Foxes

Has anyone had any experiences (good or bad) with foxes and your dog? what do you do when your out with your dog and see a fox?

Thought i would ask as we have a lot of foxes about and as the the nights are drawing in the are coming out earlier when im out walking, im not really scared of them but they seem to be much less afraid of people.
I had one follow me and Harvey i recognise it as a young one and it followed us for quite a while and everytime i stopped and turned it stopped and sat then it built up courage and ran right past us but this same one is always about and follows us right to our path and even when i nip out quickly for Harvey's last pee it always stops in its tracks and just sits and watches us it seems very curious of Harvey and sniffs about when we leave while others just run away but im always on edge when its about because i dont know what could happen. Harveys is always trying to get at them so im constantly telling him to "leave it" and calmly walk past but i am really wary because im finding it hard to avoid them they are all over my street, i dont mind them otherwise.

We used to have a regular visitor in the garden on the shed roof or kitchen roof, so mine got quite used to him.

On walks we have only encountered two and I love them so the dogs know not to chase, a Leave it usually works.

Although little Tess hasn't seen one yet hopefully she will ignore it when she does

I let the dogs out for a wee early Saturday morning on the open part of our garden and a fox shot past. Flynn simply stood and watched it but Jed made to go after it (Jed will chase anything so he goes for a wee on a lead but if Flynn is on the property he will not make any attempt to chase anything).

They have encountered foxes on the fields and will flush them out and give chase but I call them off and put them on leads if necessary as I do not want them going after foxes.

I dont worry about them at all. My dogs could look after themselves against a fox if necessary (although Jessie is a similar size) and the fox is much more scared of me than I am of it.

Chester will look but not chase, too much effort unless it's going to play , Griffin saw his first one last night and completely ignored it.

Mine have seen one on our local field. The two big ones chased it (playfully though, no intent there) and the JRT ignored it

We did have a vixen and two cubs growing up on our street a couple of years ago. One night I couldn't sleep and looked out of the window and saw an older cub playing with one of my cats. They chased each other round like two kittens would, then Casey let the fox lick his face. Totally bizarre!

There is a small point here that should be remembered when letting dogs get too close to foxes, and that is that many foxes - sadly - have mange.

This is not a condition that you want your dog to catch -they look cute and sweet and harmless, but they are not.!! This will not be a popular view, but they really are vermin and similarly to rats they carry diseases.

I actually like rats, and also foxes, but still recognise that each can be a little dangerous in their own way.

Foxes are the sworn enemies of my dogs ~ they hate them with a vengeance!! I can call the dogs back from chasing rabbits & deer, but foxes are a different matter. They both go ballistic at the scent of a fox & the change in their behaviour is so obvious & so different from when they scent deer or rabbts or squirrels.

I get foxes regularly visiting my garden at night (& the poo to go with it ) & if the dogs realise a fox is around, they will almost break through the cat flap trying to get out!

But I've also seen my cats sitting companionably next to a fox, no animosity or fear at all.

Aw, that sounds really cute

there is a fox that sometimes follows us... i have learnt that Jake doesnt bother if she (i assume she coz she is so pretty ) is behind us (even when he knows she is there) but can sometimes pull if she is ahead... and sometimes he ignores her where ever she is

regularly used to have em follow at a distance in the morning but since rumble died 3 weeks ago (90kilo ddb),they arent so wary and have been about 10 feet away from us .every time i shoo em they wait for 2 seconds b4 following again. timo is getting un-nerverd by them.one woman on our local news was bitten on the ear whilst in bed by one(thats what shes saying,lol).i blame all the feeding going on in cities ,its making em less wary of people.