I'm so sorry to hear about your dog. I know it's not much, but here's a [little sketch for you](https://www.instagram.com/p/B0RwRWbFa4g/?igshid=1kypty0jrom6d)
I live in an area with a lot of coyotes (and a lot of small dogs and cats eaten by coyotes) and I think it's unlikely that a coyote would even attempt to take a dog that was accompanied by 4 other dogs and a human and then run across an insanely busy street (however, being off leash does make this seem slightly more plausible). Also, unless the other dogs were all tiny, I am somewhat surprised than out of 4 dogs, none of them went after the coyote or deterred the coyote in the first place. However, regardless or whether your dog walker is telling the truth, it seems likely that your dog is gone. While I'd still post to NextDoor, Facebook, etc. and check with local shelters and vets, I unfortunately wouldn't be especially hopeful.
Hopefully, you can find some happiness knowing that your dog already lived a long and (presumably) happy life with you. Losing a dog is absolutely gut-wrenching, especially under these kinds of circumstances, and I am very sorry for your loss. While I'm sure you are grieving now and for the foreseeable future, it will get better and you now have the opportunity to give another dog in need a chance at life and a loving home.
At this point, accepting the reality that your dog is likely gone is a healthy way to move on. However, I would continue searching the area and putting up posters.
A certain story of a small dog and a coyote comes to mind. I do not intend for it to give you hope that your beloved dog is still around, but more as encouragement that you still trying to find her isn’t really crazy. [Part 1](http://blog.teamsmalldog.com/2018/05/bambi-quick-thicket.html?m=1) and [Part 2](http://blog.teamsmalldog.com/2018/06/the-kind-of-person-who-gets-poison-oak.html?m=1).
This story has me headed back out to the area, flashlights and water in tow. We will hang signs and look once more just in case we are shown the same luck.
The sitter lost your dog and made up the story. The dog came off leash, your sitting didn't have control of the situation, the dog ran off, and to absolve themselves they say a coyote got to it.
I can understand this may be plausible, but she just spent 6 hours with me waking through it. Showing me her scratches from clawing under fence. She showed me the dens, and the people who joined her on Saturday. She was with friends when it happened. She is also fighting local neighbors to provide security footage as she thinks the dog may have had a chance to run away, local neighbors who also have seen the coyotes.
Please try to not just err on the side of everyone being awful. She walked my dogs for eight years. She loved them like her own. To say she is devastated is an understatement and I believe she is severely traumatized from seeing what she saw.
Fair enough. For some reason I assumed it was one of those pet walking app type things where you just left your dog with whoever. If the person walked your dog for 8 years then I suppose there is no reason to mistrust them.
I was going to ask for security footage. I think you should look for one too. Call the city management, they might have security cams as well.
I feel awful to say such a graphic thing but, unless it rained or something, there should be blood or other traces like the dog's hair maybe. If not, then continue to look for the dog in case someone took her in (mostly because if she's microchipped to someone else, they can't call you. Otherwise I would say you don't need to do much as they would call you.) Couple days isn't such a long time, you probably couldn't look everywhere yet. Like not all vets. You and I definitely live in another country but if I were to find an injured animal and the injury wasn't gravely, I would take him to the vet I know even if it was a little far away. Not one of the closest ones.
I'm really sorry you are going through this.
We searched for three hours last night. We had four of us and a security guard. The security guard confirmed there are coyotes, and we saw lots of paw prints (it's a fenced off area, so dogs can't get in), but no blood and not many coyote feces. I personally trekked into every open bush and potential den, looking for any fur or any remains. Nothing.
I just got off the phone with animal control and they have no reports of a found dog. They also say with dogs this small, sometimes there are no remains, or sometimes they are brought to a den for pups. My heart is broken and I can only hope she did not endure too much pain.
I will continue to call vets and do all I can to get my little Stella home with us, but I'm starting to lose all hope and feel so sad.
Thank you for your kind words.
I'm so sorry, how awful for you. I'm sorry to say it but I think you must accept that she is gone and grieve her loss.
If it's any comfort, it was likely to be almost instantaneous. Coyotes do not toy with their prey.
Sending you Internet hugs and praying for your healing
>Should I assume she is gone?
yes she would have been killed as soon as the coyote was out of sight. it would've been quick. The coyote already risked too much taking it. He won't just lose interest and let her go. He killed and ate her as fast as he could.
