Coydogs

image Coydogs. Are they real creatures, or just the stuff of urban legend? As the name implies, a coydog would be a cross between a coyote and a dog. But according to Chrissie Henner, a biologist at the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, they're an urban legend. She says that "there has never been any physical evidence of a half-dog, half-coyote animal." Not that it would be impossible for the two species to mate and produce an offspring, just very unlikely. Though Henner also points out that the mating cycles of the two species differ: "Coyotes go in to heat between January and March and have pups in May or June, while dogs have their pups in winter." So if animal experts such as Henner are correct that there's no physical evidence of the existence of coydogs, then what exactly is the Sundance Coydogs site selling? Are these coyotes, or dogs that look coyote-like, or real coydogs?

Animals

Posted on Tue Dec 21, 2004



Comments

I know someone who use to breed them
in Oregon.But she no longer does.
Here is her site.
http://www.coydog.us/
You can look at hers and see if your dog is
similiar.
Posted by annie  on  Tue Sep 08, 2009  at  09:15 AM
thanks annie for responding to my posting yesterday, however, I have tried to go on that email address that you sent....coydog.us/ and have not been able to make a contact....is there another email address or tele number that I can call them....where are they located also? any help that I can get will be greatly appreciated as we would love to keep this female dog, however, she is developing quite an interest in our goats and am wondering what we can do to keep her from doing any harm.thanks again...ruby
Posted by ruby  on  Wed Sep 09, 2009  at  11:37 PM
Hi Ruby,
Not surprised since she is doing her website
over.
She lives in Oregon....
I think the email address that is shown is the
only one.
Have you tried sending her a picture?
Posted by annie  on  Sat Sep 12, 2009  at  09:19 PM
Ruby, I had a coydog and she was great with my goats. Granted she was younger when I got her . Bring her with you when ever you do chores and make he understand that these are your goats and be nice. But watch her carefully. It may take some time but hopefully she will come to understand that they are her goats too. Mine were dairy goats and it was quite easy to have her with me in the barn at milking time.
Posted by Beth Corbett  on  Tue Oct 06, 2009  at  12:38 PM
Coydogs do exist. Where I lived in Wyoming they were bred together to make great work dogs. My border collie/coyote combination lived to be 21 years old. She was a great dog
Posted by Greg  on  Wed Oct 21, 2009  at  12:28 AM
My coydog was named Julep. She was a great cattle dog, but had a really bad habit of killing cats and rabbits and eating them. Used to really upset the neighbors when we moved off the ranch and into town.
Posted by Greg  on  Wed Oct 21, 2009  at  12:35 AM
Hi, I was wondering if anyone could tell me the chances of finding a coydog in Alaska. We have a one year old "husky mix" we got him from Anchorage Animal Control they said that his litter was two months old and that they had spent their entire life outside. He's very skittish, especially towards men. He has huge ears that stick straight up and he's skinny and tall. When he sleeps he curls into a tiny ball and tucks his nose under his legs. We thought he was part greyhound because he's so skinny and can run so fast, but after looking at picture of coydogs he looks a lot more like a coydog than a greyhound. He has the markings and coloring of a black and white husky or malamute. I hope that someone can tell me weather or not coydogs exist in Alaska, also, if I take him to the vet is their a DNA test to tell if he's part coyote?
Posted by Katy  on  Mon Nov 23, 2009  at  12:58 PM
If there are coyotes there are coydogs. Ask the native people. Here, they prefer coydogs and can spot them easily. White people are scared of coys but we have never had a bad one (except one was too nervous but he looked pure coyote).

We recently moved to a place farther out in the bush and the neighbors have lost dogs to coyotes who lure the bigger ones out on the lake ice, then finish them off. Once my coy chased a coyote but stopped and ran for cover (me) as soon as she saw there were two of them. So it looks like she knew they were up to no good.

Our coy was born on a reserve so we know she was born to a half coyote mother and a wild father. She was skittish at first but has become calmer. She is very different in personality from our other coys but they are all natural-born killers when it comes to mice, etc. One used to go down to the swamp and catch a big fish whenever she wanted something different to eat.
Posted by Kay Graham  on  Tue Nov 24, 2009  at  02:59 PM
I have flirted with the idea for awhile that my Willow could be a Coydog. Now that I'm doing some research I feel even stronger about it. Her Golden Ret mother was rescued with 6 pups; 5 which looked just like Mama and oddball Willow. She has the most intense, gold, almond eyes and long thin snout. Her coat is blonde, with a few odd chocolate blotches, thick but not long (not much that's retriever in it). And yes, tail is normally carried down though not particularly bushy. She is gentle, attached to me at the hip, extremely shy & fearful (in new situations) since day 1. Not people-aggressive at all but very dominant to her 100# 'sister' (Willow is about 80# and built like a tank!). She is a bit resource-aggressive with bones and snarls like nothing I have every heard before. This is a constant correction point in our home. She is also quite the talker with me. She has the retriever love of swimming or chasing balls (occasionally) but attacks it with a strange, serious intensity. In a year & 1/2 I have really never seen her playful or puppylike. In fact, she gets very angry when my other dog wants to play with me; she will not allow it. I adore her, but there is just something different about her. I've always said, while Frannie is the watchdog, that I believe Willow could be the 'surprise' if anyone tried to hurt me. Would love to have genetic testing. Will post pic if someone tells me where. I just fell onto this page doing research. Also, where would I find the info referenced about paw pads and teeth? I remember the vet initially questioned her age when she looked at her teeth @ 5-6 months. She was born early April or near to.
Posted by Cynthia  on  Mon Jan 04, 2010  at  07:04 PM
I have a dog(Misty) that I am 100% sure is a coydog, especially after watching some videos on coyotes. We got her from a shelter a few towns over and her mommy was a white shepherd. From the way she moves and seems to regard our yard(which is fairly big) as her territory it's pretty obvious. She also seems to definitely have a wild streak and often hunts down smaller animals(squirrels/skunks/raccoons/chipmunks/birds) pretty seriously(They never get away and much of the time they're half or mostly eaten when we find them.), unlike most dogs she doesn't present her kill to us. She has a pretty relaxed temperament but is almost always on guard. She's not skittish or shy about people, but that seems to be more of an environmental thing(however she's always very nervous around young children.). She also seems to sort of be the pack leader among our dogs, which we have three of.
Posted by Anthony  on  Thu Jan 07, 2010  at  06:05 AM
Oh and I forgot to add, we also have a couple of cats that this dog plays with but since we got her very young she's pretty good with them. We just had to train her to know that they belong in the house and she didn't have an issue. However once a strange cat wandered into our yard and she eviscerated it.
Posted by Anthony  on  Thu Jan 07, 2010  at  06:10 AM
Although some of you may THINK that a Collie and a Coyote can NOT breed, I am here to tell you that you are oh so very wrong. In 1975, while living in northern Alberta, a farmer approached my father with a problem. His female Collie was involved with a male coyote. The result... He had a litter of half breed puppies that the farmer did not want. I was happy to find out that my father rescued one of these puppies and brought her home. She had the markings of a collie, however her coloring was not as red as a collie but more mixed like a coyote. She was extremely intelligent and loyal. She did not like to live indoors with us and preferred to live under the porch. When she had pups with a stray dog, she taught her pups how to hunt. She had all of the primal instincts of a coyote, but was as loyal as a collie. We had the very best of both worlds.

So, in short, yes it is possible for the two to breed, bust as possible as it is for a Wolf and a Husky to breed
Posted by Rhonda  on  Mon Feb 08, 2010  at  09:44 PM
I own a mix husky, coyote, german shepherd mix named Cheyenne..I've had lots of dogs and this one is the most intelligent I,ve ever had..crafty, and a hunter since he was 4 months old and caught his first mouse under the snow!! He will hunt and eat anything smaller than him..which can be a drag! He loyal, affectionate, dominant and very independant..he stays outside and is uncomfortable inside the house. His father was a half german shepherd/coyote mix..I find the first generations are not quite nice looking dogs, but the second generation are much nicer..he actually looks like a Rare Japanese Shikoku Inu..same size, weight, colour, eyes, muzzle except he has a coyote tail and not a spitz curled tail over his back. His grandmother was a pure german shepherd who disappeared in the woods for 3 weeks when she was in heat..we all saw her several times around the house to get food and saw her lone coyote boyfriend hanging around! Cheyenne's mom is a husky. We have the large Eastern coyotes here which can get up to 65 lbs, are reddish and actually are a genetic hybrid of the red eastern wolf and coyote. The red wolf was killed off about a century ago by the settlers . For sure, he has a stubborn streak and it take patience and a firm hand to train him. Beauty wise, he is gorgeous and in fall we have to be careful in the woods..my neighbours almost shot him thinking he was a coyote!!
Posted by kitaen  on  Mon Mar 08, 2010  at  02:53 PM
Humans and chimpanzees may never breed with each other. But, the're still genetically close enought that chimps can be transfused with human blood!

