I admit it.
I was wrong. I thought there was no way there could be giant three-toed dogs running around the backwoods of West Virginia. I thought those Mountain Monsters guys were full of crap.
But I when I took Miley out this evening, she didn’t want to go.
And then I cam across these tracks:
These were huge dog tracks, but they were unlike any dog I’d ever seen.
I noticed they appeared to have only three toes on each foot. Where a normal dog or coyote would have two toes in the middle, it looked like whatever made these tracks has had this toe replace with only a large single toe with a very long claw.
Interesting! Three-toed carnivorans have not been documented before!
Then I hear the brush crash about a hundred yards ahead of me, and out the clearing came a giant whitish yellow beast. It was twice the size of Miley.
I jumped behind a tree and turned my camera on. I zoomed in as close as I could, but in the evening light, the resolution was terrible.
Here’s what I saw:
I’ve never seen anything like it!
It was like a giant wolf-bear creature– very similar to the one on Mountain Monsters.
The one on mountain monsters was much more short-coated than this creature was, but it does get a lot colder up here in North Central WV than it does down in Logan County.
I guess ours would have longer hair.
The creature then ran off into the brush, but I was amazed to have seen something so unique. I suggest that we call this species Canis luciferus– the devil dog!
Of particular interest are its tracks. Notice how long the claw on that middle toe is?
I think this species of dog must be evolving a long the same lines as the horse, which also started out with five toes on each foot. Then it became three. Then it became one.
This long nail must give the devil dog some advantage in running down its favorite prey, Canis latrans.
We’re going to need to set up camera traps in this area. My guess is there is pack of these things running around here.
And no, I’m not telling you where this is. I don’t want every yahoo in the country staking this place out!
Get your guns! Hide your wives and children! Even your livestock is not safe! The Bane of Coyotes is upon us, this spawn of Cerberus shall swallow all in its bear-mocking jaws!
oh my gosh !
You have to get this out to the press and maybe Fox news really quickly, and assemble a number of people who will confirm sightings and do not look as if they are the local alcoholics. Then you can organise the tours. Profit is profit, and tourism is an industry to benefit the local area. Aim for the Japanese, whose spending and gullibility know no bounds.
Elizabeth (speaking from Nessie experience)
When is the “Hunting the Three Toed Monster” movie coming out? …”Son of Kujo” ?
I treat this amazing discovery w/ all the aplomb it deserves—pppbbbbbttt!
[…] An encounter with a devil dog (retrieverman.net) […]
If that’s what you saw, Scottie, you might want to invest in some better contacts.
While you’re at it, watch out you don’t get trampled by an emu.
There an emu running through these very woods a few years ago. It escaped and went wild.
The video, blurry as it is, shows an animal moving like a wild canid, and I imagine that track is that of an emu. So I have a strong suspicion this is an attempt to pull some legs. I looked at some of those Mountain Monster videos after seeing your comments. Seems they’re trying to imitate those Duck Dynasty guys. They get the worst batch of thudpuckers (look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls) together and pass them off as some sort of back woods experts. I especially got a laugh out of one of them explaining that these Devil Dogs were a one time cross between a wolf and a coyote; “Like a mule” he explained. But of course a cross between a wolf and a coyote, though considered a true hybrid (unlike a dog – wolf cross), is not sterile and can produce pups when crossed with either a wolf/dog or another coyote. Here in Vermont we have a large number of wolf – coyote crosses, and I would imagine very few of them are first generation. Are there actually that many people in this country that know so little about nature and wildlife that they fall for this nonsense?