It’s actually very easy to distinguish between a coyot and a dog with thermal. There are a few things I look for. There walk or run and how cautious they are is a dead give away it’s a coyot. I no the neighbors and they have 3 dogs and they don’t leave the property at night, I killed 14 off there place last year. Don’t get me wrong a novice could make a mistake, but I’ve had hundreds of hours of thermal scope time. I killed 65 in 4 months last year.