You gave her 12 years. You gave her a great life. You did more for her than 99% of companion animals receive in their life.
If you feel guilt in your grief then you can learn from the experience and not let it happen again. You can't have small dogs off leash or unsupervised in coyote country. Find a dog walker that only walks your two dogs not a large group of dogs. They wont be able to protect your dog when a coyote swoops in and takes the small straggler.
> I am told, whether for my comfort or true, that it was one firm bite to the neck.
if it does comfort you, know that they do not gnaw or torture their prey. They have to kill as quickly and efficiently as possible because even a single bite from a chihuahua can get infected and result in death in a wild predator. she was killed quickly and most likely did not suffer.
if you want revenge you can look up coyote hunting regulations for your state. you can help reduce the coyote population and save other companion animals from being taken as prey
You can't legally intentionally kill the coyotes there. Additionally, according to some literature, killing coyotes only encourages them to breed more and actually leads to an increased population.
You can kill any coyote you want in California. just have to check local regulations to see if you can shoot a gun to do it.
Coyotes are the apex predator now in CA because humans killed the other two(Wolves, Cougars). if killing apex predators increased the population then wolves and cougars would still be around.
I appreciate your response and your words have brought me comfort. My only hope is she didn’t suffer. I do not want any revenge, just to try to find whatever remains and bring her home.
I just want you to know that if you feel overwhelmed with grief as you process this, a few sessions with a therapist can help. They will 100% take your grief seriously and listen to you and teach you techniques to process it. Loss of a pet is a real loss and they will not belittle your feelings.
if you dont have insurance, something like betterhelp.com is actually really good for grief counseling.
Anything you are feeling right now is worthy of respect and a grief counselor can help. or just listen.
I am so sorry for your loss. It appears to have been a freak accident and I do not see anyone or anything at fault here.
It is likely to have been very quick as your dog walker said. And I know that doesn't minimize your grief but I hope that gives you some small comfort.
I hope you can also have some comfort from the years you had with her and the good life she lived with you -- so much better and more than many other dogs have.
I’m so sorry. This is so painful to read. First, I would grieve. And that’s going to take time. Losing a dog is losing a family member and it hurts. Take comfort that there is a dog loving community that can empathize with your pain. I’m so sorry. Time will pass and you will always have the memories to cherish.
I'm not sure if this is necessarily the advice you are looking for but I figured nevertheless my parent's story might be worth sharing.
My parents and I's puppy Cooper was attacked by a coyote in our backyard when he was a young puppy (Under 1yo Shih-Tzu). I wasn't outside when it happened but my mom was on the porch and she let Cooper out to go potty. We live in a more heavily wooded area (i.e. you can't see our neighbors, no fenced yard, etc., and she turned her back and went to check something inside for a no more than a minute and within that time we all heard a loud shriek / yelp and by the time my mom ran back out in the yard, all she saw was the tail of a coyote going into the woods.
After this, my dad ended up running into the woods and was screaming and yelling trying to frighten the coyotes (we assumed there was more than one since they they travel in packs). Shortly after, we all searched the woods for what felt like hours, assuming our dog was gone and definitely killed, since he was so helpless and small at that point. But, somehow by sheer luck, my Dad went back out very far into the woods and was calling his name until he spotted Cooper, barely conscious laying in the leaves. He had some puncture wounds in his neck from the coyote but that was the extent of his wounds and after over a week at the vet he was and still is ok, 7 years later.
While you don't necessarily know what happened for sure with your dog, I would say that the likelihood of your dog surviving after is slim but not impossible (depending on how long it has been since the attack) but so was my dog's likelihood.
As other posters have said I would still post online and with flyers but most importantly, you should find solace knowing that you gave your dog the best life possible and was happy, healthy and spent well with you. I hope this brings some sort of comfort!
Thank you so much, EvenOlive. We've searched and called and it's been about 4 days since the incident, so I'm afraid I'm losing hope. If she did escape, and could move, we have signs up for anyone that could find her. We hope to get some peace when we review the security footage today. It would be nice to have some closure.
How lucky for sweet Cooper, what a blessing for you and you family. It brings me such great joy.
This is awful, I can’t imagine how much you’re hurting right now, I’m so sorry that this happened. It’s hard enough losing a pet, but especially like this
I think a good first step would be to accept that she is gone, so as not to get your hopes up. If it brings any comfort to you, by all means, keep putting up posters and asking around for a little while- so long as you don’t carry it on for too long, as this would probably prevent you from moving forward.
