YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community - View Single Post - 'Yotes' in the yard...9AM Broad daylight!!

vnauman · 03-23-2014, 04:31 AM

Good morning fellow YT'ers,

Just wanted to 're-emphasize' the importance on keeping a watchful eye while our little guys are outside. Last Sat AM our daughter who was down from the Chic ago suburbs was home for a visit with her 4 yr old yorkie, Baxter. Baxter grew up at our house and lived his first two yrs here at our home in the country. It was missing Baxter so much when he moved with his Mom that inspired our kids to get us our own yorkie, Lambeau. Anyway, Baxter accompanied his Mom outside so that she could retrieve something from her car and he was happily ''sniffing' his way around the yard not 20 feet away from her. The next thing I knew, my daughter was screaming and I ran to the door to see her clutching Baxter in her arms and frantically pointing to the yard...I followed her pointing and was astonished to see a large coyote loping away!! When she got in the house she explained that while she was getting something out of her trunk she looked up to see 5 coyotes coming around the corner of the house, intently watching Baxter and moving swiftly towards him! Now this is also a very important point...Baxter has been well trained by our daughter and 'comes' on command no questions asked, and this made all the difference in this instance, because he immediately returned to her and she scooped him up while continuing to shout at the coyotes. The coyotes were so intent on Baxter that they didn't see our daughter until she started screaming/shouting, at which point they scattered in all directions. Thankfully it turned out ok, but we were stunned that this occurred in broad day light, so close to the house! Our winter here in central IL has been on of the harshest on record, with deep snow cover since December and the coyotes have had a tough go of it finding food and Bax must have looked like a pretty easy meal! Our Lambeau, who is not as well trained, never goes out off-leash because he wants to chase everything that moves and that always makes me a little sad since we have a huge yard perfect for running and playing. Now all our potty trips are hyper-vigilant and if I hear coyotes howling, back in we go! Lesson learned....never, ever, let my guard down. I love living in the country, but now have to 'threat' access always.

03-23-2014, 04:31 AM	#1
vnauman Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Magnolia Illinois USA Posts: 36	'Yotes' in the yard...9AM Broad daylight!! Good morning fellow YT'ers, Just wanted to 're-emphasize' the importance on keeping a watchful eye while our little guys are outside. Last Sat AM our daughter who was down from the Chic ago suburbs was home for a visit with her 4 yr old yorkie, Baxter. Baxter grew up at our house and lived his first two yrs here at our home in the country. It was missing Baxter so much when he moved with his Mom that inspired our kids to get us our own yorkie, Lambeau. Anyway, Baxter accompanied his Mom outside so that she could retrieve something from her car and he was happily ''sniffing' his way around the yard not 20 feet away from her. The next thing I knew, my daughter was screaming and I ran to the door to see her clutching Baxter in her arms and frantically pointing to the yard...I followed her pointing and was astonished to see a large coyote loping away!! When she got in the house she explained that while she was getting something out of her trunk she looked up to see 5 coyotes coming around the corner of the house, intently watching Baxter and moving swiftly towards him! Now this is also a very important point...Baxter has been well trained by our daughter and 'comes' on command no questions asked, and this made all the difference in this instance, because he immediately returned to her and she scooped him up while continuing to shout at the coyotes. The coyotes were so intent on Baxter that they didn't see our daughter until she started screaming/shouting, at which point they scattered in all directions. Thankfully it turned out ok, but we were stunned that this occurred in broad day light, so close to the house! Our winter here in central IL has been on of the harshest on record, with deep snow cover since December and the coyotes have had a tough go of it finding food and Bax must have looked like a pretty easy meal! Our Lambeau, who is not as well trained, never goes out off-leash because he wants to chase everything that moves and that always makes me a little sad since we have a huge yard perfect for running and playing. Now all our potty trips are hyper-vigilant and if I hear coyotes howling, back in we go! Lesson learned....never, ever, let my guard down. I love living in the country, but now have to 'threat' access always.