ROOMIES <> 4 <> LYFE: Run Lola Run!

So now that I'm back home again, there are many interesting and exciting events. One of them is that there are coyotes roaming our windy suburban streets. The mangy curs have eaten a couple of dogs that were blocked in by those electric perimeters. The dogs can't get out or they get shocked while the coyotes are free to get in. So the coyotes saunter on in and eat the dogs, but not before dragging them outside of the electric fence and into the street. It's very insensitive. I actually saw one of the coyotes tonight, it was my first glimpse of wildlife since Dirk. I called the cops to report it, but I think they thought I was drunk, but I was really just tired. Anyways, it's kind of a scandal because some people are afraid of letting their dogs outside. Others think that those people are just being soft. Our faire citye will soon collapse. Regardless, there was a survival article in the Grosse Pointe News today. I am going to quote the entire thing because it is so ridiculous. It sounds like how Don Delillo would have written in high school. Oh yeah, and keep in mind that this article was on the front page.

December 24, 2009
Kathy Rinaldi walked around the corner of her house and into the stare of the coyote that had just tried to eat her dog.

"There he was, standing big as life, bold as can be," Rinaldi said.

"Get the hell out of my yard," she yelled.

The coyote stood a moment longer.

"Not even afraid."

Then he took off.

"They trot like a horse," Rinaldi said.

That is definitely my favorite part of the article. There are American values and chills. There is also some ambiguity as to who is saying "Not even afraid." Is it the woman? Is it the coyote? Who knows. Anyways, the rest of the article is as follows.

She and her husband wrapped their injured dog, a 13-pound, nearly 3-year-old Havanese named Lola, in towels and rushed her to a 24-hour veterinary clinic.

"She has about six puncture wounds and a laceration," said Rinaldi. "She's lucky to be alive. She has to be on antibiotics for two weeks."

The attack happened at about 11:15 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 17, in the Rinaldi's illuminated, unfenced backyard on Belle Meade in Grosse Pointe Shores.

Lola had just been let out, hooked to a leash so she couldn't roam, before bedtime. Rinaldi had just sat back down inside the house when the dog cried out.

"It was almost like a human scream," Rinaldi said. "My husband and I flew up. I opened the door. She was scooting around from the backyard to the patio. She was holding her leg up, bleeding and howling."

Rinaldi said the vet who treated Lola was the same one who tended the Cavalier King Charles a coyote killed two weeks ago on Dodge Place in the City of Grosse Pointe.

"The vet said these animals (coyotes) are capable of getting over fences to attack their prey," Rinaldi said. "The vet told me I may have been fortunate to have Lola on a leash because coyotes usually just grab them and run."

She's been seeing coyotes on the street for about 2 1/2 years.

"We have tons of small dogs on this block," Rinaldi said. "The coyotes are ready and waiting."

She also frequently babysits her nearly 2-year-old granddaughter.

"I'm afraid to have her in the backyard," Rinaldi said. "She's little, too. A lot littler than a coyote."

Rinaldi feels guilty for putting Lola at risk.

"My husband's been telling me not to put her out on the leash at night by herself," she said. "That's what I did. She was like bait. My wish is that (people) know they can't leave their animals unattended in the yard."

Rinaldi said her sister-in-law on Oxford near Holiday in Grosse Pointe Woods sees coyotes regularly.

The sister-in-law suspects Holiday has become a coyote corridor linking open spaces at the country club in the Farms and Lochmoor Club in the Woods.

Here is a picture of our little champ: