I took our dogs for a walk this morning in one of the usual places. My 6-month-old field setter Maggie wears an GPS tracking collar on these jaunts so I could trace her movements as she rocketed about 500 yards to the top of a hill and then stayed there even as I tried to call her back. She's usually pretty reliable about looping back so I was just a bit concerned as I double-timed in her direction, using the GPS display. When I got within 200 yards I could hear growling and yelping which prompted me to run full speed directly to her. My whistling & calls pushed the coyotes off about 100 feet, and a sling shot with .40 caliber ammo sent them running.
Poor Maggie was pretty well mauled, though she finished the walk in good humor. Then we were off to the vet for a shave and stitches and drains. She's sleeping it off on the couch now and is expected to make a full recovery. None of the wounds were life threatenting, though that would have changed very soon if I had not been able to get there so quickly. The GPS collar probably saved her life.
8 comments:
Glad that one worked out ok in the end. Way too many coyotes these days.
Oh heck, Pete! I was so relieved to get to the end of the story and see the pictures to see Maggie was relatively okay.
We've had a run-in with a coyote here in New York -- and happily neither the coyote nor our (now) 7yr-old V was intent on killing. But we had our share of stitches and drains, too. (Now it makes me wonder if the coyote healed up okay.)
All best wishes for a full, speedy recovery
Andrew
Poor girl! Very glad she'll be OK.
It's boom and bust with coyotes up at our summer cabin south of Big Bear -- some years you scarcely see any, and other years they're everywhere you look. This summer I expect to see more than usual. I love to hear them, but we'll be keeping the dogs close.
Thats nasty. I haven't had any run in's with coyotes yet. Glad to see your pooch will make a good recovery.
Glad she is OK. Knock on wood we don't have that problem here.
Update: Maggie is doing well and continues to run wide. Her first cast the last couple of days has been over 500 yards. May need to get a horse, thank goodness for the Garmin Astro. I just bought a second collar so that I can track both Maggie and Rosie and will run them both tomorrow morning in the local forests.
Wow! I'm happy you're in such good shape. Not everyone could have made that sprint.
Close call. It's a good thing that you knew a crisis was happening.
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