Animals to watch out for when walking

Yandharr

So on our nightly walk, we ran into a baby possum. Obviously not a threat since it was the size of my shoe, but it got me thinking. What animals does one who walks dog(s) at night need to be wary of?

Being so new to central Florida, I have no idea what is even out there. A few times I saw some strange dog-like animals, but they're really tall/leggy and have long snouts. any Idea what those are? Other than those mystery "chupacabra" animals, some of my concerns: Adult possums, Raccoons, alligators.

sjp051993

Here in Ohio you have a few possibilities. Possums, raccoons, deer, coyotes.

lizzysilvertongue

Living in the sticks I will say definitely opossums could be a problem, they can get pretty big around here and I have seen them stand their ground with dogs and not play dead. I generally am not too bothered by racoons, I used to have one that would climb in my trash can at night while I was playing WoW and would make a ton of noise doing it. I generally just had to step outside and talk/yell at it. It would slowly climb out and go on its way. I have seen lots of them...none aggressive.
Alligators not a problem around here... I would think don't walk close to water at night or if you can't see in it. I think they tend to lunge from water.
Around here snakes would be an issue, not at this time of year tho.
Perhaps you saw deer in the dark? They have long snouts and come out at night, i hear the florida deer are small. Possible?

slkblaze

For me it's toads, reeeaaally big spiders, and snakes. I get worried when a bee or a wasp is flying around because Taki chomps at anything small, quick and floaty Dx
But as @lizzysilvertongue said, not really an issue during the cold-ish months

I guess another would be stray dogs? I was walking Taki and all of a sudden this large Boxer is charging toward us. Probably the scariest thing that has happened on a walk before... turns out the dog was very friendly and just wanted to play. A neighbor had left the front door open and the little bugger got out... but had it been an actual stray, may not have turned out so well .

cezieg

DEFINITELY keep your dogs away from the toads in Florida. The Bufu Toad secretes poisonous "grease" from pores on it's back and in it's skin. Licks will give minor symptoms while full on bites will forces loads of the stuff into the dog's mouth, causing severe symptoms including seizures (as the least serious of the symptoms.
In Central Florida there are coyotes to deal with for small frail dogs (chihuahuas, assorted fluffy white dogs). Doubtful that either of your dogs would have issues with those lol.

Zinja

Osy had a thread years ago about training your dog to stay away from snakes on hikes, which we have tons of.

I have seen lots of armadillos,the occasional deer, and wild boar. Oh yeah, and tons of gators.. stay away from the waters!

@cezieg speaking of toads, I was walking my shiba a few years ago and he pooped on a toad. It was funny

slkblaze

@Zinja I had an audible reaction to the toad story xD. Toad was like... ಠ_ಠ

okiron

Crackheads. I love my neighborhood.

Araks

Raccoon. In north Los Angeles, there are some really big raccoon, much bigger than Sevuk was, and he was a big min pin. And they're fearless, too. We've had some walk up to our glass back door and put their paws up against it, looking inside the house.

WhoBitMe

Baby squirrels. I walked by a tree once while out walking my dog and noticed a baby squirrel just chilling there on the ground about a foot away from me. I thought "Aw, cute" and kept walking. Looking up the street I noticed an adult squirrel...and it was charging straight toward me. I thought it would launch itself at my face, but it veered around me at the last minute and ran toward the baby squirrel. The best part? My dog didn't even notice.

Baby squirrels, therefore, are portents of imminent squirrel attack.

lizzysilvertongue

Armadillos aren't good either... not for aggression or anything. They can carry leprosy, we had an issue a couple years ago. My dad was building a pool in the backyard and we were all grouting the thing. It was before we got the cover. Anywho a male and female fell in the pool... the guy was trying to get it on with the girl. He bit her the end of her tail off and they managed to get blood on every inch of that tile it was 1by1 squares up to 1.5 off the ground. My dad who is a very paranoid doctor flipped, he said the chance of them carrying it was like 20% not sure if thats the real number or him being paranoid. Needless to say the armadillos were caught and relocated. AND..... dad filled the empty pool with lots of bleach

Yandharr

it had to be a coyote. I didn't think they were down here though.

jellyfish

I've seen my share of bobcats, hogs, armadillos, and snakes on my own runs, which, I am a much more dedicated runner than Toki, thus being able to run further into the park, so when we run together, we've only seen armadillos. I have no idea what Toki would do if he saw a hog. They get huge up here.

