Yikes, seeing coyotes is very scary. I'm pretty sure we have them around here too, but never see one west of I-75 generally. We do have a nature preserve just a few blocks away from us and bobcats have been seen there. Plus I have seen a fox once at night, while I was driving.
Not too worried at my house about the coyotes or foxes since the whole yard is fenced 6ft. high and my cat doesn't go outside the fence any more. But a bobcat sure could go over a fence easily. Raccoons of course are not even slowed down by a fence.
If I were your daughter, Ursula, I'd be thinking about enclosing at least part of the yard with a good fence, to make it safe for the girls and the little dogs. My animal control lady who comes to fetch raccoons when I trap them says that motion detector lights are also a good deterrent for nocturnal predators. We have them all around the house (although the raccoons aren't even phased by them, darn it).
