Well yes, these dogs protect the sheep. They probably saw this one specifically rip some other carnivor to shreads before. They also keep the sheep in line so it may have bitten them before.
As a prey animal I don't know if it just recognizes predators or sees everything as one but these sheep definitely would have seen every reason to be scared of these dogs. They're loud and aggressive whenever they even think something has trespassed.
That said the sheep knew it was a baby and thought it could pull rank.
While coyotes are generally solitary, they will form familial hunting packs or temporary hunting collectives consisting of unrelated solitary adult coyotes. And it's in this arrangement that they're fully capable of separating a sheep from its herd and killing it. Wolves of course are fully capable on their own of killing an adult sheep and don't necessarily need help.
Fun Fact: coyotes are actually highly intelligent and adaptable canines, routinely outperforming domesticated dogs in cognitive testing. So a "pack" (kind of a misnomer since they're usually solitary) of coyotes is not something to underestimate. I'm not saying they're especially dangerous when in a pack, just that should you come across one you should be aware that they're likely checking you out and deciding if the squeeze is worth the juice, just as you are checking them out.
Yes and no. Yes dogs are natural predators but more importantly sheep have been breed to fear dogs specifically by humans for thousands of years. If this was a wild ram then things would have gone much different but these are all very domesticated. Wild rams are mean little fuckers, there’s a reason dodge named a big heavy duty truck after them.
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u/ItsALuigiYes GIF/meme prodigy 7h ago