Up here in dallas, I have never encountered an alligator, but back home, i've seen my share, as well. They mind their own business.


As a side note, Tokes pretty much ignores squirrels and birds. He is interested in them, but for the most part, I think he has figured out that he wont ever get them. Now.... bunnies.... >_>

tjbart17

I've been attacked twice in the past few months by raccoons. I have bad scars on my arm and fingers. The first one attacked Koda and I pulled him off and got scratched. It was horrible. The second one just got me thankfully. I'd watch out for them. I'm now deathly afraid of raccoons.

Also keep dogs away from all snakes.

jellyfish

my friend had a great dane/pitbull mix and he was bitten by a snake in a park. She wasn't able to save him
Therefore, we stay away from snakes. I haven't seen any on our runs, but sometimes i'll hear rustling in the bushes that Toki might be sniffing, and we leave. Not worth it.

lizzysilvertongue

WOW I have never heard of a coon attack... theyre fearless but ive never had any problems. lots of people have them as pets around here.

tjbart17

I was in the wrong place doing the wrong thing.

sukoshi_mom

Raccoons are nasty and can be really hostile if protecting their young. Give them a wide berth and don't encourage them to become "neigbors" by feeding them. In my Northern CA area we have raccoons, possums (which carry a wide variety of diseases), coyotes, cougars, and deer. Also rattlesnakes. Also be aware of overhead predators such as hawks, owls, falcons, etc. This is particularly important if you let puppies or small dogs outside.

Deer can be a hazard during mating season or after the fawns are born. Be careful with your dogs. Mother deer have been known to attack dogs to protect their offspring, if they feel that the offspring are threatened.

The other day I was talking with a friend about a construction project in the dog run. He suddenly said " Look at the buck!" There was a large buck with a substantial rack looking back at us through the ranch wire fence at the bottom of the dog run. We couldn't get a photo of him. I later went around the house and he was still there below the fence line with his mate. I tried to be as quiet and nonthreatening as possible and just watched him. He kind of looked at me and then ambled on. I think this is the same mule deer buck I saw last year at about this time (and took pictures of).

Crispy

I'm in Southern New England - certainly not Central Florida, but we mostly just have to watch for deer and coyotes in my neck of the woods. I'm more afraid of the deer than the coyotes, though. Coyotes don't really mess with my dogs, but the deer just don't seem to give a crap. I've heard stories of some of our eagles and hawks picking up smaller dogs and carrying them off as a legitimate threat. Owls too. There aren't many poisonous snakes up here. Seems like you Floridians hoarded all the small and nasties.

I'd be wary of moose and bear the further north I got. When I lived in Vermont as a kid, me, my siblings and the dogs had a nasty run-in with a Moose. I'm pretty much terrified to behold a Moose at this point.

WrylyBrindle

Off leash, my worst fear is porcupines, all 3 of my guys have got quilled. ONCE- All 3 have met porcupines at least one other time each, and did not get quilled, soo I have some reason to think they have learned something, but Im still wary. I always carry a small sling pack with first aid kit in it, benedryl (we've stepped on hornet nests before) and the pliers right in a loop on the back.

Just on crepuscular leash walks, Sage and I had a bear run by us- but I wasnt afraid of it, she was running from us, and Sage was on leash (having a meltdown, but on leash, nonetheless!) That was awesome to see! Reilly and I tracked a moose up the road here and spotted it down in the sedge meadow, but again she was on leash and we didnt get close, so no conflict. We watched it till it ambled into the trees. Rei was good and didnt peep- but she was on uber alert looking at it.

