Since we have a variety of experts on everything here, I am offering this post in hopes of getting some suggestions.

Ever since Marcie told a story about owls picking up little dogs, I have been a bit leery about letting my Papillon out at night on his own (he only weighs about 7 lbs). Lately, when I drive up my lane after dark, I have seen a rather large red fox. A guy who I let on the property for deer control during season told me that he saw this fox roaming over my pool deck, and walking under the porte cochere like he owned the place. The other night, Zeppo was let out, and I heard a bark that was not his. Then Zeppo went nuts barking in his own voice. I ran to the door with a flashlight, screaming to my dog to come in. The flashlight turned up a set of eyes close to the ground that I assumed was the fox. They were having a show-down of sorts. Zeppo thinks he weighs 80 pounds and is king of the earth, but finally he came back in the house. I never knew that a fox could bark, but my sister-in-law next door said they do, and that this fox has been on the property for several years, and they often hear him barking. Should I get him trapped and relocated? Or do foxes only go after dead animals, sort of like the turkey buzzards I have lately found gathering on my roof? It has really been weird here in the past few weeks. I am obviously not a protector of wild animals, (the deer and the Canada geese can eat anything in sight, and the geese feel that my driveway is their toilet) particularly if they are going to eat my Zeppo! Ideas anyone?

We had foxes back in Colorado. Red Foxes. They never to my knowledge went after dogs. They were few and far between. Coyotes will, especilly smaller dogs. If you have a game and fish dept. where you live, they would be the ones to ask. One thing happens to these wild critters when they live in populated areas, they lose their fear of man and his domesticated friends. Your probably being safe in keeping your pet close at night. The fox would win the fight if cornerd.

Olivia,

My little Guys, Daisy and Gizmo, weigh 14 and 16lbs each. We live in an area backed by "open space" and we have Owls, Hawks, Coyotes, and other things we don't see but hear at night. It's enough for me to only accompany them on leash after dark. The rabbit remains I find once in a blue moon (I live in the Conejo (Rabbit) Valley send enough of a chill that I'd rather not think of the alternative of letting them out by themselves. I know too many people who have lost their beloved pets at night.

Thanks, Chip, I don't live in the west. I was once at a spa in lower California, and sitting on my deck, saw Coyotes come up just beyond it and it was scary, even scarier seeing them run across the golf course the next day when we were doing our walk. Not as scary as the white geese who were in our path and started doing the neck thing! Still thinking he is fine going outside, but sort of reticent, any east coasters out there with advice?

Kathy, I am definitlely listening to you as well!

Olivia. A fox is a fox. My horse and hound friend's use dogs to hunt them. Only the dogs out number the foxs by about a 100 to 1.

I really think keeping your precious pets inside is a very wise thing to do, under these circumstances. Best to keep them safe than be sorry.

We have coyotes in Orange County. A few years ago, very early in the morning, we heard some truly horrible sounds outside our bedroom window, which looks out our front lawn. We looked through the blinds to see what was going on. We saw 2 huge coyotes attacking a cat. Nothing we could do but watch in horror, as we tapped on the window to scare them off. The next morning, our neighbor was looking for her cat, who she allowed to roam each night. It was her cat that the coyotes got. To our complete amazement, a few weeks after the incident, our neighbor got another cat and allowed the cat out each evening, despite the tragedy that befell her cat a few weeks prior.

We've also had racoons trampling on our roof and pulling up the shingles. They were climbing up a tree, on the side of our house, to get to the roof. It became such a problem, that we had to call a trapper out to "relocate" them. We then had to remove the tree and replace our roof with ceramic tiles.

I wish you the best!

Olivia, I'll hunt the fox for you, if you like. In all seriousness, any of these predators are bad news for cats and dogs. Possums, racoons, wolves, coyotes, owls, hawks, and foxes will predate upon smaller mammals, which unfortunately includes most cats and dog breeds smaller than 30 lbs. Fences are not sufficient barriers for keeping out predatory wildlife. Unless you're going to trap and relocate the fox to a significant distance (I'm talking like 800 miles) the fox will come back. Foxes aren't cute despite Disney's attempts to make them appealing - they are destructive vermin that tend to carry all sorts of parasites and diseases (including rabies and ticks).

Hopefully they can stop the planned relocation of the wolve into New Jersey. Didn't Springsteen write a song about that?

I'm sorry I may be getting in trouble tonight.

Olivia, listen to Larwence. He's right.

Olivia, I agree with the others. Do NOT let your small dog out at night by himself. It only takes once and you'd never forgive yourself. Like Denise, we don't have foxes in our neighborhood but coyotes in the hills nearby and they sure will attack a small pet!

Olivia:

There are human predators too.

