Gidget Was Almost A Goner!

[GIDGETSMOM]

Yesterday morning I let all 3 of my children out to potty. I had just let my Schnauzer and German Shepherd back in the house and of couse Gidget being her normal Cairn self had to snoop around in the flower bed for another minute or two. I walked across the deck and when I got to the steps a Red Tail Hawk flew by within about 2 ft of me and 3 ft from the ground. I think that he was coming in for the kill when I stepped in and spooked him out of his breakfast!!!!!

I almost had a heart attack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I realized just how quickly I could loose my baby, so now even though I have a fenced in yard Gidget and I are going out on a leash every time she goes out. I can't even let her out loose at night, because of the hoot owls I have in my neighborhood.

I can't even imagine what I would have done if that hawk had picked her up and flew off with her.

My girlfriend at work says he would have realized very quickly the mistake he made by picking up a cairn and brought her back and dumped her back in the yard very quickly!

Thank goodness she wasn't taken from me. She may be a but she's still my little

[hallswel]

That is scary we use to worry about that when out babies were small Rebel is now 21 lbs and Robi our pug is 19 lbs so we think they are ok. I figure they will go after the neighbors cat or chickens first

[jlr79]

Oh, how scary!!! I have often worried about hawks because we see them occasionally. Someone is always with Abby when she goes out, but I guess something still could happen. I'm so glad you were there to scare it off and save your baby!!! Give her a big hug!!!!

Jan

[CathyAnn]

We also had owls and hawks hanging around when Piper was a puppy. I know just how worried you are!!

He is very light colored so I even went out with him at night. I could see the owls sitting on my neighbors chimney just watching and watching.

Cathy

[toomanypaws]

Yes, that is scary! I had that happen to me w/ my youngest, Hannah. I had set her down in the baby pen outside and walked down to the rabbit hutch to check his water when this big hawk flew over Hannah! :ninja: I couldn't believe he was actually coming for her until the next day when I took her out, there he was up in the trees. From then on, I made sure my two large dogs were out w/ me. I do let my 3 cairns run the yard, but only under supervision. I think my other two are too big for the hawk, not sure about Hannah yet. That's a horrible thought of seeing a hawk take your baby.

[Scully'sMom]

I live in the city but when we got Scully a friend of mine told me to watch out for hawks and not to leave her out by herself. She said that someone told her about a hawk almost getting their dog. Here I thought it was one of those urban legend things. I never heard such a thing until now.

What's really strange is I'm in a big downtown area here at work and my co-worker next to me yesterday said, "Man, look at those two huge hawks circling around." Okay, now this is spooky!

[Eliz222]

Wow, that must have been very scary!! I would never have thought about a bird taking away my puppy!

[wheezie23]

We live in a semi rural area and there are pastures behind my house and at the end of our street. We've seen huge barred owls at night and have actually lost several small cats to them. So I was very vigilant with my cairns until they got too big to be taken.

However, I remember one night I was walking Zoe around the front yard on her leash. A man was walking by and asked if I'd seen a little Peke-a-poo puppy. Turns out it was 9 wks. old, and his wife's baby. She had gone to the store and left him in charge. He was watching a football game and didn't feel like staying outside with the puppy, so he put it in the back yard, alone. He heard the puppy yelping, but when he got outside, the pup was gone. He said their yard was fenced in, so he couldn't imagine how it got out. Well, I hated to be the one to tell him but his house also is backed up to a pasture, with very tall wooded area on one side. That poor puppy didn't stand a chance out there. I would not have wanted to be him when his wife got home!

Thela

[Guest pjoes_girl]

I saw a hawk the other day, there were two, yelling for each other, and the one flew over the back yard, I was out with pup, and looking back and forth back and forth...ewww....I've heard of those things too. Good luck though, like she said earlier, picking up a cairn may be the worst thing that hawk got himself into, mine can wriggle out of anything too, still though ...it's something to think about. Also one day, I was driving up the road about a mile up from my house, and there was a Vulture eating a dead skunk on the side of the road and that ugly devil didn't even try to fly away when i went by in the car. I've also seen a coyote, foxes, and the usual racoons , etc. My family can't understand why I don't want the dogs out without being on their chains. geez

[Logansmom]

I too must add. My parents have a home on a lake in the north woods of Wisconsin. When we took our "kids" up there they had a blast and I guess so did the locals. We discovered that a mature, very large, bald eagle decided to camp out on the dock until dinner arrived. I guess he was getting agitated because we never let the dogs alone. It got to the point that he would just circle thinking that at some point we would leave them unattended. Thank God for Cairns and Westies to some point being I guess always having to be watched is not always a bad thing.

I'm glad all of our babies are okay.

[GIDGETSMOM]

One of the things that shocks me is that I live in a suburban area. I do however have lots of trees near me. This past summer I tried my best to attract Easter Bluebirds, but realized they wouldn't come into the city to eat or nest....figures the ones you don't want around are the ones that you get. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing more beautiful than a hawk in flight, but there would also be nothing more ugly than a hawk in flight with my baby!

Funny thing about this story is I started thinking that I would even need to take Gidg out on the leash at night and confirmed with my Dad that I would need to worry about owls at night. Well, last night when I had her out in the pouring rain I heard my local hoot owl that I've seen before. He's Huge! He likes to perch in my neighbor's huge oak tree. I watched him this past summer with my binoculars for a while. Glad we thought of this, or else Gidg might have been owl food.

Geez, will it ever end???