07/02/2015
Pablo, a coyote story.
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Pablo, a coyote story.
I
Few people have the opportunity of being loved by a wild animal.
Two years ago I shot at Pablo's mother for killing one of our chickens. I missed, and she ran away over the top of the hill. Two days later, confident that I was a bad shot, and remembering the taste of fresh chicken she was back. Again my shooting failed me and she ran off with a chicken. @
A couple of days later while I was fixing the fence on the ranch, I saw her pop up out of nowhere, heading east to the top of the hill, where she stopped, looked back at me, and continued on. A day or so later while back in that same field I heard the very distinct yipping of pups. I found the den (where?... but no sign of the mom. She had dug the den at least 5 feet deep. After much digging you (who?) finally made a shepherds hook and dug around. It looks like there were only 2 females and a male "Pablo". (
***_he thought I was his mom_***
The first female died that night, we tried to keep them alive by feeding them puppy food. The two that were left were doing pretty good. Therefore we were surprised when the second female died a couple days later. But Pablo, well, I'm not sure you could kill him if you tried.
Pablo took to me from the very first, I fed him, I played with him, I protected him with the other dogs and I protected the other dogs from him. I was the first person he saw, I think he thought I was his mom, a phenomenon called “imprinting”, when a baby animal mistakes another animal for ts mother, Often I would look down when he was in my lap and see him just looking up at me with wonder. I noticed that he would growl at me sometimes too, when he felt frustrated, like a child coming back to mom to let her know something/someone is making him unhappy. Usually though, he was very affectionate and liked to be held and cuddled. When I was seated at my desk at home he would curl up on my lap on a towel. I held him night and day and as much as I could. I was concerned about his eyesight, as a pup he would run into things like the door, cabinets and sometimes me. Even to this day he sometimes exhibits behavior that appears to suggest he is having vision problems. There were times during the first year we had to put a muzzle on him. You could see the immediate change to his personality with that muzzle on.
_***take a way***_
One of his favorite games is what we call, “take away”. When we bring him in the house he looks for something of mine and brings it to me to “take away” from him. Of course, as I go to grab it he jumps off the bed, or he sticks his butt out at me, or if he allows me to grab it, he will re grab it trying to find my hand. Take away has evolved from fighting for possession on his part, to a game and he no longer feels threatened. I purposely let him win in the beginning to build his confidence and character, but as he's grown stronger and smarter, he always wins.
***_who is the boss? -Hilly!_***
Hilly was given to me as a Valentines gift number of years ago. She's a Danish-Swedish farm dog which is a rare breed here in United States, that looks like a small rat terrier. They are very smart and fearless, and in our house Hilly is the boss. Pablo has always had a special place in his heart for Hilly, and has always looked up to her, and despite her being half his size and weight, she is the one giving orders, maybe it's the mother instinct in her. She keeps him in line, she knows what behavior is allowable and what's not. Every night they play this little game where she gets to growl at him and let him know that she's the boss, though really I think he likes letting her think she's the boss. Their game of “ zoom zoom” is one of the things that have come out of their relationship.
***_zoom-zoom_***
The cooler it gets the more energy Pablo displays. They have this game they play which we call zoom zoom. This is how it works: Hilly will stand in the middle of the house and start barking at Pablo. Pablo starts zooming through the house. Over the couch, (even if you're sitting there), over the bed, under the bed, and about two inches over the top of Hilly's head with her barking orders at him. I just love watching them play, and their enthusiasm and appreciation for each other!
***_Potato chips & Ice Cream_***
Someone forgot to tell Pablo that coyotes aren't supposed to eat ice cream or potato chips, much less like them! He likes them so much, he will take me down for them!. Do you know what it's like to eat ice cream in bed with your knees up and have a coyote staring you down, with his head resting between your knees, just waiting for you to scoop the final spoonful out of the bowl? Then, over-the-top he comes for his share of the ice cream. One of his new favorite tricks is to pretend like he's looking the other way, and then with lightning speed, grab your ice cream right out of your bowl!
Have you ever seen, (use your imagination), Pablo with his head buried in a bag of potato chips? When he was young and just starting to develop a taste for potato chips, if you weren't fast enough you could lose a finger or get a pretty good nip. If I haven't convinced you how much he loves ice cream, you won't believe how much he loves potato chips!
***_Friends as children now i what to kill him._***
Patch is a black lab. Patch was the last one born out of a litter of 12 so I don't think Patch got enough milk or as much oxygen as needed. He just doesn't seem like he's all there. At first Patch and Pablo kinda got along fine.
As Pablo started to grow though, they were less tolerant of each other, until Pablo started attacking Patch and we've had to separate them. The dominate male side of Pablo is right below the surface.
***_5 dead chickens? take that smile off your face!_***
Do you you think coyotes have emotions? Well, one day, Pablo was sitting in the middle of the driveway with 5 dead chickens around him just as proud as can be with this huge sh*t-eating grin on his face as I drove up. All I could do was laugh, you see those 5 chickens knew how long Pablo's chain was and you could see the tracks in the ground from where they had antagonized Pablo, strutting 6 inches from his nose, day after day after day, clucking, “Nyahh, nyahh, nyahh- nyahh! We're free and you're not!”
So, he didn't eat them, he just killed them and really set them free.
