In one of a series of coyote attacks on dogs in North Stamford last week, Kerie Boshka of Red Fox Road said she heard a commotion when she was outside shoveling snow.
"I was shoveling and my husband came running outside, grabbed the shovel from me and literally had to fight the coyote off with the shovel," said Boshka, who owns both dogs. "(The coyote) was trying to get around my husband to get at my dogs. It was pretty intense."
Lexie was bitten in the mouth but that wound is healing quickly, said Boshka, who called Lexie a hero. However, the bites to Lexie's front right leg were very serious and required two trips to the vet and medication, she said.
Kipp, who had been pinned by the coyote at one point, was saved from injury as Lexie jumped in to confront the coyote, Boshka said.
In the same area last Wednesday morning, Judy Klym of Wire Mill Road grabbed a shovel to chase away a coyote after it attacked her 75-pound, 7-year-old German shorthaired pointer, Brix.
"We have had coyotes in the backyard before and they always just minded their own business. They never attacked before," Klym said of the 8 a.m. attack. "It was a big surprise. I turned around and there was my dog being attacked by this brownish, grey thing."
Brix suffered some injuries, but none were major, Klym said.
Klym and Boshka believe that the heavy snow, which is only now disappearing from yards and wooded areas in the city, has made the coyotes more aggressive than usual because they haven't been able to find their usual prey.
Klym is keeping an even closer eye on Brix than before to prevent any further attacsk.
As for Boshka, she said with a laugh that she's not going outside again. But she said she is also taking precautions to protect her pets and her family from the coyotes.
In another attack in North Stamford, a coyote chased a dog into his house and stayed on the family's deck. Read about it and see photos here on the Daily Voice.
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