# Golden Retrievers and Coyotes



## BrianO (Apr 7, 2016)

I would be more concerned for my golden than my chickens. Coyotes will lure a lone dog away to hunt it as a pack. I don’t think a golden retriever is the breed you are looking for. Consider a Great Pyrenees or similar flock guarding breed.


----------



## GOAussies (Dec 3, 2021)

BrianO said:


> I would be more concerned for my golden than my chickens. Coyotes will lure a lone dog away to hunt it as a pack. I don’t think a golden retriever is the breed you are looking for. Consider a Great Pyrenees or similar flock guarding breed.


Wow, I didn't know that a coyote pack would try to hunt down even a dog their own size! That's terrible! Thanks for the warning. I guess the dog has to be BIGGER THAN A COYOTE for a coyote to not want to hunt it?

Well, the problem with the livestock guardian breeds is that they're ENORMOUS, which means an enormous amount of EXPENSE. We rarely have coyotes in our yard let alone a pack of them, but who knows? That may change when I get chickens.


----------



## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

Coyotes will attack a 200lb deer. So yes, they will attack a lone dog.


----------



## GOAussies (Dec 3, 2021)

Hildae said:


> Coyotes will attack a 200lb deer. So yes, they will attack a lone dog.


What about two dogs? If I had 2 medium-large sized dogs outside, would a pack of coyotes still try to mess with two?


----------



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Worst story I know of was somebody here in MI who was walking her old golden in a state park and basically had her dog attacked by 2 coyotes. They brought her dog to the ground and would have killed her if the owner hadn't stepped in and saved her life. Owner carried her dog all the way back to her car and was aware of coyotes following the whole way. Her dog survived, but had been in critical condition.

From the sounds of it, they were bigger than typical coyotes and clearly lacked fear of people.

The coyotes that I've seen around our house are typical coyotes (40 pounds or less + fearful of people and dogs). That said, I do not take any chances. My dogs are not outside without me keeping an eye on them. When we are hiking in the woods or fields somewhere, they are trained to come back to my side if they see anything before I do. Puppies are never outside alone! (there have been puppies snatched by coyotes before).


----------



## GOAussies (Dec 3, 2021)

Megora said:


> Worst story I know of was somebody here in MI who was walking her old golden in a state park and basically had her dog attacked by 2 coyotes. They brought her dog to the ground and would have killed her if the owner hadn't stepped in and saved her life. Owner carried her dog all the way back to her car and was aware of coyotes following the whole way. Her dog survived, but had been in critical condition.
> 
> From the sounds of it, they were bigger than typical coyotes and clearly lacked fear of people.
> 
> The coyotes that I've seen around our house are typical coyotes (40 pounds or less + fearful of people and dogs). That said, I do not take any chances. My dogs are not outside without me keeping an eye on them. When we are hiking in the woods or fields somewhere, they are trained to come back to my side if they see anything before I do. Puppies are never outside alone! (there have been puppies snatched by coyotes before).


Wow, that's awful. Thanks for the warning!


----------



## BrianO (Apr 7, 2016)

I have heard of a “heart dog” but never a “heart chicken.” Invest in a well made chicken pen and henhouse.


----------



## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

If a coyote can get to your chickens, so can a raccoon, skunk, weasel, mink, snake, great horned owl, Cooper's hawk (aka "Chicken hawk"), stray dog, bobcat, ...the list is endless. Chickens are like feathered Big Macs to a large variety of carnivores. Put up a fence around your chickenyard. Don't forget the wire on top and a barrier to diggers on the bottom. A fence is a lot cheaper than caring for a dog, any dog, over the lifetime of the dog.


----------



## TX Chris (Aug 12, 2021)

When my last Golden was around 15 years old, we let him out front to use the boys room before bed. His bark to come back inside sounded different from normal and I bolted to the door. He was about 10' from the front porch slowly following a female coyote that was maybe 15' in front of him, walking towards the woods. She was baiting him out there so they could take him down away from the threat of the house.

I learned a HUGE lesson that day and he never went outside alone again. I don't know how I would've handled losing him like that if I hadn't heard that quiet bark and reacted quickly.

