A routine walk in Southwest Portland took a frightening turn for Rebekah Choltus and her 3-year-old goldendoodle, Bob, when they encountered an aggressive coyote last week on the Wildwood Trail.
Choltus, 55, was stunned when Bob yelped in pain and she noticed the coyote standing just a few feet away.
A quick glance revealed that Bob’s white fur was stained with red near his tail, indicating he had been bitten.
In an attempt to protect her beloved pet, Choltus tried to shoo the coyote away, but the animal began to trot toward them instead.
“I thought, ‘This is a new one. He’s coming toward us,’” she said.
With her heart racing, Choltus made the decision to walk backward, maintaining eye contact with the coyote, hoping to signal that they were not a threat.
The incident has left Choltus and other members of her Arlington Heights community on edge.
Following the attack, Andy Russell, a neighbor of Choltus, shared his own harrowing experience with a coyote.
While walking with his English springer spaniel Lyra near the arboretum visitor center, a coyote emerged from a bush and began following them.
Although it did not attack, the coyote trailed them for roughly a mile down the Beach Trail.
Russell, 59, attempted to scare off the coyote but found himself unnerved by its behavior.
According to Zuriel van Belle, director of the Portland Urban Coyote Project, while dog bites from coyotes are uncommon, the behavior of coyotes chasing or following dogs is not unusual during the spring and summer.
This period often coincides with coyotes protecting their newly born pups.
“They find a safe place to have those pups, and they keep them there until usually about the end of the summer, when the pups are old enough to venture out more on their own,” van Belle explained.
The Portland Urban Coyote Project tracks coyote sightings in the area through community reports.
So far this year, the project has received at least one other report of a dog bite, a non-fatal incident involving a dog near Tigard.
Typically, the project records around 2,000 coyote sightings annually, but the number spiked last year, with over 3,000 reports documented across the metro area.
Van Belle noted that this increase does not necessarily indicate a growing coyote population, as limited food resources, such as rodents and food scraps, help to maintain their numbers in check.
“It could reflect families of coyotes being more active and visible or just more people learning about the coyote project,” she said.
Choltus expressed her shock at the unexpected aggressiveness of the coyote that bit Bob, as she had seen coyotes during her walks before without any incident.
Despite Bob being on a tight leash and being much larger than the coyote, she recalled that the animal appeared to be the largest coyote she had ever seen.
Choltus described how the coyote trailed them for about half a mile as she walked slowly backward, keeping Bob close and her eyes fixed on the animal.
Finally, when they reached a bend in the trail, she decided it was time to run.
“Dude, we are gonna run,” she told Bob, and they did not look back until they had reached the top of a hill, confident they had lost the coyote.
Choltus rushed Bob to the veterinarian, who treated him for three separate coyote bites located between his hind legs.
The vet explained that the positioning of the bites suggested the coyote might have felt threatened, likely due to its protective instinct near a den.
Choltus reflected on their unusual walking route, which involved a back-and-forth on the Wildwood Trail, possibly leading them past the den twice.
Van Belle advised dog owners to be aware of seasonal changes in coyote behavior and to take precautions without succumbing to fear.
She recommended using a shorter leash during this time, keeping cats indoors, monitoring backyards, and varying walking routes if a coyote seems to be lingering nearby.
“There’s very likely a coyote family that thinks of your neighborhood — wherever you are — as their home, too,” van Belle said.
“Now is a good time for grace and space for coyotes.”
Dave Keiter, a district wildlife biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, stated that estimating the coyote population in Portland is challenging.
However, experts believe the population remains stable.
Keiter noted that “coyotes are territorial” and that they occupy all areas of the city, having settled in Portland within a decade after initially arriving in the 1980s.
While pack sizes may vary, older coyotes often leave the urban area as pups are raised, contributing to population stability.
In terms of risk, larger dogs are generally less vulnerable to coyote attacks than smaller dogs and cats.
People, he insists, are at an “incredibly low” risk from coyotes.
To discourage coyotes from approaching humans, the department advises against feeding them, which can lead to the animals associating humans with food.
“Coyotes tend to be pretty wary of humans naturally,” Keiter emphasized.
“Hazing” techniques, including clapping, yelling, throwing small sticks or stones, blowing horns, or using pepper spray, are recommended to reinforce their wariness.
Coyotes have adapted well to urban living, finding attractive habitats in cities that provide ample food resources such as rodents, garbage, and other small animals.
“Whether you like coyotes or dislike coyotes, they’re a fact of life in urban areas,” Keiter said.
“They’re not going anywhere.
The best approach is to learn about coyotes to understand the risks and to adopt preventive measures.”
In the aftermath of the coyote attack on Bob, residents in the Arlington Heights neighborhood have begun implementing safety measures.
Nancy Loeb has outfitted her two dachshunds, Clover and Truffle, in spiked vests and invested in a “very loud” whistle and capsaicin spray.
At 73, Loeb encourages her neighbors to adopt similar precautions to protect their dogs and themselves.
“Dogs and their owners shouldn’t have to fear coyotes.
Instead, they need to be afraid of us,” she said.
Choltus, on the other hand, is taking the situation one day at a time.
Bob is recovering and has resumed daily walks, but the two have yet to return to the trails where they faced the coyote.
“I hear a strange noise, and I immediately think there’s a coyote,” she admitted.
“This is going to be a long time for me.”
image source from：https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2025/06/coyote-bites-dog-on-portland-trail-in-rare-attack-then-follows-owner.html
