A childhood belief about cats and dogs

I've lived out in the country my whole life. I did not believe that cats and dogs were the same species, since I'd had a lot of exposior to both species from an early age. My more odd beliefs deal with the "cousins" of the dogs.
When I first learned of the existance of foxes (or, at least, my first memories of them), I thought that they were the offspring of cats and dogs. I also remember believing that coyotes were the offspring of wolves and foxes. This was likely inspired by the fact that our nearest neighbors bred and sold (and still do, actually) wolf-dogs.
I also used to believe that coyotes and wolves howled at nightfall to tell everyone that it was time to go to bed. This is something my great grandpa told me when I asked why there was always a wolf or coyote howl whenever it was night in a movie or cartoon. I was about 5 or 6 at the time..
When I was older (about 8 or 9), my great grandpa told me that the real reason they howl is because they're lonely and we started howling back to them on some nights. Most of the time they'd return our simple howls with simple howls of their own for a few minutes. I'm 25 now (my great grandpa died when I was 10) and I've got my own house a couple of miles down the road from my folks' place. I still howl back to the coyotes (though more from habit than belief in so many lonely coyotes out ther int the darkness) and they're still humoring me for a few minutes on those nights.