I know I sound like a broken record, but.......Increase the pan tension. You are getting toe catches. Which means, they have not committed their foot on the pan. If they put their foot down, and it the pan gives immediately, they pull back, and you get toes. If they put their foot down, and it is solid feeling to them, they go ahead and put their weight on it, and they have committed. They cannot get their foot up fast enough then. If you are catching a 5 lb cat, then your pan is too light. Your pans need to be 3 to 4 lbs of tension, and CRISP. You do not want a lot of travel before the pan falls.

Here is an easy way to set the pan.

Set the trap

Make sure the pan is level, but the catch on the pan in on the very end of the dog. You can do this by bending the trap frame where the dog is attached.

Cut a section of 2x4 and make sure it weighed exactly what you want the tension at 3-3.5 is where I put mine.

Put the trap in a vise, or somewhere where it is stable so you can work on it.

Tighten the pan screw way up.

Gingerly set the 2x4 on the pan.

From UNDER the jaws, use a nut driver, and screw driver, and slowly loosen the screw, until the trap fires. Do this two or three times. Now your pan tension is set.

Make sure you set the dog/pan catch first, as it will change the travel if you set the tension first.

That is how I keep a lot of by-catch out of my coyotes sets, and still catches coyotes.

Hope that makes sense????