008 - Will the FoxWatch Ultrasonic Fox Deterrent affect your dog? Artwork

Fox Repellent Expert Podcast

Benjamin from the Fox Repellent Expert website shares tips, advice and information on urban foxes and how to humanely deter them, so you can protect your garden from their damage and destruction. Discover how foxes view your garden and understand what deterrent and repellent tools you can use to minimise their pooing, digging, chewing and all the other common fox problems. Benjamin has been running Fox Repellent Expert since 2010, when he first experienced the frustrations of urban foxes after moving to Croydon in South London, and discovered there was a lack of quality fox deterrent information online. The site has continually evolved and is on it's way to becoming the Number 1 resource for information on humane fox deterrence in the UK. If you are from Europe, North America or anywhere else in the world with a large fox population, you are also very welcome and will find much of the content useful. It's important to remember that foxes are not the enemy, nor do they do anything to deliberately spite you. They thrive in our towns and cities because our lifestyles provide them with the means to do so. That being said, they are often a nuisance and this podcast will equip you with the knowledge to reduce their negative impact, enabling you to live harmoniously with these fascinating creatures, while also taking back control of your garden. Welcome, enjoy and please subscribe!

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Fox Repellent Expert Podcast

008 - Will the FoxWatch Ultrasonic Fox Deterrent affect your dog?

March 15, 2021 • Benjamin Clarke • Episode 8

Many dog owners are concerned about foxes coming into their garden due to germs, risk of attack and agitation. You want to do something to try and keep foxes away but you naturally don’t want to accidentally upset your dog!

Using a FoxWatch ultrasonic device is a very popular way of reducing fox visits, but will it have any impact on your dog?

This is such a common question that this episode is dedicated to providing an answer, which should hopefully put your mind at rest about the situation.

Links mentioned in this episode:

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Hello this is Ben from the Fox Repellent Expert website and welcome to episode 8 of this podcast.

This episode is especially for dog owners and today I’m going to hopefully put your mind at rest by exploring whether it’s ok to use a FoxWatch ultrasonic fox deterrent if you’ve got a dog.

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At Fox Repellent Expert I hear a lot from dog owners who are interested in using the FoxWatch in their gardens but want to double check first that it’s not going to have a negative impact on their dog.

This is a very understandable question and it’s actually one of the most common questions we receive. I realise the last thing you want when trying to protect your dog is to accidentally make the situation worse.

If a fox is regularly visiting your garden then I’m sure you’ve got some concerns about your dog’s safety and welfare.

It might be that your dog barks uncontrollably every time it sees the fox which I know can be quite distressing and disruptive, especially if it happens in the middle of the night.

Some dogs will chase foxes and I suspect many of you will be worried about the fox biting back or causing injury, especially to smaller dogs. I must stress that fox attacks on dogs are very rare but if a fox is cornered it’s capable of putting up a fight if only to escape from the area.

Fox poo is perhaps the biggest worry for dog owners. Not only does it smell bad but it can potentially contain lungworm which can make dogs very poorly indeed with lung or heart disease. Unfortunately some dogs like to roll in or even eat fox poo so the possibility of infection will be a very serious concern for many of you listening. So I’m sure you’re keen to do something that will help keep foxes away and protect your dog from coming into contact with nasty germs

So what about using the FoxWatch Ultrasonic Deterrent in your garden? Will the high-pitched noises be problematic for your dog?

Well, the short answer is no. The high-pitched sounds are certainly within a dogs’ hearing range but it rarely causes any kind of negative reaction from them at all.

What dog owners tend to find is their dogs will initially have a good sniff around the FoxWatch, as they like to do with anything new. They might bark at it a few times when they first hear it - normal inquisitive dog behaviour but then they generally take it in their stride and aren’t bothered about it.

Dogs hear all sorts of noises all the time and the sounds from the FoxWatch are not something that provoke an ongoing negative reaction. It’s normally the sight and smell of the fox itself that gets dogs the most agitated so using an ultrasonic device to deter foxes tends to make the situation better rather than worse.

The feedback we generally get from dog owners is that once the FoxWatch is installed and has had the time to start teaching foxes to reduce their visits, their dogs become calmer and are much less likely to be set off on a barking frenzy due to a fox intruding in their garden. You’ll probably be happier too about letting your dog out into the garden without the fear of it chasing after the fox or coming into contact with fox poo.

What you can do when you first receive the FoxWatch is simply switch it on in front of your dog a couple of times just to trigger the noises. Doing this will be a good association exercise, helping your dog understand what the FoxWatch is, where the noise is coming from and that it’s no big deal. Then you can go-ahead and install the unit as normal in your garden to start tackling the foxes.

So that’s it for today. Just a short episode but I hope it’s been helpful in giving you peace of mind about using a FoxWatch Ultrasonic Device with your dog. Like i said earlier, it’s a very common and understandable question from dog owners so I thought I’d record this podcast specifically to answer the question.

If you’re a dog owner who’s got foxes coming into your garden, I’ll put a link to the FoxWatch in the show notes for this episode at foxrepellentexpert.com/episode8

If you want any more information on how to humanely deter foxes from your garden, please visit foxrepellentexpert.com. Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next time.