Fox vs. small dog?

[crashdoll]

We've moved house and the previous owner let us know he has a regular fox visitor in the garden. Is my dog (toy breed but not that small) at any risk? He's a bit of a wimp and can't really hold his own.

[Lougle]

I don't have any real knowledge, but I was talking recently to a Packsman (or whatever the term is) who's job is (among other things) the relocation of foxes. He said that his working dogs, whose job is to seek out foxes, would come off very badly if attacked by a fox.

[crashdoll]

I think I need to keep an eye on my dog in the garden, apparently this is a very cheeky, bold fox!

[midori1999]

I think it's quite unlikely a fox would come into your garden if you had any sort of dog, or attack it unprovoked.

I think if your dog cornered a fox and it felt threatened then that would be quite a different story and yes, the dog could come off quite badly.

I think Urban foxes are generally much more brazen than rural foxes though.

[midori1999]

I wnder if I need to say 'I think' again....

[MaggotMummy]

Has he fed the wretched fox or does it pass through the garden, is the garden part of the fox's territory?

The fox will be more scared of you than your dog probably, I'd stay with him out there at least in the beginning and work on getting the fox out.

[EasyToEatTiger]

I don't know very much about foxes, but my mum's dog, a border/JRT, took on a badger down a hole. Amazingly she survived, but with big bits of her face missing. She never looked quite the same after that.

[midori1999]

Badgers are/can be much more aggressive than foxes.

I know a few people with hens (us included, although no hens any more sadly) who keep their dogs in the garden when their hens are free ranging to keep foxes away and it seems to work.

[SammyB30]

I would look at trying to get rid of the fox. They can be a real danger - aside from the dog do you have children? Horror stories about foxes coming into houses and attacking children. My sister came home one day to find a fox had got in and poo'd all over the entire house and was curled up on the sofa!!!! They can carry diseases and should not be treated as another other than a wild animal.

[SammyB30]

*anything other

[MrsZoidberg]

We have 3 large breed dogs and a fox brazenly walked across our field with just a fence between them. We often leave the gate open for the dogs to go into the field, so I'm not sure the fox could have the intelligence to work out whether today was one of those days.

We're in the country and have loads of animals walking through, including badgers. The dogs seem to ignore the foxes, but don't like the badgers.

Funnily enough, I was wondering the other day what would happen if the dogs came across a vixen with pups near by, I think the other foxes would prefer to run, but a vixen might just hold her ground and could probably inflict some major damage.

[Kendodd]

Sorry off the point, but, I have always wondered why foxes have not been domesticated, like other dogs? There is a famous program in Russia that has turned them into basically pet dogs, this happened within just a few generations apparently.
link

BTW I would try to keep the fox out of your garden if possible, I think your dog would come off worse if the fox was cornered.

[crashdoll]

I'm not sure if there's any way I can rid of the fox?

[RedwingS]

I would keep an eye out. Hopefully the fox will stay away when the dog is there. My old cat would keep the fox out of the garden, even though she was tiny.

Kendodd, I read that those silver foxes are for sale in the US (imported from Russia on payment, neutered, and older than the socialization period - so a bit challenging as a pet).

[xmasevebundle]

A fox would run rather than confront a dog, they are vermin and only around to look for food.

Badgers are vile, they will kill everything even if they dont eat it?!

[colditz]

Badgers aren't vile at all, what a bizarre thing to say. Badgers aren't even properly carnivorous. The reason they have a reputation for killing and not eating is that they don't take their prey back to their setts, and they turn it inside out to eat it. They don't eat the bones, fur or feathers, just the meat, so it seems like they leave a lot of mangled corpes behind when in fact it's their rubbish.

Frankly, unless you're a vegan, you have no business getting sniffy at a badger's eating habits.

[tara0202]

We have loads of foxes round our way (inner city). Also loads of cats and dogs on the street. Never been any problems.

[rogersmellyonthetelly]

I would def be cautious! Previous owner of our house had made a gap in the garden fence and was feeding foxes in the garden. We blocked up the hole straight away to stop peppa escaping and the foxes haven't bothered to come back in at all. Peppa is a good size though, and pretty keen when it comes to wildlife in the Garden so maybe foxes didn't think it worth chancing it.
That said, reading on here what happened to a much larger dog when attacked by a fox I wouldn't let a small /toy breed out unsupervised.