In California, a little dog was saved from a prowling coyote when his friend, a 10 lbs. Maltese "hero in a fur suit" summoned all his wolfish instincts to chase the predator out of his yard.

It happened in a flash; just 10 seconds as Erin Macaluso recounted on Facebook.

Coming back from a nighttime walk, she and her husband forgot to put the cover on the doggie door.

"We are super vigilant dog owners," she wrote. "Unfortunately, on this one night, we had just taken the dogs out to go potty, and forgot to put the cover on the doggie door."

A coyote slipped through the bars of the metal fence, and, hearing his intrusion, Macaluso's two dogs quietly went outside to investigate the noise.

They were a 12-pound Morkie, which is a mix between a Maltese and a Yorkshire terrier, named Harley, and Vinny, an 11-year-old Maltese with just three teeth.

Californians lose hundreds of pets every year to coyote attacks. With few larger predators to keep their numbers in check, they regularly roam directly into urban and suburban areas to snatch cats and dogs.

In a video posted on Facebook, security camera footage shows a little dog immediately being chased around the yard by a coyote while another beast lurks beyond the fence. Then, a white knight bolts from the house towards the coyote and scares it away.

"Our little HERO Vinny is 10 lbs, 11 yrs old, and only has 3 teeth! But he's always been scrappy," wrote Macaluso in celebration of her tiny dog. In the post she encourages pet owners to never let their guard down. She claims to have lived in the town of Mission Viejo, California, for 30 years without ever seeing a coyote in the yard.

If that's true, the one time she left the doggie door unlocked, the coyotes were ready to pounce.

Harley the dog suffered major injuries but will make a full recovery, the vets said.

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