***_the water tank_***
When you live in the country things happen. One day in the early part of year we had a wind storm go through, with gusts up to 70 MPH. Sitting half a mile away from the ranch, on the top of the hill sat two 5000 water tanks. They were made of polyfiber, so even though they looked large they were not heavy, especially when empty. Well, the wind picked them up and sent them flying downhill, right over the barbed wire fence, and straight at poor Pablo, where he was chained in the yard. When he saw the tanks rolling towards him it must've taken all his strength, but he hit the end of the chain and kept on going. I looked everywhere for him, but on a ranch, with grapevines, fruit trees, other crops and outbuildings, he could be hiding anywhere. I ran up to the field workers and begged them if they saw any coyotes to not shoot them until after I found Pablo.
Hours later, I was sitting in the front of he house, crying and exhausted, when this skinny butt coyote comes trotting over the hill. He was little bruised and banged up but his tail was wagging to million miles an hour, he was that glad to see me.
***_i'll just go wandering_***
I'm not sure how it happened, but one day when I was gone for a few hours Pablo managed to get the chain loose from the spiral anchor. I live on 45 acres and right behind me stretch 1100 acres of wide open space, while in front of me is a 20 acre parcel. Add to that couple of 600 and 900 acre vineyards and orchards on either side. When I got home and saw that Pablo was loose I went on the search for him, lucky for me, he was dragging the chain behind him, so I could follow his tracks. Oh my goodness he went miles crisscrossing all over the place, until he tried to squeeze through barb wire and the chain got hung up.
***_move over this my bed_***
Ever since he was a pup he slept on my right side down by my calf. To this day he still sleeps there except when the wind is blowing hard or when it's raining then he sleeps on top of me. I'm his mom, when he scared he comes to me for comfort.
Hilly also likes sleep on the bed but Pablo rules.
***_mom, quit messing with it let me get it_***
This next story if I didn't have witnesses I would not have included because it's hard to believe. I was putting on my nightshirt and something was stabbing me in the shoulder. It was a fox tail which had gotten caught in the shoulder strap. I was sitting on the edge of the bed trying to pull it out. Pablo's watching this whole event. After struggling with this for a few minutes, Pablo reaches over and grabs the foxtail with his teeth, pulled it out, then spit it out. I don't think you can train a dog to do this and I know cats won't. This shows a level of intellect, thought process, and action much higher than I believed an animal had.
***_take away now that he's older_***
Now that he's older Takeaway is taking on a whole different dimension. He's not as possessive now that he knows it's a game. When I come by he grabs his toy pushes his butt to me and whines in this beautiful Coyote whine. I act like I'm trying to take it and we just go around and around in a circle. Me pretending to try to take it. Pablo pretending to keep it away from me and whining the whole time.
***_if he yelps at the person, run_***
I always knew that animals have a sixth-sense regarding people. I first noticed it when Pablo would bark or howl at certain people and not others. Gradually, I noticed that he only barked or howled at people I knew to be untrustworthy, and as soon as they got out of the car Pablo would start barking or howling at them!. How does he know from 50 feet away what this person is like? (I should research it more )
***_why do we lock up, chain or confine that what we cherish most._***
Pablo he is most precious to me and has proven he will come back home, soo why am afraid to let him loose? I try to justify it with ll the obvious concerns: somebody will get to Pablo, shoot,trapped, A vehicle of some type, etc. i. always kept him on lease. I think if he wasn't on the leash he would go after patch right away. I don't think he wouldmade it in the Wild. The average lifespan of a coyote in the wildis half that of one domesticate.
***_don't play with yourfood_***
Often times they're small animals that have died on the ranch. We give them to Pablo as a gift.this is the time you don't want to get around him, even I stay away from ihim then. But once he's had his fill he usually does one of two things either berries it for later or you start playing with it. It is so fun to watch him throw it up in the air than running catch it throw it behind him turn around and run and catch it in the air he is so talented.
***_his man cave_***
Pablo has dug himself A man cave maybe almost 4 feet deep. It's so cute as I drive up in the late afternoon to see him come out of his cave squinting with the light making big stretches before he welcomes me. He keeps his toys down there he just loves his little man cave
***_A wild animal?_***
Coyotes are considered wild animal and It's believed they cannot be domesticated. Pablo may be the exception rather than the rule. Or maybe because he was so young and doesn't know anything else. When I walk over to pet him through his himself over on his back it wants me to rub his belly. This is not a wild animal. Recently I have seen a change in his behavior. As an example if you fed him meat table scraps before he was very defensive and possessive and if you go near him he growled. with me he's okay he knows I'm not going to take it away from him. The word that comes to my mind is he's maturing.
***_if you make him mad watch out for the revenge_***
AIs good he is he is he still gets himself in trouble from time to time and when I had to scold him he likes to find something of mine and chew it up he particularly likes my cowboy boots. He also has a sense for what is most precious to me at the moment and that's the one thing he looks for:g Pablo Picasso when he's good Pablo Escobar when he's bad.
***_is it legal to "own" him, we live in a western state_***
Do you live there it's legal to own a coyote this story is Non-Fiction if you live in a state where it's illegal to own a coyote this story is fiction.
***_Where do we go from here_***
We've had him for three years I think he live in least another three-years. Look forward to the comfort of him laying next to me each night, feeling his love and enjoy my experience with him. Not many people are given the opportunity I have such a special animal in your life . I'm not sure what the message from God is with us but I want to thank him.
Special thanks to Jandra Who's support and encouragement made this happen and who editoring skills took my rambling and turned it into something readable.