A sad but real story I heard from a buddy was that he left his dog in the fenced back yard while the family went shopping and when he got back home their dog was gone and in its place was the ugliest dog one could imagine. Someone switched dogs.

Jeers! Ray

We are having a terrible time with squirrels. A family has taken up residence in our attic. THey continue to tear up our roof and when we had this fixed with metal and reroofed, they ate their way into our garage door (wood) and ate their way through the wallboard and went through the walls back to the attic. Now our garage has holes in the ceiling. This charming squirrel family is now on a witness relocation plan!!

We've had problems like that with squirrels, too! They were in our high attic (over the second floor, nothing up there but a heating system) and I threw strong moth balls up there. Didn't realize I was blocking their escape route, so they came down into the lower attic (walk-in, floored, stuff stored there) and the back screened porch. Others chewed their way into the garage from outside.

I hate squirrels!

We have coyotes around here, and deer, but I don't think I've seen any foxes. Be careful, Olivia!

All my squirrels stay out in the woods, where I thought the red fox could have plenty of food without wanting my dog on his menu. Alert has gone out to my cousin's wife who has a fox trap and a man who will relocate him, but it is not 800 miles away, just a state forest about 45 minutes away.
Lawrence, just interested, how could a fox find his way back if he left no track behind?

Oh, I haven't seen a deer in my yard since my hunting friend trimmed the population by just one (and is enjoying venison every different way). Some nights I would come up the lane and see 6-8 of them, and they would just look at me, like they were saying, "WELL?" I really don't mind them, except when I don't see them and sometimes they jump out in front of my vehicle. I have already hit one on a highway nearby, and had several close calls in my neighborhood.

Anyone have problems with Canada geese? I don't mind sharing my pond with them, just wish they wouldn't come up so close to the house. There are hundreds and they can really make a mess. I was thinking of getting my nephews next door to get out their old paint guns. Don't want to kill them.

We are in a protected habitat for Canadian geese and ducks; they poop all over the place, and dig holes in my yard, and take over the streets.

I don't like them either, can you tell?

For years we had some weird black and white duck, with red bills; they would lie down and take a nap in the middle of the street, and not dream of moving for a car. We were in Florida once, and a guy was on trial for killing one with a machete. He kept trying to tell the jury that the stupid duck just walked into his machete; I wanted to go testify on his behalf, because I believed it. We haven't had those in several years, so they have stupided themselves right out of existence.

I guess some species of animals just "nap" themselves out of existence. Darwin's theory, right? Survival. Deer, geese and foxes are doing well on my land.

Did the moth balls work?

Mothballs, I think someone told me that about keeping the snakes away. I or my house manager have found many snakes over the years in the interior of my house, and in the garage. I hate them! Will do anything to keep them out.

The moth balls seemed to work in that one instance, yes. But they weren't the kind of moth balls that you buy at the grocery store, we had gone to a chemical company to get them.

At other times, they haven't worked at all.

Olivia, try fire ant powder for the snakes; my grandmother used to swear by it.

Olivia,
I have a resident fox, she/he is red and just stands and looks when I open the door...I've taken its picture and my cat isn't afraid, they seem to respect each other...so far.
As for squirrels...well, we had one called Alvin who would ring the doorbell and turn on the radio in the garage when he wanted his pecans...honest! Our local supplement to the newspaper did an article on Alvin 2 or 3 yrs. ago but he hasn't been around since Mousie the cat took up residence.

In Virginia, I used mothballs in my garden to keep the deer from eating the new shoots of all my daylillies. It worked but I was always worried that a wayward dog might end up poisoned. As far as I know, it never happened.

Ah, the squirrels. I have many funny stories about my dad's effort to keep the squirrels off his birdfeeder...electrified birdfeeder - they didn't care...pellet gun - he missed and hit the glass patio table instead. Now he has an extra special feeder that whirls the squirrels off. Me? I used Crisco shortening to grease the pole. It worked until the squirrels found another path...up the window screens to the baywindow roof and then a short jump to the feeder. I say squirrels are just smart rats!

It's really a shame that we have to resort to these measures to rid ourselves of these problems. These poor critters are running out of space to roam and exist.

I felt really guilty when I had to call out trappers to relocate the racoons. The trappers tried to reassure me that they were going to take the racoons on a drive and release them. I can only hope that's what they did; however, I doubt it.

We had 2 coyote in our back yard here in the hilly "burbs" of LA on Thanksgiving.. while our home is against the Santa Monica Mountains that is their neighborhood sort of.. I mean they gotta jump over alot of fences to get into the neighborhood, but they are here and man, some nights when they "howl" it is amazing..
Having cute little dog who thinks she is an 80 pounds Dobie and Dobie who is mommies lap dog.. when I see the Coyotes staring in my french doors, or lapping up water from the "cement pond" aka swimming pool.. I get very scared..
Best thing is ofcourse not to let the little ( or big) babies out...

