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Am I paranoid?

3K views 26 replies 14 participants last post by  Dory 
#1 ·
My dog is on the leash all the time. We live in a more rural setting and I am scared a hawk or cyote will eat Nina, 6 months, 6 lbs. I originally pictured having a doggie door to a fenced in area in the yard for her to go potty but I do not see that happening unless it is caged from he house to the potty area in the yard. Many people with smaller dogs told me about pets that dissapeared, Yorkies, chiuaua and other smaller animals. We have a very large back yard that is fenced but that would not do anything against birds of pray. Anyone else live in a setting that has a lot of wild life? Am I overly paranoid? She loves being outside.
 
#2 ·
If your paranoid then I'm completely insane:) When I was married I was completely paranoid because I live on a mountain and there were hawks and coyote sightings. I had a dog door too. I installed a 6ft stockade fence off the side of my house with fishing line criss crossed above it! There was a thread about this years ago and I posted pictures of it. Alcatraz comes to mind! Now I live in a very build up area and don't really have to worry about those things. Coyotes can scale a 6 ft fence or higher. Hawks normally go for small rodents. But better to be safe than sorry.

My backyard now is 2 parts. Small area that is 6 ft stockade locked fencing and the other part 4 ft post and rail. I don't let them in the 4ft area when I'm not home.

You are not paranoid:)
 
#3 ·
We live in the high desert area of Southern CA, in a semi-rural town. At no time do I let my small dogs out alone, especially from dusk to dawn. It's not the birds of prey that worry me, it's the coyotes. I've seen them in our neighborhood, even at the gate to the back of my property, so our little ones are always supervised. At night, even our big dogs must be escorted outside. It's just a precaution, but an easy enough one to take.

Being a little paranoid is a good thing. :thumb:
 
#5 ·
Jessica Simpson's little maltipoo was snatched by a coyote too, right in front of her. They are quick and clever.

Hopefully, since we're outside with 3 large dogs who are very good at alerting to any animals on the bridal path, they serve as an effective deterrent along with us during the day. However, at night I worry. Usually we scan the yard with a bright flashlight first, looking for eye reflections, before we go out. We have a few cats that prowl the back of our property at night, but (knock on wood) no wild predators so far.
 
#6 ·
I live inside the city limits but the county line is in my back yard. There is a 200 acre tract of woods and swamp behind me. I have seen everything back there. I actually had a hawk tear into the screening around my chicken house and kill nearly all of them. Pigeons I mean, chickens now. Anyway I shot the bird with a shotgun and there was not enough left to identify that it was a hawk. Course it is not legal to kill brds of prey, but they don't have any business in my yard. I worried about Rosie until she matured. I really don't think that a hawk could carry her off, but could kill her with it's talons. I pretty much keep watch while she is outside. So far the coyotes have not gotten over my fence which is 6 feet. ***** and other varmits come up at night so one of us goes with her after dark. We have to keep the chickens shut up at night also for this reason. Back when I have my protection dog I would let him out to run in the woods every day. Once he brought back a coyote that he had killed--just to show me that he was doing his job. Lord I miss that dog. My recommendation is to watch your baby every time it goes outside. I like to sit out with Rosie in the afternoon and let her run and play, but on cold days, I watch her from the kitchen window.
 
#7 ·
One of us is always out with the dog, even though the backyard is fenced in. We always carry an air horn with us as we have seen coyotes on our street as well as heading into the woods around our house and even hawks sitting on our fence. It's better to be safe than sorry.
 
#14 ·
Our yard is not fenced. Kodi always goes out off-leash during daylight hours, but is always supervised. He has a really solid recall, though. From shortly before dusk until well after dawn, he only goes out on leash because of all the coyotes around here.
 
#23 ·
Don't count Coyotes out in the suburbs... While I back up to open land, the coyotes don't stay there. This pack has taken small dogs and cats all over town. The stupid people who let their small dogs out in invisible fenced yards have mostly lost their dogs.:(
 
#24 ·
Probably not a Lynx, though... I don't think there are any in CA. Most are in Canada and Alaska, with a small population re-introduced to Colorado.

And yes, they are MUCH bigger. I got to meet one at a photo session a few months ago, and the thing was bigger than an Aussie!!! It was pretty cute playing with this shoe, but when it got up and started to come over to investigate us, both we and its handler moved pretty fast!:biggrin1:
 

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#21 ·
You are definitely not paranoid! Just vigilant...and careful...and loving...and smart...so keep it up. This is a very sad post, thinking of that little one that was snatched away.
I remember reading about it and weeping...so better we should be forewarned and therefore careful.
 
#22 ·
We have coyotes, and the occasional eagle, hawks. The coyotes used to come into the yard and challenge my malamute. She's gone over the rainbow bridge, but now with Bucky and our new little girl, we're outside with them. They aren't outside alone.
My malamute used to let us know when the coyotes were around. They have a circuit and aren't always in our area. When she'd let us know, I'd call my neighbour with a shih tsu, she'd call her neighbour, etc. Our own little neighbourhood watch system to ensure anyone with a small dog knew not to let their little ones out alone.
You're not paranoid. I've heard of small dogs and a number of cats being taken by the coyotes locally. They can get very brave.
Michelle
Michelle
 
#25 ·
My boys never go out alone. We live in the city limits, but there is a drainage 'slough' that wanders around town, and there is a lot of wildlife around here. Coyotes for one, and a lot of the neighborhood cats have disappeared at one time or another. I have had Augie occasionally refuse to budge on walks along one of the paths where coyotes have been seen. I think he must smell them and must instinctively know they are bad. There have been a few times at night when we take him out for his last potty that he just plants his feet and won't go any further. So then we take him out to the front yard and he will go. A neighbor in a little neighborhood behind us was out with her Shi Tzu one day for a potty break the same time I had Augie out. Her dog is larger than Augie, but not on leash. Augie was on leash. We had a huge bird - she said it was an eagle - circling us high overhead...until we both got nervous and picked up our dogs. After they were picked up, the bird left.

I also recall it being a bobcat that got Zoey. I can't imagine the horror.
 
#26 ·
I am super paranoid, especially after I read about Zoey! That one made me cry :( We live in the city limits but on a small lake so there is a lot of wildlife. We used to have 2 geese and numerous ducks but all have been killed by river otters (not the cute kind!). We also have many hawks, skunk, nutria, racoons, and who knows what else out there. Sometimes I will let Ozzie out during the day and duck into the house for a moment but I'm just too scared and have to go back out. The neighbors leave their 2 little weiners out all day long, scary! I thought I was overprotective but you all made me feel better! I could just never live with myself if anything bad happened to Ozzie and I could have prevented it.
 
#27 ·
I hear the coy dogs howling and barking every night out in the woods. We are surrounded by apple orchard and woods here and have a fenced in yard, but hearing them out there always scares me! I take Q out every time on his leash if it's dark out. Even during the day I got out with him even if he's not on his leash. He's 13 pounds now, but still...
The neighbor about a mile up the street told me she saw one of the wild dogs and she said it was almost as big as a deer! Now, I haven't seen it myself, but sure is scary!
 
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