A silent communion

Not the Coyote we saw yesterday, but a Coyote from Yellowstone. Photo credit: Jim Peaco

My Borders, Bossy and Bark, normally sound off when an off-leash dog approaches us. But not yesterday.

Yesterday at Hilton Falls we met one of our resident Coyotes as we crested a hilltop. It’s the second time in the last six months we’ve been lucky like this. Last time we were coming around a corner on a forest path and I thought I was seeing the hind end of a young deer.

This time, the Coyote was out in the open.  At first I thought I was seeing an off-leash German Sheppard running towards us. Expecting a vocal explosion from my terriers I stopped and looked around, preparing to ask the owner to recall his dog.

But when we stopped, the ‘dog’ stopped.  And for a few seconds of suspended time we all gazed at each other, the ‘dog’ looking straight at us without a hint of confrontation in his body or attitude. No owner in sight. Certainly not a Sheppard. A handsome Coyote instead.

Far too quickly he turned and vanished into the hillside woods behind him, running through a carpet of fall leaves without making a sound.  Bossy and Bark didn’t make a peep either. Just like when we met the Deer-Coyote in the woods in the summertime.  A silent communion. Some amazing grace.