My Wife and I have two ~60 pound border collie mixes. I walk them during the week. My Wife does weekends. Both dogs healthy and energetic.
We do live remote.
When I walk the dogs, I always have them wait on the threshold of an the open outside door. I go on the deck/porch and take a look around for anything. Well large 4 legged things.
ALWAYS when I give the break command, they dash out of the house and start doing doggie running around. Except twice now. One dog just goes. The other dog, says “nope not gonna.” She seems scared. This is the dog that likes to chase moose.
I’ve heard of a couple of credible reports of cougars in the area (never seen one myself). And coyotes are lurking around. My Wife got surrounded by 4 of them this spring. She managed to scare them away (she’s a former animal control officer, has training is this stuff but 4 of them? She got lucky, she knows it).
We carry bear spray. Easy to forget sometimes though.
Wolves are in Colorado now as well. So that’s another concern.
There may be something(s) lurking about. Freaks out one of my dogs (the one that likes to chase moose.)
I believe my dog when he’s concerned.
I’ve seen him get between me and a snake more that once. Usually it’s just a squirrel chattering that alarms him. But we all know they’re dangerous😉.
I learned right here on these boards that cougars make a chirping sound, like a bird. There was a thread about it recently. Perhaps your doggie hears it and doesn’t know what it is.
I’d listen to the dogs. Consider the alternatives:
Nothing is there and, at worst, you feel a little foolish
Something is there you want to avoid
Who knows if the dog is just being weird or does sense something is wrong but I think it best to pay attention when the dog is suggesting something is not ok.
ETA: Anecdote - Some years ago I was home alone watching TV around 11p at night. All was normal, all was fine. Then, for no reason I could ever discern, my cat looked past me (like focusing on something behind me) and flattened her ears and hissed. I had done nothing to the cat. She was out of arm’s reach and I hadn’t addressed her or anything. She was just lying there and snoozing like any cat and then…that.
I immediately felt a rise of panic. This is what Jonesy did in the movie Alien when he saw the alien. I very nervously turned to look behind me, afraid of what might be there and…nothing. Nothing at all. I looked back at the cat and she was still in her spot nonchalantly cleaning herself.
Never did figure what that was about. She never did that again. Freaked me out a bit though when it happened.
I mean, it’s Colorado, we are spoiled for choice (sigh). There was a reported mountain lion attack near Canon City last month, and a lethal bear attack this month in Lake City. I’ll add my +1 to trusting the dogs, and keeping a close eye on them and your surroundings. Maybe Parks and Wildlife has an update for your area?
Otherwise, yeah, bear spray as we both talked about in the recent thread:
And any other precautions you can reasonable take, which, well, you in the high country are probably more familiar with than I!
Yeah, I don’t think a gun, long gun or hand gun will save you from a sure enough attack.
The noise may just scare them off. At least get attention from the house you’re in trouble.
I’m an experienced shooter and I’d probably run. That is just my MO in fearful situations. Evade not engage. I’m a chicken.
Still, I carry a gun everytime I walk. Never walk alone. Make loads of noise. I jangle like a traveling tinker. We sing. We talk loudly to the dogs. The little dogs yap incessantly. I do my loud mule skinner whistle regularly.
And I never walk at twilight. I consider that feeding time. Deer, which are prey are out. Feral hogs are rooting around and hard to see in low light.
I love you’ve trained your dogs to break on command. Bayliss waits on me always. But I’ve never successfully gotten the littles trained. I put leashes on before I open the door. Don’t remove til we’re well on the way. They’re too stupid to hang tight at first. They know the way to go. I just don’t want them far ahead of us. They’d make great appetizers.
We were out looking at the comet after sunset last night, on the edge of town, when I heard one coyote howling not far off. Then a while bunch of them howling. It was quite eerie, but really cool. It freaked out the granddaughter though!
If I lived in the new developments around there, I’d be really cautious with my pets.
I have a solar-powered motion sensor light I set out by some newly planted shrubs near the barn, when I thought there might be deer in the area (I seldom spot one on a game camera, further away from the house).
Sometimes when I go out to walk the dog at night I’ll see that light shining. What triggered it? (we periodically are treated to coyote symphonies nearby).
Pluto is mostly oblivious. Occasionally he’ll show interest in a nearby cow over the fence line.
On his late night walk last night my dog (and my daughter) saw two coyotes. Not only were his ears and hair straight up and stiff on the way home, but he curled up in the corner and stayed that way for 8 hours today. My wife had to drag him out to feed him.
This reminds me of something that happened back when we had dogs (greyhounds).
I let them out at night (we have a fenced yard) and after a few minutes I heard them thundering around out there and opened the door to see what was going on. Both of them blew by me at high speed and were huffing and puffing and circling the living room, all lit up. The female’s hackles were up from shoulders to hips. No idea what they saw out there but I was really glad to have the fence that night - they would have taken off after whatever it was if they’d been able to.
There were no reports of coyotes in this area then, but they’re here now and I hear them almost every night. I still wonder if that’s what they saw.
Yes, I’ve thought about carrying a gun. My friend does. There are a couple of reasons why I don’t want to. Bear spray being a better alternative is a big reason.
I have fired a gun into the ground a number of times when a bear is casing the house. Or when we find that our car doors are open. Bears are very smart and can open them, but you can’t see into the car well enough to make sure they are gone.
I do trust the dogs instincts, but in this case, one dog did not pick up on what ever was scaring the other dog. And was already down the road. They always remain in sight, and he would have come back.
I got the one dog to go a little ways, got the other dog and we cut the walk short.
My wife had to cut her walk short about a week ago when she saw a mom and baby moose on the trail ahead. Don’t ever mess with mama.
I would trust the instincts of the dog that likes to chase moose but, now, is scared to go outside. I recommend carrying a 12 gauge shotgun with a military style stock so it is compact and easy to handle when engaging close targets. If you hit any part of the attacking animal like even one leg, you’ll blow it off. That will at least drive him off.
The main thing about bears and other predators: they don’t like unfamiliar sounds. Guns are a poor choice when you’re even slightly panicked by a close encounter. An air horn or a personal alarm (a shrieker) is a far better choice.
