Hawks and dogs

We live in a very urban area. We have three dogs, a 5 pound Yorky, a 20 pound Dachshund, and a 70 pound Boxer. Wifey thinks that she has seen a hawk in the sky, I have not. We do see buzzards, though. They hang out at the courthouse downtown. No, really. She is convinced that a hawk is going to swoop down and grab one of the small ones. She read about an owl grabbing a Yorky in Central Florida. The dogs are never out without one or more of us there. Should we really be concerned? Not like we live in Montana. I would like to calm her down, but first would like some reassurance from the hive mind here. Thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE0Q904gtMI

Just sayin...

NSFW language for just one phrase.

chain the Yorky down

In reply to Conquest351:

Holy E36 M3!

Good thing they don't have harpy eagles in Canada or that kid would have had a talon through his skull.

A redtail hawk might eat a 5lb dog. They eat rabbits and squirrels... and a yorkie does look like a petite fuzzy snack.

The other dogs are fine.

This reminded me - I had a 13lb jack russell about 15yrs ago that would see the shadow of a hawk and go ballistic barking and snarling. He would run all the way down the yard barking at it and then obsess over it for an hour after. If he could have just flown a little - I wouldn't bet a nickel on the future of the birds of prey in the area. He was a tenacious miniature killing machine. :)

As large as our RTHawks get, they'd be snacking on the yorkie and snagging the Dachsund for lunch. We had two RTH in one of our trees a couple years ago when we got our smallest dog (20lbs then, is now 30). They started circling over her when she was out and I saw one start the dive. I ran outside started yelling and waving my arms while calling hte dog!

My folks live on a farm, and have a handful of outside cats, have had for years. We never lost any to hawks that I'm aware of. We've got a pansy of a cat now, a real sissy, and he's just recently decided that he's brave enough to stay outside for hours at a time without supervision. We worry about him sometimes, but less about birds and more about coyotes or coons or the hired help accidentally locking him in a box truck (actually happened once).

I don't know if hawks behave differently in urban areas, but I'd tend to think if there's a larger and potentially threatening animal near the potential food animal (meaning "you or the boxer" and "one of the small dustmop dogs"), most hawks would look for easier food.

We have some bigger red tail hawks around that have 4-5' wingspans......normally I don't see them with anything other than mice or squirrels. But small pets are vulnerable, thats the bad part about having small pets. They're a snack to about anything.

That said, I actually saw a falcon the other day......its been a long time since I've seen one around here.

neatest thing I have ever seen was a Bald taking a muskrat out of the marshes.. we have a couple of nesting pairs around here.

Usually we get Osprey and Vultures. I really like to watch the Osprey hunt

Urban or rural doesn't seem to matter as much anymore. I was sitting on my porch and a Red-Tail swooped in to grab a chipmunk I was trying to feed. The wingtips of the hawk hit my legs. Chances are he didn't know I was there, but he didn't seem to care when I obviously reacted to his presence. I think it went something like, "Holy berkeley! Kim you gotta see this!"

One of the issues with many hawk attacks isn't that the animal gets carried away, but that it gets so badly injured from the attack. Smaller animals often get ribs and lungs crushed, major bleeding from 3" talons, massive infection from the leftover rotting flesh on the bird's feet.

My wife is a vet nurse, and she has often said that if an animal is hit by an eagle or hawk, its most humane to just let them carry it off and eat it. Otherwise they are in for a long painful recovery (or a long painful death)

We see RT hawks all the time here in SW Ohio...Theyre always on overhead lines, watching prey in the grassy areas inside the off ramps at the freeway interchanges. It gives you some perspective on how fast they really are when they launch after a rodent, and pull ahead of you when youre getting up to speed to merge into highway traffic

A Red Tailed Hawk swooped down and took my neighbor's decorative chicken. If a Yorkie tastes like chicken and weighs ~8 lbs .....

We've got lots of RT hawks around here, plus a nesting pair of Barred Owls that have been in residence for years. What appears to be a pair of peregrine falcons showed up this spring as well. I've seen the first two hunt - needless to say, my cats stay indoors. A nearby nesting pair of RTs have been attacking people that get too close to their tree, which, given that it's on a residential street, it a bit of a problem.

Closest encounter I had was when a RT hawk was being harassed by a bunch of crows and flew into my open garage door and thumped the window in the back pretty good. He hung out in there until I got rid of the crows. He left me the chipmunk he'd carried in with him as a present (I'm guessing).

Last summer, I was fiddling with my bike, in the driveway. I heard some rustling in the tee in the backyard, followed by a thump. I turned around to see this little fella, dropping down to a critter of some sort. He looked at me, as if to say, "What are you looking at?" and then grabbed his dinner and flew away.

Rats, not what I wanted to hear, but facts are better than I think so's. At least we don't have coyotes around here.

In reply to cwh:

Easily solved problem for you, keep bigger dogs.........

There are a bunch of Red Tail Hawks around here as well as small dogs. You may recall my hawk thread. I have never seen a hawk go after a dog, but it is possible. Just don't leave the little one out for extended periods of time.

Maybe if I convince the neighborhood Haitians that hawks taste like chicken.....

cwh wrote: Maybe if I convince the neighborhood Haitians that hawks taste like chicken.....

DNR would have a field day deporting people for that eradication.....so, two birds with one stone perhaps?

I've seen the RTH take away some good sized squirrels. The end isn't pretty; (btw - all photos I post are my own)

They're staring at you, eating your soul.......they love to float over our farm equipment and wait for us to scar rabbits and mice. Really quick buggers too.

We have hawks, owls, and occasional eagles on our property. I only worry about our two that weigh in around 7 lbs, one is a skinny as hell Chi, the other is a type b rat terrier. And to be honest the chi is the only one I really keep an eye on. I've seen how the rattie handles the other dogs. I really feel bad for the bird that tries to take her. If it doesn't get her on the first shot, as in snagged, and back in the air. There's a world of hurt coming it's way. As the boys are never far from her.

Sput wrote: I've seen the RTH take away some good sized squirrels. The end isn't pretty; (btw - all photos I post are my own)

That's a freaking awesome shot man! KUDOS!

Conquest351 wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE0Q904gtMI Just sayin... NSFW language for just one phrase.

Fake. A school project by some digital animation students in Montreal. CBC News Story