Coydog

A coydog is a canid hybrid resulting from a mating between a male coyote and a female dog. Hybrids of both sexes are fertile and can be successfully bred through four generations. Similarly, a dogote/doyote is a hybrid with a dog father and a coyote mother. Such matings occurred long before the European colonization of the Americas, as melanistic coyotes have been shown to have inherited their black pelts from dogs likely brought to North America through the Bering Land Bridge 12,000 to 14,000 years ago by the ancestors of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Coydogs were deliberately bred in Pre-Columbian Mexico, where coyotes were held in high regard. In the city of Teotihuacan, it was common practice to crossbreed coyotes and Mexican wolves with dogs in order to breed resistant, loyal but temperamental, good guardians. Northern Indigenous peoples in Canada were mating coyotes and wolves to their sled dogs in order to produce more resilient animals as late as the early 20th century. The term is sometimes mistakenly used for coywolves, which are common in northeastern North America, whereas true coydogs are only occasionally found in the wild. In captivity, F1 hybrids tend to be more mischievous and less manageable as pups than dogs, and are less trustworthy in maturity than wolfdogs. Hybrids vary in appearance, but generally retain the coyote's adult coat color, dark neonatal coat color, bushy tail with an active supracaudal gland, and white facial mask. F1 hybrids tend to be intermediate in form between dogs and coyotes, while F2 hybrids are more varied. Both F1 and F2 hybrids resemble their coyote parents in terms of shyness and intrasexual aggression. Hybrid play behavior includes the coyote "hip-slam". A population of non-albino white coyotes in Newfoundland owe their coloration to a MC1R mutation inherited from Golden...