We keep chickens and goats as well and we added a couple of Great Pyrenees to the farm. They are wonderful dogs and love our family, but they are working dogs and both prefer to be with the animals. Our male, Samson gets a bit antsy when the goats are too far away. He shadows them 24/7. I've got great video from yesterday morning with our newest 5-day-old male goat walking around on Samson while he was laying down in the sun.


----------



## Ontariodogsitter (Feb 23, 2020)

You will have to protect your dog from the coyote , unless you have a livestock guardian breed, you are in charge and responsible for the safety of your animals.
I am sure you already knew that...


----------



## ArkansasGold (Dec 7, 2017)

Where I grew up, a family of coyotes lived in the field behind my parents' house. We rarely saw more than one out and about at a time. However, in my experience, they would only come up to the house to look for food if they got truly desperate. We had chickens in a little coop outside for a couple of years too and our ACD was the one that we had to specifically keep OUT of the chickens. He would have killed them all for fun if he could have. 

Our corgis kept the coyotes at bay pretty easily most of the time. Corgis are highly territorial, so they were not easily baited. Coyotes are generally wary predators and avoid humans when they can. 

As we have explained many times, Goldens are not guard dogs. If you want a dog with guarding instincts that is fine to be outside a lot, get a guardian breed that thrives outside. Like a Great Pyrenees for example. Coyotes are highly unlikely to mess with a dog that much bigger than them. Breeds like Pyrs were specifically developed to guard herds against hunters worse than coyotes. 

Goldens are not chicken guarders. I'm about 98% sure that my two would try to get in the chicken coop themselves, but they haven't been taught not to do that. If you want a golden, get one and keep it in your house. Then get another dog to guard the stuff outside.


----------



## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

Coyotes are smart animals. They will watch and learn your patterns. You know how you turn on your porch light when you let your dogs out at night? They know that there is possible prey whenever you turn on that light. There is a turf farm at the end of my street. (Yes, a farm that grows grass) Even though I live in the city, we have wildlife. I have seen coyotes walk right down the sidewalk. I've heard of hawks trying to carry cats away. Predators are relatively new to our area as they built a bunch of new houses and took away their homes. 

Goldens are no match for a coyote. I have a friend that had an encounter with a coyote out on a walk with her dog. She was VERY lucky nothing happened! Dog is a Malinois...so she had a much better chance than a golden would.


----------



## MushyB (Oct 31, 2018)

RE: coyote packs hunting animals larger than them.

About 20 years ago (dang, I'm old), I was horseback riding in a CA State Park with my best friend. We'd left later in the afternoon than we usually did, and were heading back to our trailer as dusk was quickly approaching. About a mile from our trailer, we noticed a coyote on the left trotting parallel to us, about 50' away. Then we noticed another on the other side. We could hear other movements, but didn't see more than the 2 coyotes (there were woods on both sides of the wide open trail). We'd been having fun cantering and trotting on the trail, but we had just slowed our horses to a walk for the last mile to cool our horses down. 

We sped back up and ended up trotting all the way to our trailer, with our "escorts" following us to the parking lot. We loaded up our horses, tack still on (which we never did), and got out of there.

Two 1000-lb horses with two full grown humans, and we felt stalked. Coyotes will definitely go after a golden retriever left out in a yard.


----------



## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

Years ago we had a Rhodesian Ridgeback. He was a big dog, strong, and pretty much fearless. He was out at the back of our land walking around in the tall grass, and as he came out of the tall grass onto a trail, I saw the strangest thing. About ten feet behind him was a coyote. Any time he'd look back at the coyote, the coyote would hop around and generally behave as if he were trying to entice my dog to play with him, the way dogs do when they want a good game of chase. My heart immediately sped up because I knew exactly what that coyote was doing. He was the decoy, trying to entice my dog to play with him, and then follow him. The coyote would then lead him right into an ambush from the pack. Luckily we were there (we never ever leave the dogs outside unsupervised.) and we were able to drive the coyote off. (Plus my dog was having none of his playful advances anyway, thank goodness) 

Don't underestimate coyotes.


