He's fighting diabetes, battled a brain tumor and his near-blindness sent him swimming in the family's indoor pool last month, but 12-year-old Tucker the chihuahua apparently has nine lives.
"He survived that and now he's survived coyotes," said Tucker's owner, Dawn McCarty. "He's a trooper!"
Early Thursday morning, McCarty said she was getting the newspaper from the front of her Antioch home when she heard Tucker yelping from the backyard.
When she investigated, she a coyote with Tucker's little leg in its mouth. She sprang into action, swatting at the larger animals -- she described them as being larger than German Shepherds -- with her newspaper.
Tucker received cuts to his leg but after a check by the veterinarian is expected to be OK.
"If he wasn't on a leash, he would have been gone. I think the leash saved him," said McCarty.
The attack is among several that have been reported in the Chicago area in recent months.
