This is a great question, a common question from you all, and one that requires a lengthy and multifaceted answer, so I’ll take it in parts. First of all, I don’t have a ton of experience with dogs; spending time with the dogs my friends and family members have (and now Chloe, the puppy) is the extent of it. So, I can only use what I’ve seen for this comparison, though I’m sure there is great variation among dogs.
Social Behavior With People:
Every dog I’ve known has been eager to meet strangers and been incredibly accepting and friendly towards humans they’ve never met. Though some dogs are antisocial and most animals will be less accepting of certain people (reading their energy), the generalization I’m making is obvious at any park, and it’s why there’s the old cliche that guys get dogs to meet chicks.
Charlie’s the opposite. He does not blindly accept people (other than MC and me), he doesn’t trust them, he doesn’t want to get friendly with them. I don’t know if this is soley a function of being a coyote or if a natural tendency was exacerbated because I was so concerned about keeping him low-key in my town that I did not socialize him to lots of people when he was young.
Charlie has never tried to attack strangers who come by, but if he felt cornered or threatened, he might. Sometimes he makes a territorial challenge huff-bark when people come to my house, other times he hides and watches from afar. It depends on the person, how close they get, and how long they stay.
When it comes to social behavior with people, Charlie is more like the average adult than the average dog – he goes in on the defensive and does not offer up his trust, it must be drawn out and earned over time.
A coyote’s natural lifespan is similar to a dog’s; 10, 12, 15 years. Charlie is now a significant factor in my future plans. He is part of my life and will be taken into consideration in all my decision making; his needs will be taken into consideration in my decision making. It’s simply the way it is, and I don’t have any problem with that, though it does add complexity to everything.
I have no idea where the course of my life will take me; so far, it’s been so bizarre that I’ve stopped attempting to predict. I wouldn’t move Charlie into the city, obviously, and this is fine. It doesn’t seem like a sacrifice; it’s the facts of my life, and when I lived in the city I lived it to the max, and I don’t long for it (except for sushi). So, the only thing I can answer with certainty is that everything I will or may do will be done with Charlie in mind.
Charlie has never seen another cat. I know they’re in the area because Eli has come home with another cat’s claw sticking straight out of his forehead (I have faith the other guy looked worse), but they never come around here, and Charlie and I have never crossed paths with other cats on our walks.
I have no idea if Eli has directly encountered any coyote besides Charlie, I’ve never been witness to it. I’m sure Eli knows Charlie’s individual scent and I would assume he would steer clear of coyotes while he’s roaming the countryside like the star of an old Western, but who knows. Maybe they’re his posse.
I wanted to so badly but the cows ate all the corn before I got my hands on a video camera. Next year, I promise, because it’s truly amazing to watch his corn antics in live action. I can’t decide if it’s a mesmerizing coyote ballet, or if it will turn into the latest rage in aerobics videos.
I guess I didn’t explain this well enough in the post below. It got to the point where it was undeniable that Charlie was with me for life. He was emotionally attached to me and Eli and MC and taking him into the wild would be like any of you abandoning an animal that had become family – a form of cruelty.
Separate from that, Charlie had gotten just accostomed enough to the ways of humans to, if he were set out in the wild, be a danger to himself and to others. Separate even from that are statistics. In the past six months, over five hundred coyotes have been killed in my county alone just from the aerial program. That’s not taking into account coyotes that are trapped or shot on foot. Charlie wouldn’t have lasted a week.
Once it was certain that Charlie was going to stick around and like it, I wondered if neutering him would give him peace of mind. We all know what hormones will do to a brain. I didn’t want Charlie to be trapped in internal conflict between wanting to be “home” and the drive to procreate. I talked with educated folks about this stuff and the facts corroborated my intuition.
