While on a leash just outside of a Lake Zurich garage's side door, this little Maltese poodle named Muppet was attacked by a coyote. Surgery for a punctured lung takes place Tuesday in Arlington Heights.

Within twenty-four hours I heard two stories about coyotes, one in Crystal Lake and Lake Zurich.

New Year’s Eve we were sitting in a Country Club Additions Lakewood home with a sliding glass door.

The lady of the house told of seeing what she thought was a coyote staring through the window at her one day.

She checked with a cousin from rural Illinois and confirmed that the dog-like animal with “dead eyes” was the predator.

Then, this morning, my brother-in-law was taking his daughter’s little dog out for a walk.

As he opened the side door to his garage, a coyote attacked the dog.

Shouts drove the coyote off.

One wonders if the coyote had planned the attack after seeing dogs walked there previously.

The Lake Zurich home is close to the Isaac Fox Elementary and Lake Zurich Middle Schools on Cuba Road.

My only experience with a coyote was on Route 47 driving into Yorkville during the late 1990’s.