Bloody fox....what can I try next?

[Pradaqueen]

After another night of broken sleep can anyone offer any advice on getting rid of a fox? I have a 11month old Leonberger who is as calm as anything. Except for this week where he has been tormented by a juvenile fox who keeps coming up to the house near the front door late at night driving him mad. He also wants to chase the fox off which is fair enough. The Dog can only sleep in our porch as we have UF heating everywhere and this is the only area we don't have it and he is too hot otherwise. The house is Georgian with an original front door which the door itself is partially glazed around it so changing the door is not really an option. It would also be tricky to fit a blind. The house is in a few acres and is fenced in with stock fencing, surrounded by fields and woodland so plenty of places for the fox to set up a den etc. Therefore the usual advice to remove anywhere the fox could establish a home is a bit tricky. No food is left outside and the bins are in a bin store so no access to that either. I also don't think sonic devices would be good for my dog or the neighbour's as between the other two houses there are another 14 dogs. I have tried using the 'get off' spray but this is not working either. The fox is very beautiful (it is the Cindy Crawford of foxes ) so I don't want to harm it in any way just deter it. Does anyone have any ideas as to what else to try which is also safe for dogs? I can't be up two/three times a night calming the dog down...

Thanks for any advice you can provide!

I would change the sleeping arrangement personally. There will be other wildlife around even should you deter the Fox successfully not to mention forthcoming light mornings in summer with no blinds.
Could you turn off the underfloor heating in one room at the back of the house, a utility or a dining room perhaps. Alternatively give him an unheated space on the upstairs landing with a stair gate to stop him rushing down the stairs. Unless he is a breed that shouldn’t do stairs.

Thanks for the reply. Leonbergers are funny dogs, and very stubborn. They also don't have much of a prey instinct which is why this is really out of character. He won't settle to sleep anywhere other than the porch which is 'his'. We also have UFH upstairs too. Turning off one zone/room unfortunately means that the others/one area gets hotter as the system needs to maintain temp/circulation which we cannot fathom out how to solve. Leo's shouldn't really do stairs either so it is a ball ache. We have a ton of squirrels/rabbits but is is only this one bloody fox that irritates him. And only this week. Possible that the fox is in season I guess?

At 11 months you might find he becomes more 'worked up' with other wildlife anyway so I am a bit doubtful that if you ever managed to keep this particular fox away that would be the end of the issue.

So bearing that in mind you could put opaque screening on the glass if you can see through it (yes it isn't the prettiest of things but it might help). Also think about something like a white noise machine to help muffle the external sounds. However, I know my dog can just sense wildlife close by even with both of those things (I'm looking at you resident squirrel who torments BiteyDog)

Could you look at getting a raised bed so he isn't on the heated floor which might give you the option then of moving him somewhere else?

Maybe a carpenter could make a platform on short legs to put the dogs bed on in another room?

We've had problems with passing foxes winding our dogs up.

The only thing that sort of worked was a radio to drown out that screeching sound they make. We also shut the dogs in the lounge so they couldn't hoof around the house like lunatics (although you already do have your dogs defined sleeping area)
And a thunder shirt for one of them (probably unlikely to help a Leo though!)

Sorry my suggestions are shit. Luckily for us it's Very seasonal though.

Oh yes and we have window film so they can't see out at their level. Weird house!

Could you not turn the heating off at night? We used to have UFH in our old house but it was used like ordinary heating, switched on and off with a timer so it was always off overnight.
Is there any way of putting some natural deterrent around the house temporarily? We had some new fruit trees planted which either a badger or deer kept digging up and we made a thick barrier of holly branches around them which worked. Do you have any really thorny bushes you could snaffle a few branches from, holly, pyracantha? If you make it difficult for a few nights that might be enough for the fox to get bored and move on?
(We also have beautiful foxes around here, there's one male who is absolutely stunning and really huge!)

Thank you everyone. I think the film may be a go-er so will try that. He won't get on a raised bed, we've tried that. Ditto he won't use a dog ramp to get into the car which is a massive PITA as he is 60kgs... I think Leo's may have an issue with deciphering perspective.

UFH will not turn off in every room - it is also an issue in the summer as it requires some sort of circulation (not sure why) and it is random which one it comes back on into (iyswim)...

On the film - I used purlfrost to stop a JRT seeing and barking at birds. It was VERY easy to install and very easy to remove later with no lasting effect on the window. I think there are other films out there that are probably as good - just wanted to give you an idea.

You can also download fox noises online and use them to try and desensitise/habituate him to them by playing them during the day at a VERY low volume (and giving him treats if you want to speed the process up), slowly increasing it each day so long as he doesn't react. The idea being he slowly learns that the noises don't mean anything at all (or mean treats, if you use treats) so doesn't worry about them.

Oh and get a male to wee around the outside of your house

Apparently this is a deterrent!

I think DH might have done it in a bottle and spray... although 10yo DS was happy to oblige from 'source'

Yes, that’s true, male pee will deter them.

Thanks for the tip. Getting DH to drink several pints of water as we speak

Can’t you put a sheet of cardboard inside the door at night so that he can’t see through the glass?

Dodie - I could except he is obsessed with eating any paper or cardboard/packaging

A sheet of wood? Get something cut to size to fit the bottom of the door