Do other UK cites get this sort of thing? problem for me as an owner is that once the dog wakes me wanting to go out (3am) you simply have to get up & take them to see if they really do wanna toilet or if they've heard the foxes & simply wanna go out in hope of an encounter, must be quite a sureal sight for the odd car to come across at that unearthly hour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-HhAxx5AQQ
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Yes, I am in South London, not as bad here as when I was in Surrey however on the estate (Brixton) I manage we had a family and they would stroll around bold as brass in broad daylight.

I am always terrified as I have a dog who wouldn't fair well against a fox.

BTW you have a beautiful dog, who was so calm and restrained in the face of all that temptation. Even when you were leaving the dog simply looked at you as if to say oh but they're still there! And lastly you were so good humoured at 3.00am in the snow!

Yes all the time .I am on the edge if surrey Kent London. We have a number if fixes that walk through he garden regularly sit on the drive in the road. Screech and generally put two fingers up while the digs go mad

> as I have a dog who wouldn't fair well against a fox

Where we used to live, there were fields behind our house and foxes were frequent visitors in the garden (not helped by a neighbour who fed them every night in the field !). On several occasions both our dogs came face to face with a fox - once when it was sleeping in the compost heap and Bramble put his paws up and peered over the edge to meet the fox doing the same :) It always ended with the fox fleeing the garden with a dog in hot pursuit - one day Tara leapt the fence after the fox and was very surprised to find herself in next door :) There was never any instance of aggression.

In a dalmatian group on Facebook there's a 6 month dalmatian who's in the vet hospital having been attacked by a fox.

> having been attacked by a fox

Maybe he was cornered/was unwell - our garden only had three foot fencing, mostly, so the fox could always flee to fields easily. Also, my dogs just liked to chase rather than attack :) :)

Funnily enough I was chatting to a friend today who delivers early in the mornings (2am -5am) to shops in London. He lives like me in a rural area and he said he sees more foxes in London than anywhere else.
They seem to have learned to work the system in the city !!
Aileen

> They seem to have learned to work the system in the city

More houses/people, so more waste/rubbish lying around :( :( We lived on the edge of town and our 'lovely' neighbour thought it was helping the foxes to feed them every night - just over the other side of our hedge in the field :( Not only did this increase the fox population, but this field was the start of the local dog walking area and we had to be very careful every morning to avoid any food left over from the previous night :( The neighbour had dogs, but didn't seem to grasp that cooked bones left out were very dangerous to dogs. I got him out of bed one morning when I found a whole turkey carcass just yards from the gate to the field :( I had walked the dogs further into the field, let them off and Tara had obviously smelt it and ran back to find it. I was not pleased ........... !!

I rarely see foxes at all, we live in a very rural village, saw more when hunting was still going on which is a bit odd considering.
However, Isla seems to find lots of fox poo to roll in most days.

I rarely see foxes at all, we live in a very rural village, saw more when hunting was still going on which is a bit odd considering.

We see foxes AND hunts. We live on our own though, about a mile and a half from the nearest village. Well we have one neighbour a hundred yards away or so.

I cannot fathom out though, why these London foxes seem to 'semi' confront dogs in the early hours, I mean they keep coming quite close & moving around quite close to the dog, Ive also noticed that when I walk away they, or one of them, almost invariably go & start scenting the ground where I/my dog have been.

I just dont understand it at all, if they just bogged off & came back after my dog had been moved away that would make sense but that persistent semi circling around quite close is beyond me, there must be some reason.

I also dont understand why we only ever hear of London foxes, the odd TV ref or that kind of stuff seems always to be London based, I dont get that at all either.
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In a dalmatian group on Facebook there's a 6 month dalmatian who's in the vet hospital having been attacked by a fox.

Was that in London? I've heard the odd story here but never any real detail so I dont take to much notice, not enough detail to go off, your case seems to hold some detail on it.
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BTW you have a beautiful dog, who was so calm and restrained in the face of all that temptation.

