Encouraging a fox to keep his distance [View All]

[RedLetterRev]

Several other threads have gotten me to think about this problem lately and I'd like to see if other folks have managed to co-exist peacefully with critters.

A couple of years ago, my partner and I moved to the country. I mean way out. No cable, no DSL, practically have to pipe in daylight. We have three good-sized dogs: a cattledog-springer mix who is my partner's service assistant; a smooth collie-chessie(?) mix; and a collie-who-knows-what mix. They're all well-socialized, trained using all-positive, zero-aversive methods, indoor dogs, brought up to be very gentle since my partner is disabled. They really can't take on wild critters. Since I trained them to be gentle, it's also my responsibility to take up for them and defend them

When they're out for potties, they're supervised, but dogs being dogs, you can't watch them every split second, nor can you keep your eye on every inch of woods every second. Which brings me to the point of my post.

There has been a fox running around lately, trying to get at my neighbor's chickens. He's traversed our yard often in his quest for a chicken dinner (which, if my neighbor catches him, will earn him wings, alright, and a harp of his own). We've heard him and our girls have growled from inside the house. For their "last potty of the night" I've been going out with them with a pistol on in case Mr fox gets any ideas to approach, but I'd really, really rather discourage him from coming around at all. My girls don't know they can't defend themselves against something wild and I REALLY don't want to take the chance I might accidentally shoot one of them instead of a marauding fox or raccoon bent on running them out of "its" territory.

My gut says they would "probably" run from it, but I don't know that and I'm not willing to chance it. Dora, the assistant, is much, much too valuable to lose, let alone the emotion, training, and devotion we've put into her. My partner cannot do without her -- she is his freedom to move about safely in the world.

All of them have been/are being trained as assistants, regardless of whether they make the cut (Dora did, the middle won't, the youngest might); they represent a huge amount of emotional investiture as well as daily hours of training and exercise. They're more than tools; they're more than friends; they are our babies.

Is there "something bigger's" urine or something else that might be effective in encouraging him/them to move on? Vacuuming up the dog-hair from the house and emptying the canisters around the edges of the yard (that's a 2-acre plot by itself; we've got another 6 acres of woods) didn't phase him a bit. The raccoon I saw out a while back seems to have moved on. The groundhog ignores the fox and laughs at the dogs. It's the fox I still kinda worry about, since it tends to prowl about the same time the girls have their last tinkle for the night.

Any advice would be appreciated. We try to keep as green/calm/non-invasive as we can on our little farm.