Are foxes more intimated by male dogs?

[drumstick diva]

at one point the fox is fleetingly mounting the shepherd - is it a female?

 

[llombardo]

at one point the fox is fleetingly mounting the shepherd - is it a female?

I caught that to. I did some research and in one article they said "He probably lost his his mother" which gave me the impression that fox is a boy and dog is girl.

Due to chromosomes being different it would be hard but not impossible for a fox and dog to have puppies. Fertility is hard but not viability. A zoo did mate a male fox to a dog, she got pregnant and they were born but died shortly afterwards. They named the hybrid Dox.

I never really thought about a fox and dog having pups or mating.

 

[6sablehens]

^ My girl, a working line German Shepherd, is what makes me think having a male or female doesn’t make too much of a difference. She’s very protective and barks a LOT, especially when she hears something in the woods and she has a very high prey drive.
Good thing she loves the chickens. I can completely trust her around them, she even lets tiny chicks run between her legs, but she really hates wild birds. Whenever a bird comes along, trying to steal the chickens food, she chases them away whilst letting out a loud growl.
She also marks her territory along the edges of the forest, however I think this is where their gender could have some effect if the foxes can tell, and might perceive the males as more intimidating and dominant.

Our chickens have never been attacked while free ranging. We’ve actually never seen foxes on our property in daylight.

 

[llombardo]

I used my male GSD to mark around the house when we moved in(heard it kept coyotes away). I think I'm going to let him mark the run too. He also has very high prey drive. He carries a ball around and squishes it, which helps him keep control. I have paw prints on my fence from him jumping at the fence due to wildlife. He did catch a baby bunny. Didn't try eating it, but the jaw strength from carrying it killed the poor thing. So I know he would go for it. He likes to chase birds away and chase bumblebees. He has aced catching flies too.

 

[6sablehens]

Scent or barking alone does not intimidate Red Foxes here. Dogs have to back it up big time by running fox off and mauling it good is even better. The fox likely develops a mental map where dogs are likely to be a real threat or not, and it knows the dogs as individuals by their scent.

Good point, chasing after them and catching them would be best, although I still think it would influence deterring a fox if a dog/s make their presence known, especially if they’re doing both (running after them as well).

 

[6sablehens]

I used my male GSD to mark around the house when we moved in(heard it kept coyotes away). I think I'm going to let him mark the run too. He also has very high prey drive. He carries a ball around and squishes it, which helps him keep control. I have paw prints on my fence from him jumping at the fence due to wildlife. He did catch a baby bunny. Didn't try eating it, but the jaw strength from carrying it killed the poor thing. So I know he would go for it. He likes to chase birds away and chase bumblebees. He has aced catching flies too.

View attachment 1494189

Nice GSD! Sounds a lot like my girl. She carries a ball around and bites down on it as well. She’s great at catching flies too! She even catches (and eats) the ones that are in the house.
She also dug up a burrow in the chicken run and caught the a mouse.

 

[varidgerunner]

Anyhow,it’s been a few days since we have seen the fox,he was actually coming up to the chicken run in the mornings so I had to switch times up on him,and etc,think I forced him to go hunt somewhere else.I went and pooped firecrackers and through them all out in the woods,it’s scared the fox and because I heard gun powder deters them?

One of my best spots to find a fox on public forest land is right next to a public shooting range. There might be a thousand rounds popped off there in a weekend easily. Up behind it is a dense thicket where hardly anyone ventures. They lay right there and sleep during the day, can almost always get a fox track going there, but I hit it early on a weekday so my dogs don't get deafened by the weekend warriors trying out their semi-autos. I'm not thinking firecrackers are going to do much.

In my experience calling fox to the gun with predator calls, I have often called in multiples in one session. Gunfire didn't affect them, it seemed to wake them up so they could hear the artificial distress cries I was using. At one point I actually considered firing a shot when I got out of the truck at a new location, because it seemed that gunfire helped draw them. Gun goes off in the woods, deer gutpile nearby, conditioned response.

At one time, I called fox in a big way, state hopping even, for pelts and wages. Big hunt clubs sometimes pay people to eliminate quail predators. One of the best fox calling stands ever, year in and year out was near a kennel on a large hunt club. There were probably 50 walker deer hounds and probably as many beagles housed there, as well as a few bird dogs. There were a thousand acres there, but if you wanted fox, they were within a few hundred yards of that kennel. Understand that the noise from the dogs was constantly deafening, and there were piles of soiled bedding all around in the fields nearby, from bi-weekly kennel cleaning by kennel staff. Probably a lot of kibble in those piles, probably some calories left in the waste, so it was a good place for rodents, which made it a good place for fox. They obviously paid no attention to barking dogs, the smell of dogs, or the presence of dogs, (there was often one or two hanging out loose that had been lost hunting and homed to the kennel).

Many, if not most fox problems in poultry are a direct result of management. If you have a rodent problem, because of waste feed, or improper litter disposal, it will draw in fox, which will adjust their schedule to match yours as needed.

 

[centrarchid]

My foxes are not visiting primarily for chickens. They are getting rodents such as voles, mice, and a rat that is native but not a wood rat. They also come in for the very young rabbits.

I like the rodents and rabbits, latter I hunt myself. Rodents keep interesting amounts of snakes around. Other critters of interest not threats to chickens also do well under same conditions suitable for the rodents.

Tolerance of firearms and dogs may be do to Coyotes having a strong aversion to those same things. Coyotes are the biggest drivers here concerning where where Red Fox are regularly haunting.

This is all a balancing act. My neighbors that go in and out of chickens completely are doing the more tightly mowed setups that are boring to me.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Curious if anyone knows the answer to this.I am having a fox issue,and this issue actually went away for awhile.I currently have a Great Pyrenees,who is a male.I wanted a boy because I feel as if when it comes to predators and other dogs males are more Intimidating.I am just assuming this based off the act,I got rid of my pit bull who was an unfixed Alpha of all the dogs of the house,obvious the fox issue started occur once we got rid of him,only thing left is our female German Shepard who is fixed and has been running the foxes,but their not living,they will leave for that day and show up either the next day or a few days later.I am unsure if this is happening do tot he fact I don’t walk the woods to much at all anymore (usually more in fall and spring then summer,too many spider webs),but the issue doesn’t ever occurr in fall and winter,I cannot hunk of a time a chicken or any animal of mine was getting attacked by a fox,just seems to be in the summer.Anyway,I have started going back in the woods for the sake of my animals,and have found and seen soem pretty interesting stuff.First I seen fox prints in my pond,obviously he has been drinking and leaving around my pond because my dog has been scent marking and specific spots in the woods,have not heard of the fox since she did this.She also rna something off up at the pond that caused a disturbance to the ducks,had to be a fox.I also ran across this scat,I am Pretty for sure my pond and that specific part of my yard is part of the territory,assuming my chickens are the feed.Anyway ,I decided to take the puppy on our daily walks we have now,and am wondering if by doing this will we ward it off,not to mention I’m pretty for sure I have two,a young one who absolutely sucks at catching them,he has had three unsuccessful catches,one he didn’t even grab anyone because of my dog.
Also,is this fox scat?
View attachment 1492342

Foxes in truth are only put off by dogs who are able to close with the fox then bite, crunch, and shake the fox to death. Foxes understand danger, pain, and death, but little or nothing else. It will be more than enough if your LSGD can communicate these 3 concepts to your fox.