Yes but I can't take any credit for it, its down to the fact that she is from 100% mainland european breeding where almost all breeds can only be bred from if the ancestors have passed their 'fit for purpose' tests, only then can they get a 'fit to breed' licence & pups can then be registered as pedigrees, its the mainland european breeders who take all the credit that.

Nikita on here knows a lot about UK KC registered dogs & she says says this breed here has very, very short life expectancy & appx 50% are dead before 5 years (appalling), my dog (video) is 12 years.
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We're quite rural and I saw a fox last week the first in ages. I smell them a lot though! My friend is in a big town and despite having 2 big dogs had a family of foxes living under her shed and during the day they used to all sit on the shed roof and watch the dogs. One of them got quite brave and would follow her when she took her dogs to the park, her route involved crossing a dual carriageway. Apparently the fox would try and get the dogs to play with him.

See I don't mind foxes if they were like that WS. Tbh I think they are a fascinating creature but to many they are a pest.
Living very rural we don't see too many and haven't heard any in a while but they Are about due to the amount of poo in out fields which one of my dogs always takes great delight in rolling in!

Grew up in the middle of a very rural south west county.
Didn't see a wild fox ever. (They were around as they once took some of my rabbits and our chickens).

Moved to London, saw foxes everywhere.

Moved to a city on the South Coast and they were everywhere too. I once saw one walking down the middle of my road along the white lines at 8pm.
They were also very active on the beach, and if I walked my dogs during the night they would be all over the place. They were also active in the parks and playing fields, especially during the summer.

I am not joking, a neighbour I had complained to the council about excessive barking, when my dog alerted at 2am... because there was a fox barking in the street outside. Urban foxes are quite a nuisance in some ways.

Bristol suburbs and they are everywhere send my two youngest  barking at them on walks.

Agree they definitely seemti goad the digs almost enjoying it. We have loads around here . not at all unusual to see them day and night just like the amount of sparrows we used to have. Extreme bold

Have urban fox numbers risen dramatically since most councils reduced their rubbish collections?

Do those lovely food recycling bins act as a feeding station?     Are there more rats about because of the food recycling bins?   Therefore more prey for the foxes on top of the additional food from recycling bins?

In the area we are in there are a nice lot of foxes but when they see a dog, even on a lead, they will scarper.  This is because at night we have 'lampers' driving around the roads with their dogs loose and their lights off chasing foxes to kill.  Quite often the foxes jump over my really high fences to be in my garden for safety.  The police have asked us to report these 'lampers' so they can be arrested.

Rarely see/hear foxes here. There are some I know of one being fed by a nabour over in the field and one sadly got hit by the train (well I assume that's what happened to it) but they don't cause a problem unlike the wild rats!
But all my animals know not to wake me until my alarm goes off unless its an emergency.

> but when they see a dog, even on a lead, they will scarper.

Oh no those around here when dogs are on lead will sit there until the very last moment at about 20 feet.

My parents live in a village. Not a remote or particularly rural village and have a smallish garden. A few weeks ago they looked out and saw what they thought was a large ginger cat asleep in the middle of the lawn. After a minute or so my Mum realised it wasnt a cat but a fox, in broad daylight. They rang the local wildlife rescue centre who suggested they go out with a broom and see if it moves. If it didn't then it was ill and they would attend but if it did it was purely sleeping in some sun rays and this happens quite a lot in gardens! I was glad we weren't visiting that day with the dogs! Picturing my parents in their 80s going out into the garden wielding a broom each though to investigate a fox still makes me smile!

> if it did it was purely sleeping in some sun rays and this happens quite a lot in gardens

That's why (where we used to live) the fox used to sleep in the brick, compost heap - it was nice and warm

Does anyone know if the hole in this clip might be a badger? I know it could be a fox hole but I don't know what badgers dens look like.
http://youtu.be/irtSg9Kg4RE
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