# Hawk problem



## Juicydog (Mar 31, 2009)

I am a new havanese owner with a 3 month old puppy. 

We are dismayed that to discover that he is a target for the red tail hawks in our area. We have 4-6 redtails that are perching on the edge of our yard and waiting to make a meal of him! We are terrified!!!

This has caused a serious problem with the potty training, as we are afraid to let him outdoors. If we do take him out, it is a big production and he is heavily guarded. We use a harness and hold a garden rake or umbrella over him...

I am wondering if there is a highly secure outdoor kennel that I could buy which would protect him from the hawks. Also, has anyone found a way to deter hawks or other birds of prey?

Thank you.


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## RikiDaisyDixie (Apr 15, 2008)

*look at costco.com*

They have a big kennel that can be attached to your doggy door.

Hawks are no good for havanese.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

Where do you live? We see hawks around here sometimes too, I never leave the dogs outside alone because it worries me.


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## Juicydog (Mar 31, 2009)

We live along the coast in New England. He has never been outside alone either. We anticipated that the foxes and coyotes would be interested in him, but didn't realize what a problem the hawks would be! Their menacing behavior is occurring in broad daylight, in our presence. If he is off the leash for even a moment and runs with that distinctive havanese "bounce", the hawks will quickly make their way to perch in the nearest tree.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

He probably looks like a little bunny to them.


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## Juicydog (Mar 31, 2009)

Exactly!


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

I hear ya! Dexter looked like a black and white baby bunny! We have hawks and I also worried. Dexter was always leashed and I was right there, so hopefully I would change the hawk's mind!

I do not worry about the hawks now.


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## Sissygirl (Aug 8, 2007)

We were having problems with a Great Horned Owl. We brought in a wildlife expert
http://www.totalwildlifecontrol.com/
I don't know if there is any info on the page that might help you but you could call him - he is really good.

The owl had picked up our neighbors dog but dropped it. We were scared to death.
We had birds nesting in our attic which was bringing squirrels and then the owl. We had to get rid of the birds and do a bunch of work on our roof and attic to keep the squirrel out of our attic. The owl was perching on our roof trying to get everything but also was stalking our dogs. We haven't seen the owl since.


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## RikiDaisyDixie (Apr 15, 2008)

*There are hawks in Southern California too...*

And these little stinkers all over the place...makes me worry about our tiny yard and the small doggy door. A raccoon could not use it but this guy could...imagine their reaction at a barking havanese.

We had to cancel our group dog lessons for several months as hawks near her yard had babies...we weren't wanting the dogs anywhere near that. The concept watched like a hawk...


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## marjrc (Jan 13, 2007)

Yikes !! Scary!

I have heard of people with covered dog runs in areas where this could be an issue, but I imagine they aren't cheap. If you are handy or know someone, it might be a good option. 

BTW, welcome to the forum! Nice to see a new member. We'd love to hear more about your puppy. Pics are always great too.


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## Juicydog (Mar 31, 2009)

Thank you. Although this is my first post, I actually joined the forum last spring when I was researching breeders. The forum was VERY HELPFUL to me, as it helped me understand that a breeder I had been introduced to was an unscrupulous commercial breeder. So THANK YOU to all who participate in these postings! We are fortunate to have adopted a wonderful puppy from a great breeder. He was definitely worth the wait!!!


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## mellowbo (Aug 12, 2007)

Hi and welcome to the forum. We too have hawks, coyotes, etc and it is a big deal taking the havs out to go potty. We are in the midst of devising a safe area right now. What we have done is put in a doggy door and just outside it is a 3x4 covered kennel with an opening at the doggy door side and another on the other side of the wire kennel that lets them into a larger chain link, covered kennel. We are just ordering the larger kennel. It has been an ordeal because of the logistics but we think this will work and keep them VERY safe.
In the meantime keep doing what you are doing until you can figure out a kennel thingy. Costco.com sells some good covered kennels or you can go to a fence co and have them make just what you want like one right outside a doggy door.
Good luck and thanks for being such good hav mommy and daddies.
Carole


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## Redorr (Feb 2, 2008)

IN the meantime while you figure out the outdoor set-up...there is an upside to only taking him outside to potty on the leash. You can make outdoors always be a supervised place that always begins with "go potty" or whatever your phrase is. I live in the city so Lola only goes out on a leash. She knows that the alley next to the building is only about going potty. She knows to do it right when she gets there, or no treat, no walk. It was great to have on command potty training as a result of not having a free run yard.


