[matese]

never heard of a chupacabras, so I just googled it. God bless you gals that fraught off that thing, it is a horrifying sight to see. We have coyotes here in The Pocono's in Pa. I hit one with my car 3 years ago, these coyotes are shorter then a German Shepard, slim in build and very skinny, not the coyotes we see on TV that run in packs, we also have a lot of hybrid coyote/dog, if these are what live in MD, I could see someone fighting it off bare handed. I know for myself, I put myself before my babies and would fight off what was trying to get at my pups, I would protect them with my life. My house is also in a heavily wooded area, we have black bears, bob cats, fox,hybrids and coyote. I at one time had a dog run that my babies used because I didn't want a fenced in back yard, I love the beauty of the woods. Several years ago I installed a 3 foot high rabbit fence, it's almost invisible, I can still enjoy my woods and my babies could run free, but bigger animals can still jump over it. I no longer have the dog run. My last girl used a section for her potty. My new lil city boy was not use to running free and he LOVED the yard, running like a lil grey hound, I had spot lights installed at the back of my yard where it is very dark, so I could better see where my boy went and was always behind him. Now it is Spring going into summer, all the wild animals are now out. At night I do not take him in the yard, I have a very large deck, and that's what his has to use. When Nov. comes we will use the yard again and continue until the snow gets to deep then it will be the deck again. I am not afraid of wild animals, but, why should I take a chance of an attack and traumatize my lil boy. As suggested, I would get a metal dog run with a wired roof and train your pup to use it. When I started to have Cody use the deck he refused, he wanted the yard, but with 3 1/2 feet of snow that was impossible, the first day when he saw he was not going in that yard, and he could no longer hold his pee pee and poop, he used the deck. For the safety of your pup, so as not to traumatize your baby make the investment of the steel wired dog run with the wired roof, he will use it when he sees he has no other choice. Good luck