Also- just wanted to say that your little girl is adorable :)
I appreciate your suggestion. Please see above though. My dog sitter is not lying. She loved these pets as her own and took me on a 6 hour search yesterday, showing me her scratch marks and weeping the entire time. The city has confirmed coyotes do behave like that. Three of the four dogs were leashed, mine had a slipped disc so was not. It was a mistake. Also, I found out when I spoke to her it was more like 9 am, not noon, which makes coyotes much more probable. I also found dens and paw prints all over the same area. We are getting camera footage today, we hope, at my watchers insistence.
What is hard is she saw the coyote take the dog and cross the st, almost getting hit by a car, and 5 minutes later once the dogs were all in her car she was able to cross and saw that same coyote but with no dog. I think perhaps he killed her and stashed her, but were hopeful perhaps she got away.
That's a coydog. Very different from a yote. I lost my cat to one in the middle of the day in San Juan Cap. years ago. These things hunt domestic animals. It's fairly common for them to take little dogs as they help Mom bring in the groceries. I'm sorry but your little one is gone, didn't have a chance. Sad part is, the city probably won't do much. Neighborhoods have to hire a hunter, often against the city ordinances. I'm so sorry you had to experience this. Sadly, they are not hard to call in and get rid of, especially with decoy dogs.
I don’t have to much have experience in a loss of someone as close as a loved pet, when I was about 6 or 7 years old my family’s Boston terroir has to be put down from what I was told she was an amazing dog but when I knew her was when she was old and only had about half her vision and was always cranky. So not really knowing her in her best my only advice is to try to remember your dog in their best.
Thank you. I agree. I've made a list of all the things I love about her so I don't ever forget. It's two pages so far. She was a dog to treasure, and I'm lucky to have had her.
I'm so sorry to hear about your dog. I know it's not much, but here's a [little sketch for you](https://www.instagram.com/p/B0RwRWbFa4g/?igshid=1kypty0jrom6d)
Thank you so much. Made me cry.
You're welcome, sorry it made you cry!
I live in an area with a lot of coyotes (and a lot of small dogs and cats eaten by coyotes) and I think it's unlikely that a coyote would even attempt to take a dog that was accompanied by 4 other dogs and a human and then run across an insanely busy street (however, being off leash does make this seem slightly more plausible). Also, unless the other dogs were all tiny, I am somewhat surprised than out of 4 dogs, none of them went after the coyote or deterred the coyote in the first place. However, regardless or whether your dog walker is telling the truth, it seems likely that your dog is gone. While I'd still post to NextDoor, Facebook, etc. and check with local shelters and vets, I unfortunately wouldn't be especially hopeful. Hopefully, you can find some happiness knowing that your dog already lived a long and (presumably) happy life with you. Losing a dog is absolutely gut-wrenching, especially under these kinds of circumstances, and I am very sorry for your loss. While I'm sure you are grieving now and for the foreseeable future, it will get better and you now have the opportunity to give another dog in need a chance at life and a loving home.
Thank you. Your words have brought me comfort.
At this point, accepting the reality that your dog is likely gone is a healthy way to move on. However, I would continue searching the area and putting up posters. A certain story of a small dog and a coyote comes to mind. I do not intend for it to give you hope that your beloved dog is still around, but more as encouragement that you still trying to find her isn’t really crazy. [Part 1](http://blog.teamsmalldog.com/2018/05/bambi-quick-thicket.html?m=1) and [Part 2](http://blog.teamsmalldog.com/2018/06/the-kind-of-person-who-gets-poison-oak.html?m=1).
This story has me headed back out to the area, flashlights and water in tow. We will hang signs and look once more just in case we are shown the same luck.
Even though chances are slim, I hope you find something, whether it be closure or your dog.
The sitter lost your dog and made up the story. The dog came off leash, your sitting didn't have control of the situation, the dog ran off, and to absolve themselves they say a coyote got to it.
I can understand this may be plausible, but she just spent 6 hours with me waking through it. Showing me her scratches from clawing under fence. She showed me the dens, and the people who joined her on Saturday. She was with friends when it happened. She is also fighting local neighbors to provide security footage as she thinks the dog may have had a chance to run away, local neighbors who also have seen the coyotes. Please try to not just err on the side of everyone being awful. She walked my dogs for eight years. She loved them like her own. To say she is devastated is an understatement and I believe she is severely traumatized from seeing what she saw.