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## Lunastar (Feb 9, 2009)

Welcome to the forum. My girls are 2 and half and have never been outside on their own despite the fact that we have a fenced yard. We have hawks by day and owls by night. I know I remember seeing ex pens with screens over the top.


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## kelrobin (Jan 21, 2008)

I know you are concerned . . . we had the same thing when Jackson was a puppy. My neighbor had chickens that had attracted the hawk, and lost a rooster. We never sent him out alone and always had our big lab with him too. The good news is that once Havs get full grown, unless they are unusually small, they are way too big for a hawk. Most go after small prey and can't lift over 3 or 4 pounds from what I have been told. Jackson is 15 pounds and looks much bigger with all his fur, so I don't worry about him anymore.


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## tabby2 (Jan 19, 2009)

Welcome, and congrats on your puppy. I had a similar issue when my Tyler was a little one, and there were huge owls. I ended up putting a covered rectangular pen that was about 5 feet long on the outside of my dog door. Because the dog door opened onto my patio, which was tiled, I put some sod in a box at the far end of the pen. It look awful but it kept him safe, Tyler liked it and it gave him some outdoor area to sit in as well as a potty area. 

Good luck, Jane


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## Evye's Mom (Dec 16, 2008)

kelrobin said:


> I know you are concerned . . . we had the same thing when Jackson was a puppy. My neighbor had chickens that had attracted the hawk, and lost a rooster. We never sent him out alone and always had our big lab with him too. The good news is that once Havs get full grown, unless they are unusually small, they are way too big for a hawk. Most go after small prey and can't lift over 3 or 4 pounds from what I have been told. Jackson is 15 pounds and looks much bigger with all his fur, so I don't worry about him anymore.


Good to know Kathy. We have hawks as well. I wondered at what size/weight I could feal more comfortable knowing a hawk won't swoop down and snatch one of them.


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## Leslie (Feb 28, 2007)

We still have to watch Tori, who, at 2 yrs. old, weighs 7.5 lbs. When she was younger and way smaller, my DH made a top to fit her expen (he nicknamed her "Bird Bait" at that time ). She's trained to potty pads so, that's not an issue for us. But, she does like to go outside to hunt lizards and RLH. We never let her out alone.


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

OM Gosh, You have more hawks than we do. We never see our Hawks until you hear the swoop of their wings coming after something. My dogs are never out alone, I hope size now means we are not as good a target as we were.

A topped pen is the way to go. Good luck


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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

How scary for you. this is one reason I am happy to have my giant 20 lb havs. I hope once he is more full grown it will be less of an issue. Where in N.E. do you live? Leeann and I are in the planning phase of our next NE play date.

I found these sites.

http://americaoutdoor.com/Categories.aspx?CategoryId=67603
http://www.optionspluskennels.com/

Didn't Linda have a very exotic looking enclosed area made from fishing wire?


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## Leslie (Feb 28, 2007)

Here's pix of the setup Linda had. Here's the link to her original post for anyone who wants to read it.


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

Hee hee. That was my old set up. I lived in the woods, so no one could see it. I don't have that set up at my new house. There aren't many hawks here, but plenty of groundhogs! For that hawk that might be flying by, I have 2 owl decoys. Birds are afraid of reflective objects too. If you can find mirrored pin wheels, the birds will be afraid of them. I used to keep my dogs in reflective vests, when they were young. You can also get reflective collars and leashes. My boys are 16 lbs, so I'm not too worried about them. Bella is 6 lbs, so I keep a pretty close eye on her.


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## ivyagogo (Sep 11, 2007)

That is really scary. We have lots of wild animals around here too, but we keep a close eye on Gryff. I'm going to keep an even closer eye on him now that you've made me remember about the hawks. I think Gryff is too big for them, but it is still pretty creepy.


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## deejay (Aug 19, 2008)

I live right across the road from a bird sanctuary but the birds that scare us are Bald Eagles. What saves our little dogs are trees, an umbrella clothesline and anything else that makes the eagles nervous about swooping and landing in our yard. A bird expert said they would not swoop down if they didn't think they could get safely back up into a tree. They sit in a large cedar tree watching our dogs and that is nerve wracking. We do get a warning though, every other bird in the neighbourhood start a racket.


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## Lunastar (Feb 9, 2009)

When the girls were puppies I had purchased large flower pinwheels from Sam's Club. They looked tacky but did the trick.


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