

A Coyote Attacks Your Bird Dog - What Do You Do?


7177eb12-de5f-4344-8b16-d7e1f9d70ea0

I stumbled across an interesting Outdoor Life photo gallery in which two farm dogs (one yellow Lab and one mix) attempted to catch and de-fur a coyote that entered their property. When it was all said and done (SPOILER ALERT) all three “dogs” escaped without harm due to the coyote taking first prize in the ole’ Farmstead 500.

This encounter may have ended well, but it got me thinking. I’ve prepared for the inevitable skunk encounter (thanks in part to Pheasants Forever’s Bob St. Pierre and his German shorthaired pointer’s well known affinity for the striped spray artists), but I’ve never thought much about how I’d handle a coyote.  However, with their increasing range in territories and the ever mounting number of pet vs. coyote encounters (even within city limits), maybe I should give this some more thought.

More often than not, the sneaky little predator will run off with its tail between its legs. But what if this isn’t the case? What if the ‘yote turns face and decides it wants to enter the ring with my relatively small (60 lb.) wonder mutt? To be honest, I don’t have the answer for this.

We all know the old adage that you don’t step in the middle of a dog fight and I’m certainly not going to spray bird shot anywhere near my best friend… So what would I do? I have a hard time thinking I’d just stand there and hope for the best, but until I’m put in that position that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’ll just sit here and hope for the best and pray I never have to deal with this scenario.

What would you do? Have your dogs ever had a close call with a predator?

- Andrew Vavra, Pheasants Forever’s Marketing Specialist.