A Hero

Thank you Jeremy.

I wanted to edit this to share with you all a coyote story of my own.

Many years ago I when I had just the one dog, Briggs, we used to go to a little used field every day after work to play fetch. Briggs was not so good with other dogs in his lifetime, and at this stage he was very very bad, so no off leash parks for us. No one else used this field.

One afternoon while throwing Briggs’ kong-on-a-rope (pre-Chuck-It days!) a young female coyote appeared on the field, and sat down to watch. I was worried initially because I thought Briggs would for sure fight with her, and lose badly. I’d heard all the nasty coyote stories too. But he looked at her with mild curiosity and nothing else – she meant him no harm, and he knew it.

After a few throws, the coyote began to chase Briggs down the field as he chased his Kong. Then she went for the Kong herself and I thought “Oh great, there goes my toy.”

But I was wrong. She dropped the toy within 5 feet of me, backed up in a play bow and waited for me to throw it again. She and Briggs took turns fetching the Kong. It was one of the most thrilling events I ever witnessed.

For several days running, Coyote would meet us at the park, she and Briggs would share a sniff and then they would politely take turns playing fetch with the Kong. It became our daily routine. I told no one, as I didn’t want anyone to interfere with our game.

The last time we played with her, she tried to follow us home when we left the park for the day. She actually walked about a block with us before I recognized how foolish it was for me to let her come with us, into the neighborhood. I stamped my foot at her, and she shied away, merely confused. So I threw a rock near her, and she turned and bolted back to the park.

We never played with Coyote again – she never came back. And I know I did the right thing, but it still breaks my heart that she reached out like a dog to make friends, a very brave thing for a shy animal to do, and I had to burn that fragile bridge. I mean, you can’t bring home a coyote to your urban apartment. But I’ve never looked at coyotes the same way since.

If this is not okay:

or this

This this is not okay either.

May the universe have mercy on the “souls” who would do this to an animal.