Post written by Shawn Richard
You may live in a lovely wooded setting or perhaps in another area where wild animals move frequently. While living with them near may be the norm for you, there’s always a risk of them invading your property.
If you own a pet, especially a dog, you may notice the critters visiting your home frequently or might even have the occasional instance of one attacking. But why is does that happen? Can your dog attract wild animals?
This article will tell you how your dog may end up attracting wild animals in your yard or even into your home, followed by nine tips you can follow to prevent these incidents.
Do Dogs Attract Wild Animals?
Dogs sometimes attract wild animals and may even lead them to your home. These wild animals primarily include foxes and coyotes and may sometimes attract predators like bears, depending on where you reside. The following are some ways in which dogs can attract wild animals to your home:
Feeding Your Dog Outside
Feeding your dog outside, whether it’s a Goldendoodle, Dalmatian, or any other breed, can invite unwanted guests looking for food. Many opportunistic animals such as raccoons, skunks, and mice may end up visiting you in search of yummy leftovers.
An Unleashed Dog
Leaving your pet dogs unleashed and unsupervised is the most dangerous thing to do, especially if you live close to the woods. It may move around to sniff out neighboring dogs and to discover animals, that could potentially pose a threat to your dog.
Probably the biggest threat posed by unfamiliar animals is disease and parasites. Your dogs likely finds animal excrement a delightful treat, but he can acquire various unwanted parasites, diseases, and bacterias from doing so. Allowing your dogs to run around unleashed when you’re not supervising could pose a risk to your dog’s health.
If you keep your dog unleashed when it’s outside, it can roam around in the woods and could encounter wild animals. Some animals, such as a skunk, may not cause physical harm to your beloved dog but could leave a terrible aroma for you to deal with. Other animals could potentially fight or attack your dog if he takes an interest in them.
A Girl Dog in Heat
A dog ‘in heat’ is when a female dog is in her most fertile stage in the menstrual cycle and is more sexually active. During this time, female dogs secrete specific hormones that attract male dogs. Sometimes, the scent of these hormones can attract coyotes, wolves, and foxes as well who desire to mate with your girl. Spaying your girl helps prevent attracting these wild animals into your yard and it also helps prevent your girl from acquiring any sexually transmitted illness the intruder may carry.
Dog Excretions
Dogs and other territorial animals like marking their territories by secreting a certain hormone. This hormone can be strong enough to attract animals in the wild, leading them to your place as your dog will still carry that smell. Besides pheromones, dog saliva, poop, and urine can draw wild animals to your property, particularly those who feel that their territory is potentially being threatened.
The Problem With Attracting Wild Animals
Threats for Your Dog
- Wild animals can carry a wide range of parasites, diseases and bacterias that you don’t want your pet to contract. Although some of them may be stopped with vaccines or treated if caught early enough, others could be fatal for your dog.
- Menstruating female dogs going through ovulation will secrete higher levels of pheromones, attracting wild canines who will compete to establish dominance and earn the chance to mate.
- Purely domesticated dog breeds often don’t know how to interact with wild animals and could accidentally end up in the fight.
- Some dogs have a high prey drive and naturally love chasing after little critters. Your dog could potentially acquire deadly diseases from consuming an infected animal. For your dog’s health and safety, it’s best to discourage even little creatures like chipmunks and mice from visiting your yard.
Threats for You
- Wild animals can damage your property. Something as little as a mouse who is visiting in hopes of snacking on your dog’s leftovers can potentially cause a lot of damage.
- Some of the diseases that wild animals carry can affect humans too. And if you kept a pet dog as a companion for your baby, your child could end up contracting something like round worms.
- Wild animals can bring parasites into your home, which may be hard to eliminate. Fleas can be exterminated but the process of eliminating them from your home isn’t any fun, particularly if you have a lot of carpet, upholstered furniture or stuffed animals.
How Can You Prevent Wild Animal Invasion in Your Home?
Owning a dog doesn’t have to attract wild animals to your home. Here are some helps tips for discourage (or at least not encourage) unwanted critters from coming around and also tips for keeping your dog safe in a yard that wild animals visit.
Protect Your Dog
- Spay or neuter your dog: fixing your dog helps lessen their sexual desires, which in turn keeps them less interested in potential partners, both wild and domestic. Spaying your female dog will ensure she doesn’t give off excess pheromones that make her irresistible to local canines. Neutering your male dog helps prevent him from wondering off in search of a female canine who is in heat.
- Feed your dog inside: mice, raccoons, and other small animals are opportunistic feeders who are always in search of a tasty meal. If you feed your dog outdoors, there will undoubtably be tiny crumbs left or even just the scent of food in the food bowl, which may attract little mouse noses.
- Keep your dog inside at night: goldendoodles are sweet, friendly natured dogs who should be allowed to sleep indoors at night. There will be rare occasions, though, when your dog needs to go to the bathroom overnight. It’s okay to take him outside, but it’s best if you can go out with him. Keep in mind that skunks and raccoons are nocturnal animals, which means they’re usually active at night.
- Supervise your dog’s outside time: it’s great for your dog to experience the joy of regular unleashed outdoor time, but you should always be supervising. Don’t give your dog unregulated outdoor time by himself for hours on end. Additionally, invisible fences are a great tool many families enjoy, but remember that while an invisible fence may keep your dog in, it does not keep other animals out.
- Scoop the poop: while it’s never a bad idea to clean up your own dog’s poop, wild animal feces presents a larger issue. Your dog can acquire unwanted diseases, parasites, and bacterias from eating the excrement from wild animals. Do your best to scoop up those deer, rabbit, and mice pellets before your dog makes a meal of them.
Protect Your Place
- Build a fence: a physical fence helps keep some animal invaders out. If your pup likes feasting on deer excrement and you’d like to discourage deer from visiting, you’ll want to build a fence that’s at least 6′ tall. Keep in mind that a fence will not keep out climbing animals like raccoons or small rodents like mice.
- Use repellents: once you determine which animals are troublesome for your yard, you can research repellents to discourage them from coming around. Before using a chemical deterrent, check the label to verify whether it’s safe to use around your pets. Installing motion activated lights may help repel some visitors without the use of chemicals.
- Don’t feed wild animals: if you don’t want scavengers to come to your yard in search of a meal, don’t feed any wild animal. Skunks are notorious for nibbling dropped seed found under bird feeders.
- Remove shelter: take a look around your yard for places a wild animal may find attractive for taking up residence. Mice, chipmunks, and snakes may make their home in your woodshed. A skunk may find a hole under your stoop and make himself a cozy home right by your house. If you remove areas where wild animals can take shelter, you will help discourage them from hanging around.
Conclusion
Dogs are amazing companions who add so much to our lives. Follow the steps mentioned above to help keep your best friend safe and healthy from wild animals.
Post written by Shawn Richard