Disdain

Reporting LIVE from Coyote Central...

It is just after 4 pm on Sunday afternoon here in Coyote Central at Chile's Place. A pair of coyotes have sauntered through the yard and are now at the edge of her property bordering the road. The dirt is loose here, supporting just a few spindly upright bushes.

Apparently the bushes look attractive to the male coyote as he is lifting his leg up and peeing on it as high as he can. Whoa, baby, he is making quite a show of marking this bush! Is this to impress his lady friend or tell the other males to "back off"?

He's strutting away from the bush now, holding his bushy tail straight out in quite a display. The female coyote, not one to be left out, arches her back sharply and marks the ground at the base of the male's dripping bush. This is no little quick two-second pee, folks, she's going on a good twenty seconds!

The male is sniffing the telephone pole across the road by the time she's finally finished and follows. The dogs in the house are going nuts, although we can be sure it is not in appreciation of such a fine demonstration of marking. They are incensed that these wild canines have dared claim the yard as their own and are demanding to go out and tell them so. Despite their greater bulk, however, I suspect their wilder cousins would have the upper paw in any contest.

After marking the pole - although nowhere near as dramatically - and heading across the road, we deem it is safe to release the hounds into their fenced yard to continue barking at the intruders. The coyotes, marking a mesquite the dogs frequently pee on during their walks, turn as one when they hear the door open and the dogs pour into the yard.

They stare at the dogs with such looks of disdain, it is impossible to think the dogs' presence will have any impact whatsoever on their continued use of this property. I am sure they will continue to travel across it, mark it, leave their droppings, eat the mesquite beans, and chase all the ground squirrels and rabbits they desire.

In the past, they have simply ignored the dogs. Now that they have claimed this property as their own, they seem to hold them in utter contempt for barking at them. They yawn and slowly saunter on up the road.