Anyone know of an inexpensive way to keep nightime critters out of our backyard? We almost had a run-in with a raccoon last night... Dakota saw it before I did and flew out the door. 2 years ago, we had a run-in with a skunk...

First time is hard to prevent but found that a paintball gun teaches them a dirty lesson (if you prefer not to kill them.
The other is either a pellet or .22 caliber bullet which takes care of the problem for ever.

i try to turn the porch light on first as a warning then they get let out. i thought Huskies were Critter Deterrents

jbealer wrote:

i try to turn the porch light on first as a warning then they get let out. i thought Huskies were Critter Deterrents

I turn on the porch light, then use a flashlight to check all the dark corners, but last night...mischevious little houdini that she is, managed to sqeeze between my legs and the door and make a bee-line!

Evidently the critters in my neighborhood (large and small) don't pay any mind to the smell and evidence of dogs living in my back yard... We get the typical squirrels (as evidenced this a.m. when I thought Dakota was going to go through the door), neighborhood cats that love to torment the pups, skunks (not a fun experience) and raccoons. Who knows what else we have in the area that can find a way into our backyard...

i have the SAME issues. nikki got sprayed 7 TIMES last year!

F**cking opossums and RATS are our problem! UGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

We've got rats too!

They make little motion sensor sprinklers that will spray anything that sets them off, but that would include a husky too unless you could turn them off from your house before you let your dog out.

We had problems with stray cats coming in our backyard and upsetting our indoor cats. That's a lot of the reason why we got a dog. lol. Now the kitties stay away!

Ever since the skunk incident, we don't let the dogs out after dark by themselves. At sunset they come in and have to tell us when they need to go out. Then we turn on the light, scan the yard using a flashlight and then let them out one at a time...royal PITA during the winter...

Demon&Dakota wrote:

Ever since the skunk incident, we don't let the dogs out after dark by themselves. At sunset they come in and have to tell us when they need to go out. Then we turn on the light, scan the yard using a flashlight and then let them out one at a time...royal PITA during the winter...

I let Kale out on a flexi leash when he goes potty at night, that way I don't have to get my feet wet lol. I don't have a problem with animals coming into our yard, my 12 yr old kitty Tabitha will kick some major a$$ The only thing we have are birds, but they usually don't fly around at night.

I do the lead at night in the yard as well. If we walk around the yard and there's nothing out there I'll let him off the lead. I only ever use the lead in the yard at night specifically for the nocturnal animals.

Ok, I have a funny story about critters! My cousins yorkie was attacked by a coyote awhile back and somehow managed to get away from him alive. He had to have two surgeries.....this is not the funny part... It's been maybe a month and he is finally on the mend so now my cousin only takes him out on a leash when he has to go potty. She takes him out in the early am a couple of days ago, on a leash mind you, and the next thing she knows, he lunges at racoon! She goes to grab him and the racoon and him are attached to each other! She had to swing this poor dog back and forth to get the dang racoon off of him! She was so sure she was gonna have to take him in for another surgery but once inside under the lights she could not find one single wound. The thought of seeing her swiging this little ol yorkie to get a big ol racoon off of him just cracks me up! The whole time she's telling the story, her husband is just shaking his head. This dog has 9 lives!

Im with Jenn I thought Huskies are the deterrents

You could toss your garbage in some other yard to make THAT yard more desirable...

Libby, is my mouse hunter. I have 2 cats and they seem to think whatever, but it was a surprise to me a few weeks ago when I came home to find she had pounced on a mouse and killed it, I think she thought it was a toy. Not too sure how it got in, in the first place but haven't had any since.

She never gets the chance to chase the racoons, but would love to catch a chipmunk or rabbit and she also tried to climb the tree for a squirerl, for a half hour. The sit and chirp at her to torment her. She will get them back one of these days.

In the winter she never really goes into the yard unless we are playing, she usually does all her business on the deck in the corner. Easier to clean up for me.

We really don't have a critter problem, its more of a stray dog issue. We have rocks around the bushes in the backyard, so I chunk them at their heads if they are around when I let Neo out. The usually leave in a hurry.

Mindy, the raccoon story is so funny! And it is a tough yorkie to escape from the coyote like that. He's like a cat with nine lives!!