Board Thread:False Info and Speculative Discussion/@comment-13895380-20150825181803/@comment-13965604-20150826135051

Malia trusted him first, because she could innately sense that he was like her, a coyote

The whole thing is pretty clear to me. Theo said "you didn't notice the coyote part" thus, a chimera of both wolf and coyote.

Being both wolf and werecoyote might actually explain why he was a success. They're similar enough creatures that they can interbreed. Both in real life, and in canon. Well, we presume with canon, makes no sense for Malia to be a coyote if her mom wasn't.