chupacabra!

[Galapoheros]

Just kidding but there are a couple of wild weird dogs in my hood that look just like a pic of a weird looking dog somebody called a chupacabra in S. tx. I'm in the Cedar Park city limits just north of Austin, really strange to see these things. I've seen them before in the middle of the day, trotting down my street, bald and lanky with a few white spots. I know there are coyotes in my hood so I'm thinking they are a domestic dog and coyote mix. I just saw one today in my front yard, ran to get my camera but it was gone when I went back outside. I blew it off and started to go to a local convenience store to fill up some gas cans. As I pulled out of my driveway, somebody was walking his dog in front of my house so I stopped and said, "Hey have you seen some weird dogs running around here?". He said, "Yeah, my wife says they look like a pic of a chupacabra somebody took in s tx.." Too bad I missed getting a pic. My gut says Pit bull and coyote mix, the people in front of my house let their dogs run loose sometimes. They are bald though, has this been solved yet? They don't pay attention to people, just seem to have a destination when on the move.

 

[super-pede]

Those are usually foxes and coyotes with serious mange.

 

[Galapoheros]

Yeah, could possibly be coyotes with really bad mange, no hair that I could see on the tail, real rubbery looking. The few hood cats have mange, real hot here and chiggers are really bad this year.

 

[super-pede]

I envy your location yet I am glad I am not there.the heat must be horrid but then again theres good herping and bug collecting.As far as mange goes,it get's really weird when you see a possum or or raccoon with no hair.

 

[pitbulllady]

Every single "chupacabra" carcass that has been studied from a medical perspective has turned out to be either a coyote, a domestic dog, or a coyote-dog mix with severe Sarcoptic mange(the contageous kind). They are bolder than normal because they are sick and desperate for food and water.

I have to wonder why your "gut" told you that these animals were "pit bull" and coyote mixes, though. I've never met a real American Pit Bull Terrier that would not make mincemeat of a coyote, or a Catahoula Leopard that wouldn't, either, and more than a few of mine did when ole' Wile E. got too big for his britches and tried to come up and talk some "smack". Every so-called "chupacabra" photo I've seen had the typical wild canid build with the long pointy snout, no indication of any European canine influences. The "domestic" dog in some of the mixes was most likely feral primitive dogs like Carolina Dogs, which live a similar existance to coyotes anyway.

Now there IS a domestic dog breed which is naturally hairless, the Xoloitzcuintli, or Mexican Hairless, and this breed does come in a large variety, the Standard, which can be an impressive-looking, athletic dog. Like most hairless breeds, they have abnormal teeth, which often results in very long, protruding canine teeth that are actually called "tusks" by breeders of hairless breeds. A black Standard Xolo could also be responsible for some of the "chupacabra" sightings. When you have something like THIS guy http://www.flickr.com/photos/aphelionart/3152245040/ staring you down(and he's roughly Doberman-sized), it's easy to see how he can be mistaken for a supernatural blood-sucking demon! Back when I showed ADBA APBT's and Carolina Dogs in the ARBA(American Rare Breeds Association)shows I often saw John Caponetto's Standard Xolo's, and they were impressive dogs, very much the canine athlete, basically hairless Caralina Dogs, actually, designed to survive in a tough environment, hair or no hair. They moved beautifully, with the smoothest gait I've ever seen on a dog, but they had that typical standoffish temperament of most primitive breeds, definitely "one-owner" dogs.

pitbulllady

 

[Galapoheros]

The only reason I was wondering about a Pit bull mix is because I always hear coyotes across the street in the woods where some renters only have Pit bulls, it's the only house you can't see from the road around here and that's where the coyotes hang out. Is it even possible for them to breed? Nobody in the neighborhood lets their dogs loose except these people. There have been times when their Pits come in my yard and bark at me in a threatening way. These people seem to have trained them to bark at strangers, to be guard dogs. I'm suspicious those renters are involved with drugs because I see too many suspicious cars go in and out of there, low-rider, thumper speakers, it leans in that direction. I agree now though, prob not a mix, prob just coyotes with mange but that was my thinking earlier.