Hi, /r/dogs.

I work in an urban area in Ontario, Canada which is close to a ravine, and coyotes are known to inhabit the area and have killed numerous small dogs and cats, the most recent this weekend, where one killed someone's small dog while they were out in the back yard with it.

I work out of a home office in this area and I bring my 15-pound Cavalier King Charles spaniel to work with me every day. Another dog lives at the home, a 40-pound retriever/poodle mix. The back yard of the home is fenced with a 6-foot wooden slat fence but a coyote could scale it easily, and a coyote even crossed the front porch of the house while the homeowners were sitting on it a few years ago.

Most of the information I've read about protecting your dogs from coyotes stresses that you should just never leave your dog in the yard without supervision. I understand if this is the only option we have, but the two dogs love playing out in the back yard together, especially in good weather, and it would seem a shame to never let them out there, considering we can't supervise them because we have to work during the day.

I was wondering if anyone had experience with something like a Coyote Roller or another similar coyote-proofing mechanism. It's a very urban residential neighbourhood and barbed wire, chicken wire, or electric fencing is just not realistic.

Garbage or composting bins are not left in the yard, there are no fruit trees to leave fruit, no vegetable gardens, and no bird feeders. The dogs are not fed outside. The coyote has not been seen in the yard but given that one has been seen on the front porch a few years ago, as well as the one which killed the Maltese a few blocks away, it seems likely that one could come through the back yard.

Does anyone have any suggestions for coyote-proofing the yard, or do you think we should stick to not letting the dogs out to play when we can't be with them?