Canine Track Refresher

It’s breeding season for PEI’s wild canines, meaning foxes and coyotes are more active right now. Even if you haven’t seen (or heard) any in your neighbourhood, tracks will tell you who’s been around. Here’s my annual refresher on identifying fox, coyote, and dog tracks. You can check the Wildlife Tracks & Sign section of this blog for previous posts and additional photos of the features I look for.

Too often, I see one-word answers to track ID questions online that are really just guesses. I prefer to explain how I reached the conclusion I did, not only to help people learn, but also to give other trackers a chance to disagree if they’re seeing something different. Just like math, it’s important to show your work!

As a group, canine tracks are easy to identify because the negative space between their pads forms an X (inset photo, and further explained here: https://www.pei-untamed.com/post/differentiating-among-fox-coyote-dog-tracks).

Once you know it’s canine, look at the edges of the pad at the bottom of the foot (called the palm pad). With red foxes, it’s fairly straight – like a triangle. Fox tracks are also quite round in comparison to coyote or dog, and usually smaller than 2.5 inches.

If the canine track is larger than 2.5 inches, oval, and/or has curved edges to the palm pad, consider coyote or dog. Coyote tracks typically have the outer toes tighter to the foot than do dog tracks, and the pads are more compact. I think of coyotes as having more air in their tires, allowing them to ride higher on their feet than dogs do.

Dog tracks can be tricky because they are so variable. In general, I look for a ‘sloppier’ track: more splayed toes, larger pads (a lower-riding foot), and sometimes a toe drag. Wild canines aim to conserve energy as they walk, often placing the hind foot in the track made by the front foot. Domestic dogs do this less often, and so their trails are typically less organized-looking than those of foxes or coyotes.

There are few absolutes in tracking: the presence or absence of nails doesn’t differentiate canine from feline, and a straight trail doesn’t guarantee a wild animal rather than a domestic one. But by reading all the clues rather than relying on any one feature, you’ll be able to identify the tracks of PEI untamed!