As for coyotes and dogs being unable to hybridize? I've read where there's increasing evidence that the so-called "red wolf" (Canis rufus) might never have existed at all. That they were actually just gray wolf/coyote cross-breeds all the time!

If this is true, it's easier to understand the belief that C. rufus has possibly gone "extinct." Most hybrids--the mule is the best example of this--are born infertile. So, coy-wolves are most likely not able to breed with each other, anymore than coy-dogs are.
Posted by Carycomic  on  Wed Mar 31, 2010  at  02:39 PM
I know of a lady who bred coydogs.

Here is her link.

http://www.coydog.us/

So yes they can be bred together.
They are not infertile...
Posted by mary  on  Wed Mar 31, 2010  at  03:22 PM
Please, note that I did use the word "most."

Not--repeat: NOT-- "all."

Big difference.
Posted by Carycomic  on  Wed Mar 31, 2010  at  03:49 PM
Our family has a coydog. Actually, it's a BorderCoyCollieDog. I won't explain further, just this sentence that states that if you can't figure out the half and half of it by the name, you shouldn't have a dog or a license to drive.
She can be a very sweet, nice dog. However, she gets mean at very inappropriate times. She is especially mean around food. I can pet her, and she will growl, even to the point of showing her teeth. But 2 seconds after a petting attempt, she licks my hand as it leaves her head. In fact, she licks my hand while growling.
Does anyone know if half coyotes have a tendency to be meaner than regular dogs? She has had a very gentle upbringing, (maybe too gentle. That may be the reason she thinks she can treat anyone however she likes,) and so far has attacked our puppy once requiring stitches. The puppy is now bigger than she is, and can fend for herself if she wishes to -- in fact the two are very close but the BorderCoyCollieDog still growls at very inappropriate times.
Any help or advice would be met with extreme appreciation.
Thank you.
Posted by Mr. Darringer  on  Wed Apr 07, 2010  at  03:47 PM
I would like to point out the flaw in the biologist's theory in this document. In fact, the quoted material makes the biologist look like a complete moron. He/She stated
"Coyotes go in to heat between January and March and have pups in May or June, while dogs have their pups in winter."
I don't know much about coyotes, but dogs start going into heat 6 months after birth. Sometimes as soon as 4 months. There is no set time for heat in a female dog. However, after the first heat, you can expect another heat 6 months later or 12 months later. Dog's don'g just "have their pups in winter."
I understand this biologist is working towards a PHD while teaching. He/She should be fired for lack of competence. I know for a fact that dogs go into heat at different times of year. That said...
Even if dogs go into heat at different times than coyotes do, that wouldn't matter, because male dogs/coyotes don't have a heat cycle, and can make puppies whenever they wish. Same with the other way around, but I doubt a female coyote would let a male dog get in too deep so easily.
This is ludicrous. When some people hear something that sounds bizarre to them, they have to start lying and making false statements to not only make themselves sound smarter than other people, but try to disprove the bizarre occurrence.
Way to go Chrissie Henner, biologist at the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.. you are a proven moron.
Posted by Mr. Darringer  on  Wed Apr 07, 2010  at  04:18 PM
Actually, Mr Darringer, male coyotes are only fertile once a year, like the females. Also, what your dog is showing is called food aggression, which is not at all rare in domestic dogs. It means he never learned as a pup that its ok for you to touch his food. As far as attacking the other dog, this is called "dog aggression", and is also not uncommon at all in domestic dogs. I have never heard of coydogs as being more aggressive than other dogs. However, if they are anything like wolfdogs, then they are probably harder to train and so might be more susceptible to certain behavioral issues simply because of poor (or lack of) training. Its important to note that this can also be true of harder-to-train dog breeds such as huskies, german shepherds, or border collies 😉 If your dog is showing aggression issues, its probably because it was poorly bred or not properly trained. It's not a sign that its part coyote.
Posted by Seijun  on  Wed Apr 07, 2010  at  08:58 PM
So Seijun, I guess this means that if you wish to breed a coyote and a dog, you would have to find a dog that has her heat cycle at the same time as a specific male coyote?
I have never bred dogs, but have known people that have. They never had much trouble using the same male dog to impregnate different female dogs that had heat cycles at different times of year, as far as I could perceive.
Thank you for your information, Seijun. But would you say that the biologist made a pretty disinformed assumption that coydogs could not exist because all dogs go into heat at specific times of the year that are different from all coyotes?
Posted by Mr. Darringer  on  Wed Apr 07, 2010  at  11:56 PM
hiya. i got my alleged coydog dna-tested. not a coydog. interesting! the test is called wisdom panel mx by mars vet. check it out.
Posted by jay sheckley  on  Thu Apr 08, 2010  at  12:05 AM
Yes, if you want to make a coydog you must have your female dog in heat at the same time the male coyote is fertile. It is the same way with male wolves (they are only fertile during the winter months when the females are in heat). Alternatively, you could just use a female coyote and breed her to a male dog once she is in heat since male dogs are fertile year-round.
Yes, I would have to agree that anyone saying coydogs are impossible to create due to their different breeding cycles is misinformed. The different cycles does make it very rare for coydogs to occur naturally (especially since coyotes and dogs generally don't interact positively with one another anyway), but its not impossible.
Posted by Seijun  on  Thu Apr 08, 2010  at  12:37 AM
Re jay scheckley's post: I went to the wisdom site and searched for info about coyotes. Couldn't find any. Coyote was not one of the "breeds" the test identifies. I also googled the url and coyote which usually turns up a match if there is one on the site, but it didn't.

