Doo, doo, doo, looking out my back door

It's one of those mornings I'm finding it difficult to get anything done, since I'm spending most of time looking out the window, watching our Akbash livestock protection dog Rena, and how she handles two coyotes that have been in our neighborhood all morning.

Rena alerted me to the two coyotes as they crossed the meadow across the highway early this morning, putting the stalk on a group of Canada geese, but not succeeding in so much as alarming the big birds. The coyotes disappeared into the tree-lined ditch and did some howling and yowling, but Rena's not allowed to go across the highway, so the coyotes were safe.

Eventually Rena turned her attention to playing with our herding dog pup, Hud. A little later I realized Rena was starting to "huff up" again, so I called Hud to my side and went to the kitchen window to watch. Rena caught a movement in the sagebrush behind the house, so I grabbed a camera and took this photo from my back doorway - sorry it's not any better quality.

Rena chased the coyote, but neither animal seemed terribly serious about the chase today. If you click on the photo, you can see an enlarged version, with the coyote in the lower right corner. There are also two prairie dogs standing at the entrance to their burrow, watching the chase as well. I'd like to photograph Rena actually catching a coyote, but since there aren't any sheep here at the house, Rena's not really guarding. Oh but I would love to photograph any of my guardians catching a 'yote. Usually all I get are the carcasses, which I admit does make me proud of the dogs' good work.