I remember some news articles (a few years ago) about another wild animal in western Menlo Park, cougars at the Rosewood Hotel bar.

There are coyotes in this neighborhood as well, and I attended a lecture at Los Altos Town Hall in April 2017 by a wildlife expert from Denver. I took notes and shared them back then: Main reason I'm posting this is that she recommended that we should "haze" them rather than avoiding them and provided printed literature on how to do that.

Notes from coyote lecture at Los Altos Hills Thursday
Thank you to Nancy Reyering for letting us know about the seminar on coyotes. I attended and took some notes:

home range for a pair: 4-10 sq. mi
a litter of pups in the den is likely ready to emerge any day now. they grow fast and go out and learn to hunt in the fall - pets more susceptible then.
population increase is predicted due to rainy winter
they stay in the habitat they were born in, but a pup has 30% chance of survival ( no mention of what leads to demise of pups)
they are smart, have excellent hearing, can run up to 45 mph, and learn the patterns of our daily habits
they are opportunistic omnivores and will experiment with new foods. favorite food = vole.
pets are easier prey and they will return to the site of a successful hunt
very rare for them to have rabies
human bites are rare and often related to human judgement errors such as feeding them or intervening in pet conflict.
they are difficult to trap and relocate. when a habitat is vacated, it is quickly repopulated by other coyotes. oddly, females will reproduce 2 years earlier than normal and have larger litters.
if you are near a den they will be more protective against other dogs than humans

General recommendations:

DO NOT FEED THEM: don't leave out pet food, pick up rotting fruit/vegetable from the ground, secure your trash cans and composting bins
DO NOT LET YOUR PETS PLAY WITH THEM
PETS <20 LBS AT HIGHER RISK, DO NOT LET THEM OUT UNATTENDED. KEEP THEM IN AT NIGHT
USE SHORT LEASH, HARNESS FOR SMALL DOGS, LOOK AROUND WHEN YOU STOP TO PICK UP DOG FECES

The behavior of attacking a dog on a leash is more aggressive than normal and that should be reported to animal control. This warrants hazing the coyotes and this needs to be constant and consistent to be successful:
Hazing - "marking our territory"
respond aggressively to their presence - yell, wave your arms, blow a whistle, shake a can or bottle containing rocks or coins, use a air horn, spray with a hose, maintain eye contact and keep them focused on you, not your pet. do not ignore them or run away from them.

During the question and answer session that followed, I went up to the podium and reported that we have a pack of 9 coyotes in a one mile area and the incidents at the intersection of Crest and Cinnabar have included 2 attacks of a dog on a leash and 6 coyotes confronting a person walking alone without a dog. And that 2 coyotes attacked and killed a fawn right in front of a person ( they earlier said it's very rare for coyotes to attack a deer). A person from local wildlife and vector control said that the dog attack should be reported to them. Another Los Altos Hills neighbor reported being chased down by a coyote that would not retreat to her attempt at hazing it. The last person to speak was a large animal veterinarian who disagreed with much of the information that was presented and feels that the coyotes should be culled.

Some links with information: from UC Davis -
Web Link

downloadable pdf's of brochures at the lecture - Web Link

On a neighborhood walk last Fall I was followed by two young healthy looking coyotes each about the size of the coyote in the picture. When I discovered the pair they were only about 5 feet behind me. I instinctively confronted them, yelling something like ‘what the h do you think you’re doing?’, and took a step in their direction. They casually broke off to the side of the hill, walking slowly into the adjacent wooded area, showing no fear, though choosing not to raise the stakes. Never seen this sort of ‘close approach to humans’ behavior from coyotes in truly wild places in the Sierra or Rocky Mountains.