Almost anyone who lives in a small town in the west has seen coyote males trotting around town looking for females in heat (or cats to eat). They aren't exactly shy about it. Perhaps it's true that they only come into heat once a year but so what? Here's a photo of my coydog:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44652461@N00/1451438266/in/set-72157611622989177/

Her mom was half G. Shepherd but her daddy was a coyote. She's a great dog.
Posted by Kay Graham  on  Thu Apr 08, 2010  at  12:55 AM
no i agree kay, they dont test for coyote dna. but people kept saying my dog was a coydog. the wisdom panel test found that 3 dog breeds account for 80-100% of his lineage. so, that is helpful on the coydog question.
Posted by jay sheckley  on  Thu Apr 08, 2010  at  01:33 AM
kay that s a very handsome animal. id be fascinated to know what a dna test said.
Posted by jay sheckley  on  Thu Apr 08, 2010  at  01:35 AM
DNA doesn't matter to me because I already know what she is. Both my dogs are from a rez (one from southern BC and the other from the north). The northern one is shepherd/shar pei of all things. Here she is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44652461@N00/

The photo is fuzzy but you can see the shar pei. It's like that with coydogs. They are also quite distinctive. We've had four over our lifetime. One was probably pure coyote but the others were mixes. One didn't look coy at all but the thing is that they play different and act different than dogs. Seeing two of them together is very distinctive especially the way they instinctively work together to hunt.

A Indian kid in our neighborhood said "hey, you've got a coydog. I'm getting one for Christmas". And he did, too. They are really quite different and easily identified once you've known a few of them, imo.
Posted by Kay Graham  on  Thu Apr 08, 2010  at  01:54 AM
"Perhaps it's true that they only come into heat once a year but so what?"
Because that's what the article in question is all about, ya know.. the one at the top of the page that is the main subject of this article? That coydogs can't exist because of different times of heat/fert. cycles?
I was just bringing attention to the fact that it's quite absurd what was stated in the article.
Posted by Mr. Darringer  on  Thu Apr 08, 2010  at  02:40 PM
Yes, that's what I meant, Mr. D. When coyotes come into heat doesn't really matter because there will always be a few female dogs around who happen to be in heat. Our very first coydog had a Norwegian Elkhound mother and her owners claimed to have seen her bred by a coyote who had come to town (Golden BC) looking to party. I have no reason to doubt that this is true. People here are not all that wowed by wandering coyotes and wouldn't bother to make up such a story, in my experience.

