The Wenatchee Valley has been blanketed in snow this week, creating fresh opportunities for tracking dogs and cats, right in our yards and neighborhoods. Our towns are often travel corridors for wild Felines and Canines, like cougar, bobcat. and coyote. By learning to identify domestic dog and cat prints in snow and mud, we are training our brains to know when we see a wild member of these animal families.
The practice of tracking animals has long been a part of human culture, but it was the field journaling work of acclaimed biologist, Olaus J. Murie, who created the first modern field guide to Animal Tracks.
In the introduction, Olaus invites the reader to become familiar with mammals. “They are furtive, usually silent, and very often go about at night. You don’t find them readily with field glasses, and you don’t total up a long list on a “mammal walk.” Nevertheless, their very aloofness is a challenge and your sleuthing instinct is aroused. Once alerted to this fascinating game, you can never again pass a muddy margin of a stream without instinctively looking to see what has passed by there. You will speculate about every trail in the snow, big or small.” (page 1-2, see reference pictured above). I have well-worn copies of the three tracking guides shown in this blog.
Let’s get started with identifying the tracks of domestic cats and dogs. Purchasing one of the excellent field guides shown will provide critical guidance and tips. Tracking books include precise measurements. Carry a small ruler so you can measure the length and width of a print and the distance between sets of prints. Take lots of photos so you can do research at home.
Here are steps to use as launch your feline and canine sleuthing adventure in your urban neighborhood.
- Consider where you are, and what type of habitat you are in. This helps to narrow down which species might have made the tracks you see.
- Explore the area and follow the tracks. The pattern of movement will tell you a story about the animal’s behavior.
- You will find a lot of variation so try to look at quite a few prints before you select one or two to study closely.
- Count the number of toes, check for toenail marks, and look at the shape of each element. Look at the perimeter outline shape of the large lower palm pad (also called heel pad).
- Take a close-up photograph of several tracks, and be sure to add an item that will help determine scale, such as a glove, pocket knife, or ski pole. This will help you continue your study back at home.
- Try to see if you can distinguish between front and rear paws. Both cats and dogs carry more weight on the front of their bodies, and have larger front paws. However, this is harder to tell in our well-fed domesticated pets than in their wild relatives.
- Measure straddle- the side-to-side total width of the tracks- as this will tell you how far apart the shoulders are. Measure from the outer edges of both left and right prints.
Take a look at Butter’s paw prints. What is the overall shape? How many toes do you see? What is shape of the palm pad both at the leading and trailing sides? Do you see townail claw marks? Remember that conditions vary, so some traits will not be clearly visible. Observes need to gather multiple pieces of information to make an identification.
Tuxedo cat, Butters, with Ian Woodford
Felines all have the patterns you see above: 4 toes, typically no toenail marks visible (claws are retracted), and a rounded shape. Notice the arching curvature of the four toes above the palm pad. Domestic cat prints are smaller than bobcat and rounder than a canine print. House cats have a uniquely bi-lobed leading edge of the palm pad and tri-lobed pattern of the trailing edge of the palm pad, but this can be hard to see sometimes.
Once you learn a cat family track, you have a template to apply to larger, wilder members of the Feline family. Below, are cougar prints in the snow. See if you can apply your skills to confirm this ID
Let’s next take a look at dog prints, taken on the CDLT Jacobson Preserve trail system in January, 2020. Dog tracks have recognizable characteristics, but the wide range of size of dogs can make it challenging. Domestic dogs tracks appear flatter, compared to wild coyote or wolf.
Dogs have 4 toes with toenails usually showing in the print. Tracks are oval to round in shape. The front foot palm pad makes a clearer impression than the hind foot palm pad, due in part to the fact that dog front paws are more mobile and the toes spread out more, compared to the hind paws. The palm pad is is triangular and often flat across the trailing edge. The hind paws are smaller and more oval, compared to the front. Especially on the hind footprint, imagine an “X” draw along the two edges of the palm pad, up and between the toes. Dogs don’t have to find their own food, so they don’t need to conserve energy and walk in a straight efficient way.
Learning to ID dog tracks will get you ready to identify coyote tracks in the field. Always start with geography and habitat, and then bend over and start to make observations to build a case for ID. It is always harder than you expect.
Coyote often show a slant forward with the with toes digging deeper than the palm pad. In the photo below, see the raised mound in the center, and the “X”? The palm pad is rounded on the leading edge, and triangular in shape. Toes are oriented forward, and the overall shape in oval, with the outermost toes, tucked under the middle two toes.
Recently while skiing at night in mid-January on a groomed trail near Winthrop, WA, we encountered this “track story.” We were far from a neighborhood, so we ruled out domestic dogs or cats. We counted the toes, examined the palm pad shape, and but couldn’t find clear toenail impressions. We had some sign as well- several different urine trails, and one pile of scat. Back at home, we spent a long time reading up on the differences between bobcat and coyote, building our case. We landed on a coyote, maybe a male and a female traveling together?
