Deer-dog resting in the sun

Before we realized that this one single coyote had been quietly entering the food forest every evening, we noticed that the rabbits, squirrels and gophers had disappeared from the garden!

At first we didn’t know why the small garden gourmands no longer ate up all of our seedlings and fruit, but we were glad to be able to take down these protective (but unattractive) seedling fences and the protective netting from our fruit trees! They were no longer needed 

Our Portable Garden Fences became unneccessary!

Once we realized that the deer-dog was responsible for pest control on the food forest, we were amazed and grateful for its presence.

We affectionately named it “Deer-dog” since it looks like a deer mixed with a dog and eats both vegetables and animals, and because of the double-entendre “Dear-dog” because we love it!

Here’s a video clip of deer-dog stalking an insect one evening recently. It was a grasshopper or a cricket or something along those lines.



Let us count the ways we love our coyote, Deer-dog!

1. It eats rabbits, squirrels, and gophers from our garden. No more need to build separate fences around our seedlings or netting over our fruit trees!!
2. Since the day it ate a crow, the crows became afraid to come back to our garden!!
3. It eats grasshoppers right out of the air!!
4. It eats fruit that has fallen to the ground and begun to rot, thus keeping the grounds clean. When nectarines and apricots fell to the ground, the deer-dog ate the fruit and spit the clean seeds back onto the ground!!
5. It never appears during visits from our human guests!!
6. It sleeps outside under a tree and guards the premises 24-7 for incoming animals that might otherwise be devouring the plants!!
7. It requires no extra insurance from the homeowner’s insurance company, no city license, no pet food, no entertainment, and no visits to the vet!!
8. It walks itself and it even practices yoga – we’ve seen it doing the “downward dog”!!
9. It doesn’t wake us up in the morning and never needs to be let out of the house!!
10. Its solid waste is comprised of natural ingredients and feeds the garden, so requires no clean up!!
11. It takes care of itself if we go on vacation or a day trip!!

If a coyote comes into your garden, remember our story, treasure it and be glad for its help!