Might coyotes lure Ben into trouble?

Several people voiced a concern about the possibility of coyotes luring Ben into the midst of a pack.  I’ve heard about coyotes luring dogs into ambush all my life but never seen it.  My son had an Airedale that used to chase after packs out in the desert and the coyotes ran from it.  Here where I hike the coyotes don’t run in packs.  That doesn’t seem to be the best way for them to hunt.  Also, they seem to hunt at night.  We are most likely to see them (and never more than three at a time) if we get there before the sun comes up.

At present we don’t have cougars where I hike.  Their primary food is deer and I’ve never seen a deer down where we most often hike; so this wouldn’t be good hunting territory for them.  Also, my experience with Ridgebacks while hiking is if they are in doubt about the smell of something, they like to be right next to me.  I suspect I’d be stumbling over Ben if he smelled a Cougar.  

I’ve hiked since the early 80s with Ridgebacks.  I like to expose them to a lot of different things and situations and allow them to figure things out for themselves.  Here where we’ve hiked since 1999, I only worry about Ridgebacks when they are too young (and then I have them on leash) or are too old (and then they no longer chase things).   Whether I carry a gun or a hiking stick is more a function of whether I need both hands free to take photos than of anything else.