After having one of their pet canines attacked and killed by a coyote, Paul and Pamela Mott, of Scripps Ranch, California, set out to create an anti-coyote vest that could save their dogs’ life in a future attack.

The CoyoteVest designed by the Mott’s may make their pooches look like members of a canine punk band, but Paul says it will give him time to intervene in case of an attack. It is made of Kevlar, has plastic spikes around the collar, spikes down the length of the torso and long plastic quills shooting up along the center from the neck to the rump. Since the threatening-looking spikes are just hard plastic, they won’t actually hurt the coyote, but they will make it difficult and painful for it to bite down on a small dog and run off, giving the owner time to react. “I just know that that coyote is not going to be able to kill my dog instantly. I’ll have a chance to go intervene,” the inventor says.

“I just heard a yelp and I turned around and I saw her in the mouth of a coyote,” Mott recalled about the incident that led to the CoyoteVest. “When I wasn’t looking, and my little Buffy was just thirty feet away, a sneaky coyote flew out of the bushes and grabbed her and took off with her, and I couldn’t catch him. He was too fast, and he hid, and I’ve never seen her again.” But Paul is convinced it will never happen again, thanks to his “pet body armor” and he wants to help other dog owners avid the pain of losing their furry friends to coyote attacks.

“I just wanted to save my dogs, and then I realized maybe this invention can save someone else’s dog,” Paul said. So now they are selling the CoyoteVest and accessories online. They have already sold over 120 of them so far and have recently met with a manufacturer to help them keep up with demand.

Paul said he knows he could just keep his small dogs inside the house to protect them from coyotes, but he says he is not going to stay at home and be terrified. The CoyoteVest allows him to take his pets tot the dog park to play, without fearing for their lives.

The basic CoyoteVest offers protection for the dog’s neck with twelve 1″ spikes and covers his back with a layer of Kevlar that can resist sharp canine teeth. But if you want better protection, you can fork out a little extra for 26 more plastic spikes that attach to the sides of the vest, and three sets of nylon bristles designed to get into the eyes and mouth of the coyote as he tries to bite down.

If you want even more protection out of the CoyoteVest, you can shell out an extra $59.95 on the Coyote Zapper system  – a safety system that will shock the coyote with electricity, forcing him to let go of the dog. The owner has a remote he or she can press to activate the electric pulse that runs through the metal fibers embedded in the fabric.

It’s not yet clear if the CoyoteVest has been tested in an actual coyote attack, so I guess there are no guarantees it will work, but I guess it’s better than providing no protection at all.

Sources: ABC Action News, CBS Los Angeles