I could have typed the same exact story ! I can't believe I read yours and the same thing has happened to us in the past month...We have put up a kiddie corral so my kids (3) can go out in the morning and the evening to pee and are close the the walls and door of our house...We now hung a outdoor mesh blind that we roll down (it almost reaches the top of the corral) and I stand in front of it..We even have a 6ft wall around our backyard !."Our" owl flies into the tree in the neighbor's yard and sounds like he's barking to lure them out ! They are never aloud to use the doggie door (good thing too) My husband has been shining a powerful flashlight into it's eyes until it flies away (his way of getting rid of it without shooting it !!!
) The blind makes it look like a wall and surely the owl won't fly into it....A friend (who has 2 yorkies a mile away) was outside about 9 :30pm and an owl flew down to get her boy and she grabbed him and ran into the house...He was on a leash (not that the owl cared) and landed on the edge of the neighbor's roof watching....
So, between the owls and the coyotes and the hawks, their outside time is limited and they are never , ever out alone...It's a bad world out there at times!!! Someone said to put down a rubber rattle snake and move it around from time to time, some say it'll pick it up , so now I'm really confused!!