Where I live wild or feral dogs are unheard of(As are coyotes 
)but its quite common even though in the city to see foxes trotting about, sometimes even in daytime.
I live in a victorian house where there are no readily apparent places to put rubbish bags outside at above fox jumping level.
I like the pepper idea for when the weathers dry and the paintball gun also.
(Not sure if I’m breaking some local ordinances on that one)
Are foxes really to blame for the songbird decline? It seems counter-intuitive that they would kill more than cats, which surely vastly outnumber them, and that they would be a more destructive force than habitat loss.
I don’t know if they’d be intimidated by dogs. Last week we had a fox emerge from the woods and bark at our two dogs.
Sadie is 58 pounds, some kind of mix, but most likely an American Staffordshire mixed with some kind of tri-colored hound, I alway say “basset” because of her long torso and shorter legs. She is dog-reactive at times, and her ears swung up sharply and she threatened the fox right back.
Simone is smaller, but at 34 pounds she certainly outweighs a red fox. Furthermore, she’s all muscle; a lean, fit little thing with ribs barely showing and big bulging thigh muscles. And she’s an American Pit Bull Terrier – yes, a pit bull. She’s generally not dog-reactive, but her head snapped up and she stared at the fox with her intense golden eyes.
With considerable effort, we pulled the dogs away from their small challenger and walked down the sidewalk and turned a corner. After a few more yards, I hear a “chuff” sound and turn around…
The fox has followed us around the corner, still threatening the two much-larger dogs. AND two humans. He was chasing us home!
Maybe it’s breeding season here in Virginia? I don’t know, but I’m completely flabbergasted by this behavior. Following a hound/pit bull mix who is ready to fight him, and an alert pit bull in her physical prime (she’s between 3 and 4 years old) is the bravest thing I’ve ever heard of a fox doing.
A lady I met on the Metro train recently told me her own fox-and-hound story which she wears is true. She had two German Shepherd Dogs, one a new foster she did not trust off-leash, the other her old buddy who got to be off-leash (note: I do not endorse off-leash dogs, myself).
A family of foxes, including babies, was looking at her dogs from the edge of the woods. Her foster went nuts barking and lunging, and she restrained her with difficulty. But the old boy just looked back at her like he was indicating he would take care of this little problem. He ran into the woods, the foxes disappearing as he came.
He was in there for a considerable time, causing her to worry. Eventually he reappeared, head held high, acting as if he had dealt with the fox problem. The true nature of his activity was revealed, however, as a train of baby foxes exited the woods, following him and imitating his head-high gait.
He’d apparently been in the woods, out of sight, not killing or chasing off, but playing with the baby foxes.