Great reminder to be vigilant from above too! We have hawks and those ugly turkey vultures here. Recently I found we also have eagles! My mom actually had to try to shoo off three eagles as they made a beeline towards my pups that she was watching. I knew that we had eagles nearby as we used to look for the nests along the shore back before the big hurricanes. But I had not seen them since. Mom did! She said she almost had a heart attack trying to get my dogs rounded up. They just got excited and would not stop for her to pick them up. So her only choice was to actively wave away the eagles. Luckily they were afraid of people and did not try to hurt her. Her experience just reinforced my feeling that we can never have a doggy door or let our dogs out unattended. Too many dangers here! (All sorts of poisonous snakes have been found in my yard: cotton mouth and copperhead in pool, pigmy and full sized rattle snakes); cow killer ants (actually a potent wasp like creature that looks like black & red velvet); centipedes; fire ants; etc..... I was even swooped by a bat the other night when I was out with the dogs. That was very creepy! I had been used to seeing them and even liked that they eat mosquitos like crazy but I sure didn't like when one brushed against my hair! Too much wild life in the country sometimes.
