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Is a coyote or pack of coyotes likely to attack my small dog if she is with me on a trail on a leash? I heard of someone's dog being eaten while the woman was walking her pet on a leash. She was allegedly walking in an area known to have wildlife but was on the trail frequented by humans. Is this likely?

The trail is fairly busy with people. There is a no dog policy, but I have a service animal and hiking the trail is really good for me. My dog is small though and a coyote could legitimately see her as a little white rabbit on a leash. I'm not even sure the claim is true, but rather safe than sorry with my baby!!

Has this happened sure,

Traps have been set out after an elderly woman was walking her small, mixed-breed dog on a leash around 10 a.m. on Saturday on Avenida Majorca and a coyote began attacking the dog, Falk said.

Falk said the woman tried to wrestle the dog away and was bitten in the scuffle – it was unclear if the bite was from the coyote or the dog. The dog was taken to a local veterinarian and later died. The woman had to undergo a series of shots for rabies treatment and is in stable condition, Falk said.

Woman injured, dog killed in coyote attack

Attack incidents are typically preceded by a sequence of increasingly bold coyote behaviors, including: nighttime coyote
attacks on pets; sightings of coyotes in neighborhoods at night; sightings of coyotes in morning and evening; attacks on pets during
daylight hours; attacks on pets on leashes and chasing of joggers and bicyclists; and finally, mid-day sightings of coyotes in and
around children’s play areas. In suburban areas, coyotes can lose their fear of humans as a result of coming to rely on ample food
resources including increased numbers of rabbits and rodents, household refuse, pet food, available water from ponds and landscape
irrigation run-off, and even intentional feeding of coyotes by residents. The safe environment provided by a wildlife-loving general
public, who rarely display aggression toward coyotes, is also thought to be a major contributing factor.

Coyote Attacks: An Increasing Suburban
Problem

A lot of this depends on the behavior of the humans in the area, in most areas in Wyoming, for example, a coyote will run at the sight of a human because their expectation is that the human is going to start shooting at them. In other areas where they are not hunted and especially in suburban areas they lose that fear and will become much bolder.