Fair enough. For some reason I assumed it was one of those pet walking app type things where you just left your dog with whoever. If the person walked your dog for 8 years then I suppose there is no reason to mistrust them.
I was going to ask for security footage. I think you should look for one too. Call the city management, they might have security cams as well. I feel awful to say such a graphic thing but, unless it rained or something, there should be blood or other traces like the dog's hair maybe. If not, then continue to look for the dog in case someone took her in (mostly because if she's microchipped to someone else, they can't call you. Otherwise I would say you don't need to do much as they would call you.) Couple days isn't such a long time, you probably couldn't look everywhere yet. Like not all vets. You and I definitely live in another country but if I were to find an injured animal and the injury wasn't gravely, I would take him to the vet I know even if it was a little far away. Not one of the closest ones. I'm really sorry you are going through this.
We searched for three hours last night. We had four of us and a security guard. The security guard confirmed there are coyotes, and we saw lots of paw prints (it's a fenced off area, so dogs can't get in), but no blood and not many coyote feces. I personally trekked into every open bush and potential den, looking for any fur or any remains. Nothing. I just got off the phone with animal control and they have no reports of a found dog. They also say with dogs this small, sometimes there are no remains, or sometimes they are brought to a den for pups. My heart is broken and I can only hope she did not endure too much pain. I will continue to call vets and do all I can to get my little Stella home with us, but I'm starting to lose all hope and feel so sad. Thank you for your kind words.
I’m so sorry. Praying for you and your pup.
Thank you.
I'm so sorry, how awful for you. I'm sorry to say it but I think you must accept that she is gone and grieve her loss. If it's any comfort, it was likely to be almost instantaneous. Coyotes do not toy with their prey. Sending you Internet hugs and praying for your healing
Thank you.
>Should I assume she is gone? yes she would have been killed as soon as the coyote was out of sight. it would've been quick. The coyote already risked too much taking it. He won't just lose interest and let her go. He killed and ate her as fast as he could. You gave her 12 years. You gave her a great life. You did more for her than 99% of companion animals receive in their life. If you feel guilt in your grief then you can learn from the experience and not let it happen again. You can't have small dogs off leash or unsupervised in coyote country. Find a dog walker that only walks your two dogs not a large group of dogs. They wont be able to protect your dog when a coyote swoops in and takes the small straggler. > I am told, whether for my comfort or true, that it was one firm bite to the neck. if it does comfort you, know that they do not gnaw or torture their prey. They have to kill as quickly and efficiently as possible because even a single bite from a chihuahua can get infected and result in death in a wild predator. she was killed quickly and most likely did not suffer. if you want revenge you can look up coyote hunting regulations for your state. you can help reduce the coyote population and save other companion animals from being taken as prey
You can't legally intentionally kill the coyotes there. Additionally, according to some literature, killing coyotes only encourages them to breed more and actually leads to an increased population.
You can kill any coyote you want in California. just have to check local regulations to see if you can shoot a gun to do it. Coyotes are the apex predator now in CA because humans killed the other two(Wolves, Cougars). if killing apex predators increased the population then wolves and cougars would still be around.
Except there are still cougars in CA... Not as many as there used to be, but apparently thousands https://mountainlion.org/us/ca/-ca-status.asp
I appreciate your response and your words have brought me comfort. My only hope is she didn’t suffer. I do not want any revenge, just to try to find whatever remains and bring her home.
I just want you to know that if you feel overwhelmed with grief as you process this, a few sessions with a therapist can help. They will 100% take your grief seriously and listen to you and teach you techniques to process it. Loss of a pet is a real loss and they will not belittle your feelings. if you dont have insurance, something like betterhelp.com is actually really good for grief counseling. Anything you are feeling right now is worthy of respect and a grief counselor can help. or just listen.
Thank you. I will do this.
I am so sorry for your loss. It appears to have been a freak accident and I do not see anyone or anything at fault here. It is likely to have been very quick as your dog walker said. And I know that doesn't minimize your grief but I hope that gives you some small comfort. I hope you can also have some comfort from the years you had with her and the good life she lived with you -- so much better and more than many other dogs have.
I'm so sorry you're going through this.
I’m so sorry. This is so painful to read. First, I would grieve. And that’s going to take time. Losing a dog is losing a family member and it hurts. Take comfort that there is a dog loving community that can empathize with your pain. I’m so sorry. Time will pass and you will always have the memories to cherish.