Yes, Claudia - we get them in our neighborhood too. That noise they make late at night is gruesome when they've found their dinner. What I really hate is when Daisy and Gizmo (My Cairn and my Lhasa) hear it and they howl back at the Coyotes. It's usually at 2 AM and we are all trying to sleep. They will get as high up on the bed as possible and bay, noses pointed up in the air. If it weren't so funny to see them do that, I'd be mad at them for waking us.

Kathy, at least you don't have mountain lions. We worry that school children waiting for the bus are at risk. I've seen 2 of them in my back yard in the last year. They are not to be messed with. Although human attacks are rare they do happen. The Arizona Game and Fish Dept are very good at helping us deal with them, but they take a lot of flak when they do shoot them in the mountain parks. At least here they have a lot of space to escape to in the summer.

From a Pomeranian kennel owner I know, I understand that birds of prey will attack and carry off small dog breed puppies. However, when even a small breed dog reaches adulthood, they are too large for this to be a real danger.

We have small dogs (Pomeranian and Shih Tzu) and have fenced the backyard with fencing to contain them. As foxes in our area are larger, they can't get through the fence. And, as it's vertical bar fencing, it can't be climbed.

So, IMO, birds of prey should pose almost zero threat, if your dog is an adult. And if you have a properly fenced area for your dog, foxes shouldn't be able to enter it.

Hope this helps,
Richard :) :) :)

Richard, I can't fence here. I am on about 40 acres including the marsh on the bayside. I think the best thing for me is to just get this fox in a box and take him to another playground!

I have't seen anyone mention the very real possibility of rabies. Foxes are notorious carriers of the disease. We have arctic foxes up here and we refer to them as "rats of the North." They're everywhere and completely fearless. If you stand still long enough, one will come up and start trying to eat your shoe. They'll try to eat anything and we have a communications problem when they start eating the wires (much of our wiring just lays on the ground - can't dig trenches and too expensive to put up poles). We've had several testing positive for rabies and are under strict orders not to feed them. But our rabbits are even better. They're big. When standing on it's haunches, it's a full 2 feet tall and they outweigh the foxes. Also nearly fearless.
Fun place. And today's our coldest day so far,
-32º with a wind chill of -55º :eek:

JHP....how do the snakes get inside? Where do you live? I want to avoid that area! What type of snakes? How do you get rid of them?

Olivia,

Sorry to hear about your woes. I didn't realize you would have some of these problems in coastal Maryland.

Hope all works out with the relocation.

Anthony

Suzie and Donna, I have more squirrels than you can shake a stick at. They have stripped every line underneath my car when I leave it outside. My speedometer wire, windshield wiper fluid tube, etc.

One day I was driving down the street and my engine started smoking, I pulled into a gas station and when the attendent opened the hood, he found acorns packed all around the engine. They had caught fire :)

Olivia,
This is off the fox topic (but I always thought dogs chased foxes?) Anyway, I also have a freeloading Egret named Bebe...Whenever I fish off our dock, no matter the time of day...here he comes! and so picky too...the fish has to be 4 inches, no longer and he stabs it wth his beak and swallows whole.....gulp, then patiently waits until he sees the line wiggle again.
I have a picture of him taken by a professional photographer in my living room....with my fish in his mouth. :)

That is dreadful.

Our smart squirrel tipped the trap upside down and knocked out the peanut butter. No relocation yet for him. This is in my garage. I hope they leave my car alone.

A funny (?) animal story told to us by a mechanic. One day, someone brought a car in with the complaint that the lights, radio and windshield wipers were going on and off by themselves. One of the mechanics went underneath the car on a dolly. All of a sudden, he shot out from under the car and said "lock up the garage immediately."

He then proceeded to tell folks that he came face to face with a very large snake with a head at least 8 inches long.

The fire company was called and they pulled out a 25 foot snake.

The service manager then called the car owner and told him they found what was wrong with the car....there was a 25 foot snake wrapped around the wiring.

The response? "Ah..that's where Selma went. She's been gone for days."

A snake under the hood? Oh, my. Karen, here in Tucson it's the desert rats that eat car wiring. I think I would prefer the squirrel.

The squirrel landed in the trap today....now he gets relocated.

We put exit doors (with no entry) in our attic and, hopefully, this will work.

Donna, where in Tucson are you? We have a small place in Oro Valley.

Andi, we live in Northwest Tucson on the west side of I-10 not too far from Picture Rocks. Our neighborhood backs up to Saguarro National Park West. How often do you visit your place in Oro Valley? I have friends who live there plus I volunteer write for an organization that does charity work in that area (Oro Valley, Marana, NW Tucson).