----------



## Clipper's mom (Apr 27, 2019)

In San Francisco, there are an estimated 100 coyotes, including numerous breeding pairs. They are NOT scared of humans. My husband had to run directly at a coyote reclining in our front yard in broad daylight while whistling shrilly and brandishing a golf club (husband, not the coyote) before it trotted slowly away. It had been calmly surveying all our alarmed neighbors on their front porches trying to figure out how to scare it away. (We all have dogs.) Our Nextdoor feed is full of stories of small dogs being snatched in front yards before their owners horrified eyes. Urban coyotes are no joke. One got our prior cat, a fearless two year old indoor/outdoor hunter who figured (we think) that since she was best friends with our small golden, not much larger than a coyote and similarly colored, this new “dog” was no threat to her. Our current cat is now indoor only.


----------



## MintChip (Feb 26, 2021)

GOAussies said:


> Coyotes are a somewhat frequent problem in my town. Having never owned a golden retriever before, I wanted to get an opinion poll from lots of golden retriever owners. My question is this: Would your golden protect you or your other pets from a coyote? (i.e. You and your dog are hiking and you meet a coyote crossing your trail, or a coyote enters your yard and goes after your chickens.)
> 
> Thanks for your feedback!


Saw my first coyote recently. I spotted it first and it wasn't afraid. Knowing mine would want to play or antagonize it. Not good. I ran (like an idiot) before he caught sight of it. 

Note: Don't run folks.


----------



## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

Sometimes a coyote trying to entice a dog to follow it is actually trying to pull the dog away from young pups in a den. I saw that happen with one of our dogs. We were walking along a dirt road through the farm fields around our house. We knew there was a den in the nearby rocks. the coyote enticed one of my "old lady rescues", a savvy girl who had lived her life as a free-ranging farm dog before we took her in, out about 100 yards from the den site. They appeared to be playing. After we passed the den site, the coyote abandoned the "game", which, to her, I'm sure was not a game. She was trying to distract the humans and dogs from her pups. 

We live in the country and hear the coyotes serenading every night. We have a fenced yard. Some of the dogs we've had would always bark when the coyotes sang, a couple would howl, some ignored them most of the time. I currently have two golden boys. One barks, the other heads inside to the safety of his humans.


----------



## GOAussies (Dec 3, 2021)

Clipper's mom said:


> In San Francisco, there are an estimated 100 coyotes, including numerous breeding pairs. They are NOT scared of humans. My husband had to run directly at a coyote reclining in our front yard in broad daylight while whistling shrilly and brandishing a golf club (husband, not the coyote) before it trotted slowly away. It had been calmly surveying all our alarmed neighbors on their front porches trying to figure out how to scare it away. (We all have dogs.) Our Nextdoor feed is full of stories of small dogs being snatched in front yards before their owners horrified eyes. Urban coyotes are no joke. One got our prior cat, a fearless two year old indoor/outdoor hunter who figured (we think) that since she was best friends with our small golden, not much larger than a coyote and similarly colored, this new “dog” was no threat to her. Our current cat is now indoor only.


I'm so sorry for the loss of your cat! Glad to know your current cat is indoor only. Lesson learned, although I'm sorry it had to be in such a traumatizing way.


----------



## GOAussies (Dec 3, 2021)

PalouseDogs said:


> Sometimes a coyote trying to entice a dog to follow it is actually trying to pull the dog away from young pups in a den. I saw that happen with one of our dogs. We were walking along a dirt road through the farm fields around our house. We knew there was a den in the nearby rocks. the coyote enticed one of my "old lady rescues", a savvy girl who had lived her life as a free-ranging farm dog before we took her in, out about 100 yards from the den site. They appeared to be playing. After we passed the den site, the coyote abandoned the "game", which, to her, I'm sure was not a game. She was trying to distract the humans and dogs from her pups.
> 
> We live in the country and hear the coyotes serenading every night. We have a fenced yard. Some of the dogs we've had would always bark when the coyotes sang, a couple would howl, some ignored them most of the time. I currently have two golden boys. One barks, the other heads inside to the safety of his humans.