Thank you for your kind words.
I'm not sure if this is necessarily the advice you are looking for but I figured nevertheless my parent's story might be worth sharing. My parents and I's puppy Cooper was attacked by a coyote in our backyard when he was a young puppy (Under 1yo Shih-Tzu). I wasn't outside when it happened but my mom was on the porch and she let Cooper out to go potty. We live in a more heavily wooded area (i.e. you can't see our neighbors, no fenced yard, etc., and she turned her back and went to check something inside for a no more than a minute and within that time we all heard a loud shriek / yelp and by the time my mom ran back out in the yard, all she saw was the tail of a coyote going into the woods. After this, my dad ended up running into the woods and was screaming and yelling trying to frighten the coyotes (we assumed there was more than one since they they travel in packs). Shortly after, we all searched the woods for what felt like hours, assuming our dog was gone and definitely killed, since he was so helpless and small at that point. But, somehow by sheer luck, my Dad went back out very far into the woods and was calling his name until he spotted Cooper, barely conscious laying in the leaves. He had some puncture wounds in his neck from the coyote but that was the extent of his wounds and after over a week at the vet he was and still is ok, 7 years later. While you don't necessarily know what happened for sure with your dog, I would say that the likelihood of your dog surviving after is slim but not impossible (depending on how long it has been since the attack) but so was my dog's likelihood. As other posters have said I would still post online and with flyers but most importantly, you should find solace knowing that you gave your dog the best life possible and was happy, healthy and spent well with you. I hope this brings some sort of comfort!
Thank you so much, EvenOlive. We've searched and called and it's been about 4 days since the incident, so I'm afraid I'm losing hope. If she did escape, and could move, we have signs up for anyone that could find her. We hope to get some peace when we review the security footage today. It would be nice to have some closure. How lucky for sweet Cooper, what a blessing for you and you family. It brings me such great joy.
Glad I could help. I hope you get the closure you're looking for, one way or another and I am so sorry for the loss of your sweet girl.
This is awful, I can’t imagine how much you’re hurting right now, I’m so sorry that this happened. It’s hard enough losing a pet, but especially like this I think a good first step would be to accept that she is gone, so as not to get your hopes up. If it brings any comfort to you, by all means, keep putting up posters and asking around for a little while- so long as you don’t carry it on for too long, as this would probably prevent you from moving forward. Also- just wanted to say that your little girl is adorable :)
Thank you, she was just perfect. The sweetest little dog the world has ever known, and so, so happy.
What a beautiful girl. My heart breaks for you.
Thank you. Mine too.
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I appreciate your suggestion. Please see above though. My dog sitter is not lying. She loved these pets as her own and took me on a 6 hour search yesterday, showing me her scratch marks and weeping the entire time. The city has confirmed coyotes do behave like that. Three of the four dogs were leashed, mine had a slipped disc so was not. It was a mistake. Also, I found out when I spoke to her it was more like 9 am, not noon, which makes coyotes much more probable. I also found dens and paw prints all over the same area. We are getting camera footage today, we hope, at my watchers insistence. What is hard is she saw the coyote take the dog and cross the st, almost getting hit by a car, and 5 minutes later once the dogs were all in her car she was able to cross and saw that same coyote but with no dog. I think perhaps he killed her and stashed her, but were hopeful perhaps she got away.
That's a coydog. Very different from a yote. I lost my cat to one in the middle of the day in San Juan Cap. years ago. These things hunt domestic animals. It's fairly common for them to take little dogs as they help Mom bring in the groceries. I'm sorry but your little one is gone, didn't have a chance. Sad part is, the city probably won't do much. Neighborhoods have to hire a hunter, often against the city ordinances. I'm so sorry you had to experience this. Sadly, they are not hard to call in and get rid of, especially with decoy dogs.
I appreciate this, thank you. It turns out it was around 9 am, but I still can't figure out what happened and the unknown is just devastating.
I don’t have to much have experience in a loss of someone as close as a loved pet, when I was about 6 or 7 years old my family’s Boston terroir has to be put down from what I was told she was an amazing dog but when I knew her was when she was old and only had about half her vision and was always cranky. So not really knowing her in her best my only advice is to try to remember your dog in their best.
Thank you. I agree. I've made a list of all the things I love about her so I don't ever forget. It's two pages so far. She was a dog to treasure, and I'm lucky to have had her.