Don’t think we have a thread for this already
Recently, I’ve witnessed some unusual behaviour from a very gallous young fox who frequents our back garden and surrounding area.
When I let Buddy out last thing at night for a pee before bedtime, if he sees the fox, he chases it off our property. Fortunately, Buddy always stops at our property boundary and doesn’t continue the chase.The last few evenings, the fox has actually come out of hiding and shrieked at Buddy. It’s like he’s saying catch me if you can.
Buddy doesn’t hesitate and the fox scarpers only to return swiftly and start shrieking at him again. This can happen a couple of times before I take Buddy inside. I’m afraid one night the fox might stand his ground and there may be a fight.
Never seen anything like it. Any thoughts on what I should do in future?
Was surprised to see all the red squirrels had gone to jersey when I worked there. Tax avoiding shits
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It’s hard to double guess this, but foxes are intelligent (smarter than most dogs), hugely playful and inquisitive, and the fact your dog backs-off might mean the fox thinks he doesn’t really mean business and is taunting him, much in the way many dogs play. The fox likely thinks the dog’s bottling it.
If he wanted to attack the dog, he (or she) would likely already have done so, but keep an eye on how things progress: dogs have a deep-rooted dislike of foxes (wolf ancestry means they instinctively react to them as competitors for food resources), so it’s much more likely your dog will attack the fox, and every possibility if he’s small that he’ll come off badly as he won’t be accustomed to sincere fights I’d imagine, while the fox will…
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Thanks for your insights Paul. I’m grateful to you. I’m re-assured that you think the fox is unlikely to attack Buddy. I had imagined that the young fox would be reluctant to initiate a fight given that he’s half the size of Buddy but I’ve been taken aback by his taunting behaviour. He’s certainly getting progressively bolder.
As you say, it’s likely that Buddy would come off worse in a fight as he’s more of a lover than a fighter. 
So, normally, are foxes 
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Sadly not my wife…
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Not the size of the dog in the fight, more the size of the fight in the dog.
As the horrible saying goes.
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Painted Lady from today. An uncommon migrant here.
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