We got our puppy in the fall when she was about 6 weeks old which means she was conceived 15 weeks or about 4 months earlier which was June or July. This doesn't correlate with the notion that coyote males only breed once a year in January to March.
Posted by Kay Graham  on  Thu Apr 08, 2010  at  11:51 PM
I uploaded another photo of our coydog and her little friend who is a Yorkie/Shi Tzu. The Shorkie rules unless there is a bone involved but Kaiya has never done any other dog any harm. She is, however, pure hell on mice. She learned to mouse from a National Geographic video about wolves and coyotes in Yellowstone Park. Never had a clue about it until she watched that show on tv and now she wipes them out by the dozens.
Posted by Kay Graham  on  Fri Apr 09, 2010  at  12:11 AM
Oops. Forgot to link to the photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44652461@N00/
Posted by Kay Graham  on  Fri Apr 09, 2010  at  12:12 AM
This morning (5/12/10) at 0405 in Brookline MA, I awoke from a sound sleep to the sounds of what I thought was a woman being attacked. I grabbed my pistol and headed out the front door in my underwear. I ran about half a block to discover my cat (making a god-awful noise) with a Coydog about one yard behind him. When I yelled, the Coydog popped off the sidewalk and crouched alongside the curb. The Coydog then moved to the other side of the street and continued to parallel us as I hustled my cat into the house. The Coydog stayed still for about ten seconds even after I closed my stormdoor.
The Coydog was about thirty pounds, Coyote brown in color. He had a typical coyote head but much smaller than the coyotes I have seen from my tree stand while hunting. His legs were much shorter and I would have to descrbe him as ugly, ugly ugly.
I would have shot him if he had not crossed the street.
If you still choose to maintain your delusion that Coydogs do not exist, carry on ingnorance but please do not lead others into ignorance.
Posted by Name Withheldbyrequest  on  Wed May 12, 2010  at  12:00 PM
I hate stating the obvious, but if you didn't let your cat wander around outside unattended, you wouldn't have to worry about things eating it. Predators don't kill to be evil, they kill to survive. If your pets or livestock get killed or injured because YOU let them off on their own with NO protection whatsoever, you have no one to blame but yourself!
Posted by Seijun  on  Wed May 12, 2010  at  02:26 PM
Where is sundance located?
Posted by shane  on  Sat Jun 19, 2010  at  10:43 AM
Sundance Ranch is located here....
http://www.coydog.us/
Shows a slide show where you can see her beautiful coydogs.
Located in Oregon.....
Posted by michelle  on  Sat Jun 19, 2010  at  10:56 AM
Do you have an e-mail address, or regular address for them-The link on the web page does not work. Thanks
Posted by shane  on  Sat Jun 19, 2010  at  02:08 PM
Hi Shane,
The email address on the bottom of the page should work.
Posted by michelle  on  Sun Jun 20, 2010  at  09:33 PM
i am new to this site and have been trying to find info on coydogs. we have a female that is almost 2yrs old and everyone tells us she looks like a coyote. i have read characteristics of the coyote and other breeds of dogs and i am thinking she may be a coydog. the people we got her from said she is saintbernard, malamut, husky cross, and you can see those breeds in the parents, but not in her.....she looks nothing like mom or dad.
if anyone has information on the coydog or believe they own one or have owned one in the past....your help would be greatly appreciated in helping us determine if we do infact have a coydog or not.
our vetrinarian said there may be a possibility but chances are very slim.