My last dog was an Australian Shepherd. She had so much courage! When she'd hear the coyotes yipping at night and she happened to be outside, she'd march out to the middle of our lawn, puff out her chest, breathe in a loud, menacing way, growl, and throw her head back and let out a barrage of protective, warning barks.


----------



## GOAussies (Dec 3, 2021)

MushyB said:


> RE: coyote packs hunting animals larger than them.
> 
> About 20 years ago (dang, I'm old), I was horseback riding in a CA State Park with my best friend. We'd left later in the afternoon than we usually did, and were heading back to our trailer as dusk was quickly approaching. About a mile from our trailer, we noticed a coyote on the left trotting parallel to us, about 50' away. Then we noticed another on the other side. We could hear other movements, but didn't see more than the 2 coyotes (there were woods on both sides of the wide open trail). We'd been having fun cantering and trotting on the trail, but we had just slowed our horses to a walk for the last mile to cool our horses down.
> 
> ...


If coyotes will go after animals that much bigger than them, what good does a giant livestock guardian dog do? (Pardon my ignorance having never owned one of these dogs.) I've heard plenty of stories of livestock guardian dogs putting a stop to wild animals eating farm animals, but what is it about LGDs that would make coyotes not want to try baiting them?


----------



## GOAussies (Dec 3, 2021)

Hildae said:


> Years ago we had a Rhodesian Ridgeback. He was a big dog, strong, and pretty much fearless. He was out at the back of our land walking around in the tall grass, and as he came out of the tall grass onto a trail, I saw the strangest thing. About ten feet behind him was a coyote. Any time he'd look back at the coyote, the coyote would hop around and generally behave as if he were trying to entice my dog to play with him, the way dogs do when they want a good game of chase. My heart immediately sped up because I knew exactly what that coyote was doing. He was the decoy, trying to entice my dog to play with him, and then follow him. The coyote would then lead him right into an ambush from the pack. Luckily we were there (we never ever leave the dogs outside unsupervised.) and we were able to drive the coyote off. (Plus my dog was having none of his playful advances anyway, thank goodness)
> 
> Don't underestimate coyotes.


Yeesh, my last dog, an Australian Shepherd, would have likely torn right off after the coyote, not in a playful way, but in an aggressive way, because she was just that fearless. 

While I admire the Aussie's incredible tenacity and courage, if there's one thing I don't like about those personality traits is that sometimes, my dog and I might be in a situation where it would be too dangerous for her to go after certain threatening animals or humans. When my Aussie's protective instinct was triggered, everything else, including her ability to listen to commands from her owners, was generally forgotten.

One thing I do appreciate about Labradors (golden owners are welcome to weigh in on this, too) is that, from what I've observed of my cousin's 2 Labs anyway, Labs are more willing to wait for their owners' direction in dangerous situations. My cousin's Labradors don't go chasing the javelina (a type of wild boar) when we pass them on walks or if they're in the yard. The Labradors stay by their owner's side and try to ignore the javelina. They will chase coyotes, though. :/


----------



## ArkansasGold (Dec 7, 2017)

GOAussies said:


> If coyotes will go after animals that much bigger than them, what good does a giant livestock guardian dog do? (Pardon my ignorance having never owned one of these dogs.) I've heard plenty of stories of livestock guardian dogs putting a stop to wild animals eating farm animals, but what is it about LGDs that would make coyotes not want to try baiting them?


It’s not that coyotes won’t try to bait LGDs, it’s that they typically aren’t successful at it. If they try to go one-on-one with a LGD, they probably wont live to tell the tale. LGDs were developed to protect against packs of wolves and other apex predators. They are big and will fiercely defend their flock/herd/territory and will kill if necessary. It might not seem like they have that in them because breeds like Pyrs are so laid back with humans, but they will absolutely do their original job.


----------



## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

Sometimes the coyotes get baited.


----------



## GOAussies (Dec 3, 2021)

SRW said:


> Sometimes the coyotes get baited.


That was scary to watch! Yikes, those coyotes were very brazen to bait 2 dogs and not back away from a human that was close by.


----------



## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

SRW said:


> Sometimes the coyotes get baited.


I was thinking bang bang way before they actually did it... it was like 1:26 before it appeared the coyotes even noted a human sitting there.


----------

