There have been packs of coydogs roaming the woods and riverbank here for years, the product of lost or abandoned pets and coyotes-they are mostly big, and totally unafraid of humans, like domestic dogs, and clever and forest-smart as a coyote-they are a lot more dangerous than the resident cougars. I do not take my Husky walking outside the fence, ever-if you leave your cat or dog unattended, it will eventually be a meal for these animals.
I hike in the woods most days, but not without bear spray, or even a sidearm.
Coyotes would eat dogs before they’d mate with them.
http://perambulations.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/so-which-is-it-coyote-coywolf-or-coydog/
Unless you have seen _drop-eared_ “coyotes” running around, they’re not going to be “coydogs”.
Drop ears are genetically dominant and would prevail in a coyote/dog mating *unless* the dog were naturally prick-eared.
Sorry.
I did not realize the threat level in other parts of the country. Here in the PNW, you will hear about the occasional cougar attack, and wolves are being reintroduced, but people generally still wander with no protection in forest areas. The ones who do carry do so as much for homo sapien threats as animal.
I guess the fact that the northwest has no where near the population density of humans and pets has to do the lack of hybrid or cross development?