From this thread.
Just to clarify, the dog is an American Eskimo (still growing, but currently at 13 lbs) and the hawk is whatever is indigenous to the area, proported to be about 18 inches tall and probably a 4-5 foot wing span (is that likely too or an exaggeration?)
I sent this to GQ 'cause I think we could get more exhaustive dialogue here.
Could such a beast take out the puppy if it desired?
If it really wanted to, I’m sure that bird could mess up or kill the puppy. It might not survive the battle, or be able to fly off with a carcass, and most surely wouldn’t be able to do so with a live 13 lbs puppy.
It’s very unlikely that a hawk would take on an animal that size ecept under duress. None of the hawks normally found in Wisconsin weigh more than about 2.5 pounds. They would rarely take anything larger than a large rodent. They might be able to do some damage to such a dog in self-defense, but would be unlikely to attack it as prey.
A Golden Eagle, which averages 10 pounds, on the other hand, very well might. They sometimes take fawns, and could easily kill a dog that size.
Not a bad estimate; several have wingspans of about 4.5 feet.
if you are concerned about the danger of leaving your pet outside, a more likely concern than raptors would be coyotes - at least until your pup puts on a couple more pounds.
Along with what Colibri said- the Great Horned Owl will also occ take a small dog or cat. But your std hawk can’t.
I am reminded of the time a couple of springs ago when I and my ancient spaniel went out in the yard, only to find a gaggle of vultures perched in a tree just above us.*
Gave us a turn, it did. 
*probably buzzards on the way to Hinckley, Ohio, a celebrated event that occurs each spring.
Submitted as evidence: A golden eagle fighting a fox over a carcass. The eagle was able to lift the fox in it’s talons, but dropped it and the fox escaped. No estimate on the size of either fox or eagle.
http://www.tarsiger.com/index.php?pic_id=komi1142612071&lang=fin
There is this from Southere Oregon University on bald eagles.
It’s doubtful that a hawk would attack a dog that size. The cite has some anecdotes about eagles going after fish that were to heavy for them to lift. (Scroll down to Interesting Notes)
Here’s an incident from a month ago. This is an 8 to 9 pound dog.
They most certainly attack bigger dogs also. They will kill game to big to fly off with under different circumstances.
Here’s an article on a hawk attacking people, and it’s flying away with a cat.
I’ll leave it at these two articles, since they good examples of the threat. Whenever I see the beaks and talons of these birds at the DNR injured animal cages, I release how deadly one can be. You tend to forget over time, and then you see them close up again and think shreader and skull buster.
Both those articles do, however, point out that this is extremely unusual behavior for both Red-tailed and Harris’s Hawks, the species featured in the two articles. The Red-tail was unsuccessful in his attack; and though the second article alleges the Harris’s killed a cat, it doesn’t mention the cat’s size.
I’m aware of that, but they do it sometimes. This isn’t a probabilty question. It’s a do they do it question.
In Millwaukee you’ld need to be careful of racoons, wolves, coyotes, and bears, as the main threats. In a few months you’ll want to watch out for the sandhill cranes. They can kill a dog, and normaly walk slowly away, but will ripp into one on ocassions. If you end up with one of those mysterious kangroos that show up every year, it may kill the dog. Sauk county has lions, on a property, that all were collected from people that called to get rid of their pet lion. You never know what weird animal might eat the dog. OK I’m rambling on, so good luck with the puppy.
Note that the fox is never actualy lifted off the ground, though.
Some smaller adult specimens of the Red fox (Volpes volpes)would fall within the lifting capcity of David’s cite, above, but just barely.
Undetermined. Certainly the picture shows the fox touching the ground, but notice that the eagle has already let go; one talon is clearly not touching the fox, and the other appears open, so it has already fallen some distance. I think if we had seen the whole sequence as a movie, there would have been daylight under that fox at some point.
I dunno. This could also be the fox trying to kick the eagle off itself. The previous picture makes it look like that may well have been the case. At any rate, that cite is not proof of an eagle lifting a fox.
Perhaps we should ask for this thread to be moved to GD. 
Wait. Bears? In Milwaukee? I was under the impression that bears generally did not come that far south in the state and didn’t approach the east at all – very much a northern thing. The DNR seems to bear that out. I’d think that a bear would be so rare in that part of the state that to call it a threat would be a little ridiculous. Wolves as also very, very rare in the south and the east parts of the state.
I also suspect that the kangaroos mentioned are a relatively minor threat, except to those consuming a bit too much of Milwaukee’s Finest. 
Even in midtown Manhattan, where hawks have an infinite supply of yummy rats to hunt, they’ve been known to chow down on the occasional chihuahua.
It’s OK, though. Chihuahuas deserve it.
I kill squirrels outside my den with a pellet gun, and a lazy ass hawk in the neighborhood would eat them. One time, while eating my latest kill, this hawk looked at me and my wife looking at him from inside the den. He didn’t like his privacy violated.
He clutched the squirrel with his talons and with enormous effort, flew to a more secluded spot, maybe 10 yards to our right. That squirrel might have weighed 3 pounds. One pound more and that flight would have been aborted.
The bears do end up in cities in central and southern Wisconsin every year. The suburbs of Millwaukee end up with sightings too. I leave you with the tip that newspaper articles from the last few years will catch you up on the wandering bears. The Kangeroos have showed up along the interstate on the way to the Dells. The first one I know is at the Madison zoo, but it was one of the small ones. Thanks to the lion guy in Sauk county we have an ordinance in Columbia county now in place to protect the citizens, so that stuff like lions can be required to be caged, witch they wern’t before.
On the other hand, and I’m sure Dinsdale has seen them, someone here has posted signs begging for the recovery of their Teacup Chihuahua, with the reward rising to TEN EFFING GRAND AMERICAN! If that hawk/raccoon/coyote/fox/mean dog and I could come to terms…
