2 Dalmatians help dog walker fight off pack of coyotes in Boston
BOSTON – A dog walker in Boston learned the truth behind the expression "Dogs are a man's best friend" when two Dalmatians named Deanna and Tasha fought off a pack of coyotes.
It happened near an apartment complex in Brighton early Wednesday morning.
"Deanna got very upset and she jumped backwards and I said 'What's wrong with her?' When I watched in my back, there were four coyotes," dog walker Josstin Lantadilla told WBZ-TV. "One was in the front showing his mouth."
The pack of coyotes was quietly lurking behind them. Deanna's barking is what alerted Lantadilla to look back.
"She knew right away," he said. "I never heard him. When I look to the back, I never realized there were four coyotes behind me."
The coyotes were bold and lunged at the Dalmatians.
"Deanna grabbed him from the side of the neck and shaked his neck one time and I tried to kick him, I kicked him," Lantadilla said.
"Deanna, the smaller of my two girls here, bit it," the dogs' owner, Jane Friedlander, told WBZ. "Bit it in the neck and convinced the pack to run away."
Friedlander said she's not surprised, as this isn't the first time her dogs have been the target of coyotes.
"They tried to make a circle around us and ran around in circles, tried to close the circle. I just made my way back to my unit with my back to the building and skedaddled inside," she said.
Lantadilla and the dogs were not hurt. Friedlander credits their breed.
"They're meant to drive away coyotes, wolves, foxes, rabbits, anything that would bother a stable of horses," Friedlander said.
And there's no doubt in the dog walker's mind that Deanna and Tasha were protecting him that night.
"Of course, they were meant for that," he said.
The two hope that the city or the state will step in to protect residents and their pets.
"The increased aggressiveness with the coyotes that the city and state government will do something, perhaps by trap, neuter, release. Perhaps by relocating," Friedlander said. "I don't know what the solution will be other than letting people get bit."