Fox dens in garden

Rashers23

Hi all,

Am looking for some advice, haven't seen a similar thread after searching.

I live in the suburbs and have 2 golden retriever pups (9 weeks-so cute!!) and have just discovered 2 in use fox dens at the bottom of the garden. We have previously seen old dens and have blocked them up. The pups are not left out at night but I want to discourage the foxes from returning to our garden as I don't want our pups to be attacked.

The area has loads of foxes and while we wont be able to stop them passing through, does anyone have any advice on what kind of deterrents I can use?

Thanks in advance.

jap gt

its very unlikely that a fox will attack your dogs

Rashers23

Realise this but would also not like to disturb an angry fox ourselves when clearing the garden..or worse still a badger!

jap gt

any animal that might be in your garden will more than likely run away than attack, have you seen badgers aswell

planetX

Lucky you, you might have fox cubs in the Spring!!! If it were my garden I'd leave them be until the cubs are reared, and then block the dens if necessary.
An angry fox?

Whispered

Foxes are very very nervous - you'd be more likely to encounter an angry crow or magpie!.

(really, they can be scary when they're angry!!)

If you are just worried about them being dangerous - they're not. But you will have to keep your pups well flead etc. However you will have to do this anyway if the foxes are just passing through.

If you want to get rid of them either way, and see them as vermin, you could try asking in the nature and bird watching forum.

seamus

To be fair, his dogs are only tiny and won't have their full round of injections yet.

The risk posed by a fox to a tiny pup is minimal (the fox would have to be starving to risk it I guess), but they're wide open to disease at the moment, so I'd be inclined to fence off the area around the dens with chicken wire (including an in/out route for the foxes), to prevent the pups from wandering down there until they're a bit older.

Whispered

seamus wrote: »

To be fair, his dogs are only tiny and won't have their full round of injections yet.

I didn't even think of this tbh.

Sigma Force

Well if someone goes and adopts or buys puppies they should ensure the pups are fully vaccinated before they get them esp. when you go spending money on buying pups.
Also at that age you have to supervise them in the garden at all times even if the garden is secure because they eat and pick up everything.
By the time the pups are old enough to be left alone to play they will be larger than the foxes. Foxes are generally afraid of people and dogs and will avoid them plus usually hide away during the day.

If a fox came along and you were worried about mange etc. then there are groups that should be able to catch and treat any ill foxes and return them. wildlifematters.ie might be a good place to start.

You don't leave pups that age alone unsupervised in the garden anyway.

Rashers23

Thanks for all the replies.
Just to clarify, at no time are the pups left outside unsupervised and they are kept away from the dens as I was led to believe that foxes may attack if their dens were disturbed/threatened.
The older dens found were quite large leading us to speculate that they could have been old badger dens (OH is a farmer!).
I think from the advice given that we will fence off the entire area where the foxes are until the pups are older/fully vaccinated

TooManyDogs

I'd love to have a fox den in my garden! I had a foster fox one summer and always wondered how she got on after we released her.

Rashers23

TooManyDogs wrote: »

I'd love to have a fox den in my garden! I had a foster fox one summer and always wondered how she got on after we released her.

To see one fox every so often would be lovely but we have them roaming in small packs and digging up anything we try to plant in the garden!
I have a love of hedgehogs though and there don't seem to be any in our new garden that I have seen yet.

homerhop

if you place a bramble across the opening of the earths, and check to see if there is any hair caught on it after a few days you will be able to tell if the older ones are in use and by looking at the hair if it is a fox or badger.
Your dogs will be fine in the yard, after all a pup having a nose around is how pups develop and learn and can be quiet fun to watch.

TooManyDogs

Rashers23 wrote: »

To see one fox every so often would be lovely but we have them roaming in small packs and digging up anything we try to plant in the garden!
I have a love of hedgehogs though and there don't seem to be any in our new garden that I have seen yet.

Yeah that might drive me a bit nuts alright. My own dogs digging up my garden is bad enough!

TheVoodoo

Had similar problem with my goldie puppy when she was young, was very worried about disease and the likes considering the foxes looked mangy. I just fenced the area close to the Dens, so the pup could not accidently wander in to investigate. That being said, The foxes were always far too nervous to even come near the house after about week 12 or so.. i've heard them, but hardly seen the foxes since..

( Obviously the foxes could still come and go via other exits from the garden / over the fence. )

ISDW

Sigma Force wrote: »

Well if someone goes and adopts or buys puppies they should ensure the pups are fully vaccinated before they get them esp. when you go spending money on buying pups.
Also at that age you have to supervise them in the garden at all times even if the garden is secure because they eat and pick up everything.
By the time the pups are old enough to be left alone to play they will be larger than the foxes. Foxes are generally afraid of people and dogs and will avoid them plus usually hide away during the day.

If a fox came along and you were worried about mange etc. then there are groups that should be able to catch and treat any ill foxes and return them. wildlifematters.ie might be a good place to start.

You don't leave pups that age alone unsupervised in the garden anyway.

It is very common to buy pups that aren't fully vaccinated even from reputable breeders. My vets will give a pup a parvo vacc at 6 weeks, and their first 7-in-1 at 8 weeks, with their second one at 10 weeks, but they won't give the second one until the pup is at least 10 weeks old, so you may get the first at 9 weeks, second at 11 weeks. Most pups are sold at 8/9 weeks of age, so most will not be fully vaccinated.

lrushe

My only concern with foxes and dogs in the same back garden would be the risk of mange, though I'm not too sure how transmittable it would be without direct contact.