Doggiemom said "Billy rarely goes into the woods anymore but every once in a while he gets a wild hair in the middle of the night no less and makes me take him out. He has been known to walk out into the woods during these mysterious little forays and that's what I'm worried about. Thinking of getting a bb gun." Why not just get a leash? Old dogs like that often get senile and sometimes get lost. They also seek out places away from people when they are not feeling well or the end is near. At 14 1/2, it is time to attach a leash for the dogs own safety against getting confused and thus lost. I am dog warden in my town and can't tell you how many old dogs wander away from their homes because they are just getting old and senile. The coyote is one of many worries, including cars, starvation, getting shot, etc.. loose dogs have to worry about. Human urine marking 80 acres? Better plan a BIG beer blast! :0) Human urine isn't going to discourage coyotes, and even if it did, one would have to have a big beer blast and lots of drinking buddies to scent mark 80 acres on the weekly basis that would be needed to keep the scent fresh and viable. Gives new meaning to the term "Wild Life" The outdoors belongs to wildife, if we protect our domestic animals with leashes, good fences and ecologically sound practices (which do not include lethal methods) there will be no problems.

I had a Cooper's around here last year, but it only stole baby Blue Jays. It would come every evening about the same time, and the Jays would go nuts. I didn't have Bluebirds nest here last year. I am very thankful I have not seen the Cooper's this season. It must worry you sick. I sure hope your baby Blues are able to hide well enough. I know the Cooper's have to eat too, but I sure wish they'd stick with Starlings and House Sparrows.

Please do not leave the dogs alone together. It very likely will end very badly. tiffduke, training will help only to a certain extent. We have been through this. You never know when it will happen - and not just over food. vjtrees - I realize that your posting was from October 2017. I hope for your Dacshund's sake that the Mastiff is now back with your daughter. Please be aware that punctures on the back of the neck need to be checked out by a vet and perhaps meds prescribed to avoid blood poisoning. Dogs, whether they be big or small will go for the back of the neck to ensure that the dog being attacked is trapped. Two of our Dachshund's were attacked in this manner. My heart froze when I saw our big dog holding our Dachshund by the back of the neck and shaking him. There was no reason for it and I should already have left the house - fortunately I had not. The Dachshund was a major Alpha - much to the displeasure of our big dog, who was not alpha. I should point out that our Alpha Dachshund took care of all of his siblings and was not "bossy" with them. Jump forward a few years and we had the same situation - our then Alpha Dachshund was attacked by his Dachshund sibling - who wanted to be an Alpha. They finally seemed to work things out when the little troublemaker attacked our Alpha again. Yet our Alpha did not want to hurt the Alpha-want-to-be. And the attacker knew it. Also, never try to remove the innocent dog without him/her realizing it is you. My husband learned this the hard way - our innocent pup thought he was being attacked attacked on all sides. I hope all is well. We no longer have a Dachshund and I miss them every day.

thank you all for your comments. You are all right of course, I haven't helped my son at all by doing everything for him and not expecting anything from him and I so want to change all that. When my b/f was living here as a lodger I was so caught up in the conflict that I couldnt see which way to turn, my son wasnt going to college or working just lazing in bed all day and my b/f works nights so would get up midday and phone me at work and complain that son had his friends in so I would phone son and tell him no friends in the house whilst you're not working as all they do is watch TV, he would react with why is b/f telling on me, it just went round and round in circles with no end in sight. I tried to talk to my b/f and ask him to try a different tactic with my son such as 'shall we paint the hallway for your mum' so when she gets home from work she has something to be pleased about? Or one of them cooking the dinner would have been nice! But no just row after row. Some days I would get my son up in the morning and some days it was easier to leave him in bed he just got himself in a whole cycle of doing nothing which is so hard to break if you dont have anything to get up for. I couldnt work out how to help him. My b/f has now moved into his own place and things are better between my son and I because I am not so on edge and there is no conflict here. My son does seem happier when b/f isnt around and thats probably because my b/f was a lodger, there was never any discussion with my son as to whether he was happy to have him living here and he must have felt like his opinion didnt matter. I do feel like I have been a rubbish mother but then again even tho my son is going thro a lazy stage he still has lots of good qualities just a shame b/f never bothers to mention them. and I have allowed my guilt over his father dying to cloud my judgement. I know now that I need to toughen up, he is now collecting unemployment and has agreed to give me money from that towards housekeeping. He is looking for a job and hopefully he will soon realise he cant live on unemployment benefit and have nice things, that will give him the motivation to take any job as at the moment he seems a but choosy about what job he takes (not that there are lots on offer!). In some strange way I feel as though its my fault and as though I havent been in control of my life and I want to ake back that control. I almost feel like my b/f was justified in his critisism of my son why I dont know, maybe at the moment Im just feeling so down and low that I thought b/f was right, he kept telling me I wasnt doing the right thing, I was being too soft, letting my son get away with everything and that he was lazy etc etc. He kept telling my son he wasnt helping me and he should be doing this should be doing that. I just got fed up with hearing it all the time even tho I knew he was right, it was like he was living in my house just telling me what I was doing wrong with no suggestion of how to right it. I do need to do a lot of soul searching. I probably need to get rid of my b/f as its draining all my energy, he knows how much it would mean to me for him to get divorced but because his wife wont sign the papers he now has to wait a few more months, but actually he could do it now, only he wont because he doesnt have the money at the moment. So I cant be that important to him. I know Im looking for advice and even so far as Im looking for someone to tell me the right thing to do, but I know in my heart I have to make that decision and I have to look into the future and its not going to be much of a future if b/f and son cant get on, and Ive probably been swayed a lot by b/f telling me he loves me so much and sending me lovely text messages to that effect, but really actions speak louder than words.