Information on working terriers, dogs, natural history, hunting, and the environment, with occasional political commentary as I see fit. This web log is associated with the Terrierman.com web site.
It's very concerning to see a dog handler continue filming as his dog is bitten on the rump. Perhaps this happened in the UK where rabies so far is not an issue, but had a fox approached me and my dog while hiking that boldly...I would immediately suspect rabies and do everything in my power to keep that animal's teeth off my dog. Even if your animal is vaccinated as mine is, a rabies encounter is no fun. Where I'm located in the Northeast US, foxes are one of the main carriers of rabies (along with coons and skunks) and this type of behavior is very outside of the norm for red fox, thankfully. One of the symptoms of rabies is bold and aggressive behavioral displays that are so uncommon from most wild animals. I've been hiking with dogs for over 30 years in very wild areas and the only animal I've ever seen approach was a coyote and even then a loud command from me got it to run off. They can be that bold and not have rabies, just so much more rare for fox. I realize the writer of this blog knows this, as I've enjoyed reading him for years...some viewers of the video may not know how extremely rare that behavior is, it's a 'new battle' for sure.
I'm assuming from the accent that this is in UK that the farmer cannot own a gun to protect his chickens. Not sure what is going on with the Rottie. He should have run the fox off in 30 seconds. Even a good sling shot would do the farmer a lot of good in this situation. AS for the second idjit, why doesn't he have a walking stick or something to fend off even dog attacks. His poor dog is not only defenseless, but undefended. Its a shame the little guy doesn't have an owner with some sense. A five foot walking stick is a wonderful thing.
4 comments:
It's very concerning to see a dog handler continue filming as his dog is bitten on the rump. Perhaps this happened in the UK where rabies so far is not an issue, but had a fox approached me and my dog while hiking that boldly...I would immediately suspect rabies and do everything in my power to keep that animal's teeth off my dog. Even if your animal is vaccinated as mine is, a rabies encounter is no fun. Where I'm located in the Northeast US, foxes are one of the main carriers of rabies (along with coons and skunks) and this type of behavior is very outside of the norm for red fox, thankfully. One of the symptoms of rabies is bold and aggressive behavioral displays that are so uncommon from most wild animals. I've been hiking with dogs for over 30 years in very wild areas and the only animal I've ever seen approach was a coyote and even then a loud command from me got it to run off. They can be that bold and not have rabies, just so much more rare for fox. I realize the writer of this blog knows this, as I've enjoyed reading him for years...some viewers of the video may not know how extremely rare that behavior is, it's a 'new battle' for sure.
Weird the "new battle"! My little dogs would love that situation...
First video great fun. Second video - what an idiot! Put down the phone and pick up the dog...
I'm assuming from the accent that this is in UK that the farmer cannot own a gun to protect his chickens. Not sure what is going on with the Rottie. He should have run the fox off in 30 seconds. Even a good sling shot would do the farmer a lot of good in this situation. AS for the second idjit, why doesn't he have a walking stick or something to fend off even dog attacks. His poor dog is not only defenseless, but undefended. Its a shame the little guy doesn't have an owner with some sense. A five foot walking stick is a wonderful thing.
Debi and the disgusted Jack/Rat pack.
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