thanks
Posted by tanya  on  Tue Jun 29, 2010  at  08:04 AM
We live in a small town in Southern Colorado. Coyotes are everywhere and I cannot imagine any healthy animal is going to overlook the opportunity to breed when it presents itself. I own two puppies that ARE coydogs. The mother is half German Shepherd half Austrailian Shepherd. The father is half German Shepherd half coyote-confirmed by the veternarian. Both pups have characteristics of all three breeds; one colored like a German shepherd; one colored like an Aussie; both built like coyotes.
Posted by froglady  on  Mon Jul 12, 2010  at  10:50 PM
hey, sorry but you people do not know much about dogs and breeding, I had a litter of 4 coydog pups and saw dad and my shar pei breeding..... I have lived in foothills for 50 years and know coyotes, this was not planned on my part and male coyotes only are able to breed acouple of months out of the year so it does not happen often,but there are alot of coydogs out there. American Indians breed their dogs to wolfs and coyotes for new bloodlines all the time, Russia has police canines, who are part jackel and many police working dogs in Europe are part wolf.... wolf hybrids are timid animals and not mean but often have stupid owners who should not have them and finally no foxes can not breed with dogs ...hey your library has lots of books with all this imformation... and my coydog is one of the smartest and loving animals I have ever had but she does kill chickens...also the wolf in dancing in wolf were half coyotes and half husky and the ower breeds this hybrid for pets.
Posted by Abby  on  Mon Aug 16, 2010  at  12:13 PM
Coydogs are real. I had one. She came from a shelter as a sheltie mix. Decided about a month later she was coy. I would give anything to have her back. She died too soon she was only about two and a half to 3 yrs old. Lookin back at her symptoms and treatment responses it seems she had liver disease? Don't know if it was the sheltie or coy in her. I know shelties are prone to endocrine system disorders?? She was great and I miss her a lot!!!
Posted by rebecca  on  Mon Aug 30, 2010  at  08:05 PM
People are so certain of whatever they make up. Finally I had my 10 pound alleged coydog dna tested, via the Wisdom Panel MX Mixed breed blood test. Results: equal parts Pomeranian, Border Terrier, and Olde English Sheepdog! Yes I believe the results, in that they are based on more than looks, and more than anything else here is. I look forward to the day schools begin to teach again the worthlessness of completely unsubstantiated opinion.
Posted by Jay Sheckley  on  Mon Aug 30, 2010  at  10:59 PM
Hi, so far there is no DNA test that determines if
a dog has wolf or coyote in them.Not even the Wisdom Panel MX test.Maybe someday there will be.
Posted by MICHELLE  on  Tue Aug 31, 2010  at  03:01 PM
Forgot to mention the Wisdom Panel MX
is the only one that I know of that tests the blood,
not saliva,so it's alot more accurate and it has the DNA of over 90 AKC breeds..
But none have the DNA of wild canids,to find out
if our dogs have wild in them.
Posted by michelle  on  Tue Aug 31, 2010  at  03:13 PM
hello my name is peggy and zoey is a 1 1/2 year old german shep/?? mix. her mother is a pure bred GSD impregnated by ?? male resulting in an unwanted litter (most died shortly after i took zoey at 2mos old)
on her second heat she was impregnated by Huck my 7yr old gsd/collie/husky mix. a wanted litter! the litter was born healthy, 4boys and 4 girls, all lived. i am happy to report both are excellent parents, huck even helping to lick the pups dry after birth!
all of the pups have a mark on their tails, which i have recently discovered is something called a pre-caudal mark. a mark above a scent gland in their tails, something that is present in wolfs and coyotes, not dogs.
so recently i have been concidering the posibility that she may be a coydog..
her mother was in heat during the male coyotes fertile time(oct-dec from what i've read online) and gave birth jan 19 2009 in northern alabama. there were 10 pups, 2 of which were female, she was the largest female. her fur is tri colored on back, cream to red to black on a single strand, with the gaurd hairs (after shedding and litter of pups) start black go white then black and some turn white again. she has red across her head and back of ears on her nose and all of her legs. red/cream and black on her sides and a very prominate black strip down her entire back (cream and white speckled with the shedding of her winter coat) she also has the pre-caudal mark on her tail.
i should just post picts!
anyway, in my online searching i also stumbled across the red wolf. believed to be a cross between gray wolf and coyote, the red wolf is in the area where she was born. some of the picts of red wolfs that i found could be her except her muzzle is black. also her eyes are striking! they are light brown gold and green, and more almond shaped than round.. i do not have the resourses to have her DNA tested and online research has only produced mostly more questions. i have noticed she runs with her tail out for a few inches then it pointes straight down at the ground, like an upside down L. that is supposedly a coyote trait. anyone who knows anything about coydogs or red wolfs could you please help me to identify her heritage? any information would be helpful, and any critisisim about letting my dogs breed will be taken with a grain of salt.

