When a coyote attacked a small dog in a California backyard, an unlikely “hero in a fur suit” rushed in to help, video shared on Facebook shows.
Erin K. Macaluso shared video of a coyote slipping through her backyard fence in Mission Viejo on the night of May 1.
The coyote then goes after one of her dogs, Harley, a 12-pound Morkie, which is a mix between a Maltese and a Yorkshire terrier.
The coyote briefly chases the dog around the yard before they both dart off camera, and Harley can be heard yelping and barking uncontrollably.
In that moment, a little white dog streaks across the yard toward the sound and chases the much-bigger coyote away.
That little white dog is Vinny, a 10-pound, 11-year-old Maltese mix with only three teeth, Macaluso wrote.
“But he’s always been scrappy,” she wrote.
Macaluso did not respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.
Macaluso wrote that she is always vigilant about letting her dogs out at night, but that night, she forgot to cover her doggie door, and Harley and Vinny slipped out when they heard something in the yard.
“Then all hell broke loose,” she wrote.
David Macaluso, Vinny and Harley’s other owner, told Fox LA that it all happened very fast.
“We’re really diligent, and it just took one little thing, and we could’ve lost (our) little guy,” he told the outlet.
Macaluso wrote that Harley was “severely injured” but is expected to make a full recovery.
“I am so grateful and proud of my other dog Vinny,” she wrote.
Mission Viejo is about 50 miles south of Los Angeles.