I am ever grateful that we dont have poisonous things here! eek.

cdenney

Black bears in the east coast I know as far down as va in the country.

cezieg

@Zinja LOL I guess he didn't approve of that toad.
@Crispy we sure did!
I was going to mention snakes here in Florida but figured that was a give. Tsune and I came across a really neat looking one just laying across the trail we would go on. I looked it up later and it wasn't poisonous thankfully, since I didn't even know it was there until I noticed Tsune had found something interesting to stare at.

Something to add is racoons for sure. My mom was yelling across the house for my sister to get her dog inside and then came up and told me to not let Ren out for a bit because there was a "drunk racoon" in the backyard. It was walking across the pool deck and falling over, seemingly unable to keep it's balance very well. Classic symptoms of distemper. Apparently it eventually it ambled off into a neighbors yard. I didn't know why I was keeping Ren inside until later or I'd have gone and "taken care" of it. Distemper is a nasty way to go and a volatile racoon is the last thing Ren and the other 30+ dogs in the neighborhood need.

@tjbart17 Holy crap you got attacked TWICE? You need a tazer, not for muggers, but for racoons! I'm glad you're ok!

shibamistress

Wow, this is so interesting, hearing about everyone's wildlife experiences! And Rina, crackheads! *lol* And Crys gets points from me for using crepuscular in a sentence! *lol*

Also the armadillos? Leprosy? Yikes! I had no idea!

And Tara you were attacked by raccoons? Scary! I know they can be mean (and big) suckers, but that is still super scary!

I live in the mountains in NM. We have a lot of wildlife. This particular summer we had more issues than usual. On our walks I have encountered coyotes (who did not seem afraid, and since I've had a dog attacked by coyotes before, I was not pleased by this), bears (sow with cub--we backed out of her line of sight than ran home!), and rattlesnakes (which we also encountered in the yard, and Leo the Kai got bit). I also say a suspicious squirrel once.....as in it was laying in the road and it hissed/growled at us as we walked by. We stayed far away from that. I have never seen a mountain lion, but I know they have them on the other side of the highway from us (slightly closer to the state forests that are on that side of the road), but I am under no illusions that they might not cross the highway sometime too.

Sidenote on raccoons: when I lived in Michigan, one of my colleagues had a raccoon come in through their dog door, and wreak all kinds of havoc in the house, including terrorizing the dogs, and it turned out the raccoon was quite fat and had squeezed through the door and then couldn't get back out through it quite so easily. I don't remember now how they got it out, but it was hilarious (as a story) and scary as an incident, because they also had young children...

Trzcina

I've never seen my dog around armadillos, but my parents took her to Florida with them once and she apparently stares at them and whines.

Living in the suburbs in Michigan... raccoons, opossums, occasionally--but rarely--fox or deer.

But loose dogs and cats have to be the most common ones.

Cats just run... but every time I'm glad my dog's on a leash, and every time I'm glad she's no bigger than she is! A 30lb dog is shockingly strong when she essentially goes "CAT! MUST CATCH!" The only exception is the cat she lives with, and that's only an exception when she recognizes her. Thankfully she does look before she bites, as the cat got out into the backyard once when the dog was out there and she went into prey mode the instant she saw a cat on the far side of the yard. All-out run... and recognized her when she was about six inches from her and immediately her body language changed and she just sniffed her and moved on to trot the perimeter of the yard.

We've had more than one neighbor that simply don't confine their dogs. So far there hasn't been a real problem, because one is a fat lazy thing that just lays on their porch, and the other was a young puppy. Emmee will put up with a lot of mayhem from a puppy and doesn't have any negative response to them. Other dogs in the neighborhood, though... I would be more concerned about. Especially because small adult dogs sometimes get prey reactions from her, and there are a lot of small dogs in the neighborhood with less-than-attentive owners.