Coyotes...

The night is dark. The wind is blowing, and the air is frigid. It burns when you breathe. The snow makes it possible to see anything. There are technically street lights, but not nearly enough to really make a difference...just beyond the light the forest still looms, as dark as ever. It was one of those nights where you know no sane person would venture outside. To me it was a great opportunity for some off-leash running games! No interference! There is a nice field next to a forest. One of our favorite places to go to during the day. And on night like this, it's close to the highway! Quiet, but next to a road and out in the open, just the way I usually like it. Its the first time I visit it at night, but it seems perfect! I leave the forests to themselves at night, I keep to the fields.

An hour of fun later we were heading back to the car. The dogs suddenly stop. I look up and notice a pack of coyotes on the path. They're standing between us and the car. Czari growls and gives a vicious pull, he wants to go get them, NOW! Zuzi starts barking. I silence them, yell out to the coyotes to get out of the way. In my experience they're smart enough to get my meaning. Its happened before, in my neighborhood. You yell out at them, they cross the street or walk away and let you pass... Its not the neighborhood though, and they're a pack. They're feeling pretty strong. They don't leave.

One of them starts coming closer sniffing us out. The rest are pacing back and forth. Czari starts pulling again, almost pulls my arm off. He doesn't like this situation. I stop him again, barely. I try to walk forward. There's no other path. I'm in an open field but outside of my tiny path is snow up to my knees or higher in all directions. There's no way to "walk" through that. Definitely not with the dogs going crazy and the coyotes circling. I'd be trapped in the snow. Not an option.


Luckily, the coyotes seem to be moving out of the way. I walk a bit further. Czari starts going crazy again, almost pulls me over. He keeps looking to the left. I stop and try to see through the darkness to what he's looking at. There a shadow passing us a few meters away. One of the coyotes is walking beside us in opposite direction. I can't walk and hold on to Czari anymore, my arm is starting to cramp up, so I wait. Hopefully once he gets far enough away, Czari will calm down. A few seconds later, the coyote starts making yipping noises from behind us. More coyotes answer him from in front of us. They keep "speaking" back and forth. I realize they weren't moving out of the way. They just moved away from the light and were surrounding us. I got no idea how many there are in total, I counted 5 in the beginning...I don't speak "coyote" but it sounds like they're coordinating. My arm is locked from trying to keep hold of Czari. I couldn't pull again on that leash to save my life. I'm not dieing to wait until the coyotes move to the next phase of their little plan.

I tell Czari to hold on. He stops moving and stands very still. I take off the leash, so he can move freely, and say "ok". He takes off into the night. I walk as fast as I can to the car with Zuzi. I'm not sure if there are any more out there, following me, but I don't wanna run. I could trip and they do like chasing, so running is out. In 3 minutes we're at the car. Nothing followed me. Czari drew the whole pack off. I roll down the window and start honking and calling him. I listen for a second. There are noises coming from the forest. I hear the yipping sounds, they sound like before, normal. Then I hear more frantic yipping. Then, yelping. Finally, lots of whines and yelps. I honk and call for Czari again. He's got a little red light attached to his collar, so I should be able to see him coming back. I honk one more time. Its dead quiet now. Finally a red light appears from the forest. It circles the whole area where we were before and then starts running towards me. He emerges from the shadows very proud, tail high, and marks a bush; then starts looking around, scouting the area.

I get out of the car and grab some bread from the back seat and tempt him into the car. I was too afraid he'd go back, just to make sure they're all gone. I drive home. Czari is very content...downright satisfied! He slept very well that night. Me too...once I calmed down. Didn't go back to that field though. Not at night.

Pleasant dreams :)