[i am not a puppymill, i wanted them to breed, many of the puppies had people to go to before the litter was born (due mostly to the awesome nature of the father)and all eight were homed between week 8 and 9 with emphisis on them bringing the dogs back to me if ther found that they could not provide an adiquite home for the puppy they chose. only positive feedback so far and they are 12wks old. we also kept a puppy, a girl that looks just like her mom but has her dads eyes!]
Thanks to all for trudging thru this far too long post and any insight you may provide
Posted by zoey's friend  on  Tue Aug 31, 2010  at  04:16 PM
There's pics of my coydog on my myspace and facebook. I'm rad3078 or rebecca decker, rebecce decker-schlueter or ms bobby joe schlueter on them u can see pics. I have 2 sadies tho? I had sadie mae first she's charpe/german shepard. Little sadie was small about 20#. She was a sheltie mix but I'm sure she was coydog? She died of health problems I posted earlier here. There's not much info on coydogs. I know shelties have endocrine system disorders but unsure about coys? Found couple of posts from ppl that constantly had health problems but it seemed most didn't but coys are rare?? Its only been a little over a week since she died and I miss her soo much and cry everyday.. I think she may of had liver disease? All my pets are special but she was REALLY special. I didn't adopt her because she was coy..didn't realize that 4 about a month? But that just made her personality even better...
Posted by rebecca  on  Tue Aug 31, 2010  at  04:31 PM
@ zoey:
Do you mean a dark or black mark on the tail or the actual gland?

Many dogs have a dark spot midway down their tail, GSD and husky included.
While it is true that most dogs do not have the actual precaudal gland, I have found owners of husky, mal, and GSD who have reported having dogs with this gland, so yes, dogs CAN have the gland.

The color you describe sounds like possibly agouti. Again, huskies and GSD can both come in this color, and also have the eye color you describe.

Both dogs and coys can hold their tail. With huskies, that is actually the akc standard, that they hold their tail strait down behind them when standing at rest. Basically, there is no single trait that is specific only to coyotes. Any physical coy or wolf trait can also be found in dogs. All of what you describe are traits that can be found in dogs, esp huskies and gsd, and they do not indicate coyote heritage, though she does sound like a very beautiful dog.

@ rebecca: your facebook page doesn't have any pics showing publicly.
Posted by Seijun  on  Tue Aug 31, 2010  at  08:43 PM
Someone told me that coyotes and coydogs would have..double row back teeth?? Not sure what they were talking about exactly tho? I decided my dog was coy as a combination of looks and how she acted. I didn't realize my photos wernt public but I just changed the settings to everyone. I did it from my blackberry tho so hope it took?
Posted by rebecca  on  Tue Aug 31, 2010  at  08:59 PM
No idea what the double teeth thing means. Dogs and coys have the same number and types of teeth.

Real coydogs are very rare. The only behaviors I have ever seen in coys and not in dogs (yet) is the behavior "gaping" and their scream-like call. There may be others, but I think you would need to talk to a real coy expert to find them out.
Posted by Seijun  on  Tue Aug 31, 2010  at  10:02 PM
Here is a video of coyotes "howling" and it also gives a good view of what they look like. The background noise if people trying to howl with the coys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJGv9bWBwYI
Posted by Seijun  on  Tue Aug 31, 2010  at  10:05 PM
My sadie would howl and scream. That's what made me really think she was a coyote. She would do it when my husband or son howled. We didn't teach it to her she did it the first time my son howled at her after I told him I thought she was coy. I miss her howl so much. She was so sweet.
Posted by rebecca  on  Tue Aug 31, 2010  at  10:28 PM
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