Yes. When I realized Charlie had decided to stay with me, I started thinking about neutering him, but it wasn’t until I got a mind-to-mind transmission from him (no joke) that “it was time” that I went ahead and did it. I did the procedure myself – it went smoothly and with no complications, though it’s a very long story so you’ll have to read the book to get the details.
In the past week, I have received emails along the lines of “I want a coyote pup,” or “I found a litter of coyote pups and brought one home,” or “my husband shot a coyote, found her den, and we brought home all seven pups and we’re going to raise them and some of my neighbors want some too,” all ending in “do you have any advice?”
Charlie has changed my life in incredible ways; he has brought me joy and wonder and wisdom and has provided me with lessons I probably would not have learned any other way. However, it is not all peaches and roses.
Raising Charlie and giving him a high quality of life while keeping him safe and protected, and also keeping my neighbors and their animals safe and protected from him, has been expensive and time consuming – more expensive and time consuming than one would ever imagine. Luckily, I have an extremely low standard of living. I don’t mind driving a beater truck; I don’t mind living in a tiny, rustic cabin with really low rent. Luckily, I live adjacent to hundreds of acres of BLM (untouched public land) where I can walk Charlie for hours and never cross a road, never pass another house, never encounter another person. Luckily, I am able to make a living from home, which has allowed me to stay close to Charlie and attend to him throughout the day and go on hikes with him, work with him, or play with him all throughout the day.
From everything I have read and everyone I have talked with, coyotes generally do not accept more than one or two people. Charlie has never accepted anyone but MC and I. This means visitors must be dealt with accordingly to keep dangerous situations from even having the chance of occuring and to minimize stress on Charlie. It also means that I can’t bring him with me if I were to visit friends or family, and I can’t leave him with a pet-sitter and go on vacation. I am lucky that MC can watch Charlie if I should need to go out of town. But, I have not left my town in the past year that I have had Charlie.
I did not raise Charlie because I thought it would be “way cool” to have a pet coyote; I did it as the only recourse against a young death. MC’s presence and his lifetime of experience with coyotes and other wild animals has been absolutely essential, and, as “cute” as this sounds, I am dead serious when I say I could not have succeeded without Eli.
Charlie was – and is – a divine gift to me and he is a gift to the world. Would I make the same decision if I had it to do over again? Absolutely. Will I ever raise another coyote? No way.
Q: I read a book written by a man who has raised and lived with wolves for many years – one of the many issues he brought forth dealt with the differences in how wolves and dogs develop. In simple terms, dogs have been bred for thousands of years to maintain their “puppyhood,” i.e, their willingness to submit themselves to us as their leaders, throughout their lifespans. On the other hand, wolves go through puppyhood and mature, and they begin to make their own decisions. Accordingly, a competition for control can occur, which can be dangerous for a human who assumes he or she is boss. Usually, the writer said, the maturing wolf simply begins to make its own decisions – it may continue on friendly terms with a human, but it won’t take orders anymore. I’m very much interested in how your relationship with Charlie develops, in this regard. Any comments?
A: This theroy is common among those who work with wolves and coyotes, though many dog owners, especially those with difficult dogs, tend to disagree with it. I certainly don’t know enough outside of my own experience with Charlie to take a side. However, all canines work within the pack system, and even with wolves and coyotes, there is an “alpha” who makes decisions which the rest of the pack uphold.
As Charlie matured this winter, he called on me to become extremely strong within myself in order for me to maintain my alpha status. This wasn’t just a task of action, it was a task of energetics.
Though I’ve always considered Charlie and I “a team” and I respect his incredible intellegence and independent thought, by taking the alpha role, I allow Charlie the security that comes from his position as subordinate. I reinforce “the order” in subtle ways all the time. I go through doors first. He no longer gets to sleep on my bed, ever, though we do spoon on the floor or on his dog bed every day. He must sit before going out or coming in, before getting food, and before getting treats. And he does all this, with, I dare say, a coyote smile.
I’ve noticed he watches me closely, and my actions and reactions influence the conclusions he draws for himself – for example, he is very afraid of strange vehicles, but if he sees me walking up to an “unknown” car in the driveway (I make a point of leaning up against it casually, knowing he is watching), he lets go of his fear and deems it safe.
When my truck broke down, I borrowed a friends second truck. When they dropped it off, Charlie ran away from it and hid, yet after seeing me get in and out of it once, Charlie didn’t try to hide from it anymore. That, to me, is an example of the alpha/subordinate relationship – he trusts me enough to trust what I trust.
None…. Charlie is my first canine, not counting the dog my family had when I was a kid. Scarlett was a bloodhound-lab mix, and we got her when she was three. She was the kindest, mellowest dog, and I was just a kid so the actual “responsibility of a dog” went over my head. So, I went into the raising of Charlie completely blind and ignorant. I’ve read a lot, been in touch with many people with great knowledge, and relied on my intuition, trial and error, and, most importantly, paid close attention to what Charlie tells me along the way.
At the moment, Charlie’s favorite toy is a roll of masking tape. He’s so weird. But it has been providing us hours of entertainment. I roll it across the floor, he tosses it it the air and catches the ring of it around his snout – it’s hilarious. He is also loving dried papaya spears. I gave him a piece last week and he’s been playing with it ever since, batting it around and slowly nibbling it. I highly recommend dried papaya for you dog owners – a google search deems it safe, and it’s way cheaper than rawhide.
