[R-Teddy]

So I had a really big scare today.

I had been told from the start not just with Athena, but my first toy breed shih Tzu that you have to be really careful about big birds of prey an your little dog. I have read stories about how little dogs have been snatched up by big birds.

for this reason I have always been real careful about not only not letting my babies go outside unattended, but also sticking close to them. I usually walked where they walk, staying within five feet of my babies, hovering over them like a bird myself because we do have a lot of hawks around us. I didnt keep them on leashes in my yard, but figured if im close enough to them, the big birds will leave them alone.

Well I admit that now that my Shih Tzu is 15 pounds and Athena has grown to be 11 pounds at 8 months old, I have been getting a little "too relaxed:. Although I still didnt let them go out unattended, I didnt necessarily stick so close to them. Ofte i would stay in my carport while the wandered around the yard, or even just stand in my back door and keep an eye on them, but not actually go out. My daughter did the same saying, well if a big bird is around, well see it shadow flying around above and know to get them.

STUPID STUPID STUPID and will NEVER do that again.

For one thing, even if that was true, what about cloudy days? There wont be a shadow then. I just never thought about that.

Well today I was standing in my doorway watching the dogs. Athena an Zeus were about 20 feet away from me by my front gate. My older dog sasha ( about 25-30 pounds) was about 10 feet away from them. Well, I saw a shadow alright, but the only shadow I saw was of the big hawk swooping down to grab my athena. I saw he shadow only for a split second before I saw the bird swooping down. THANK GOD, my older dog walked up to Athena just as the bird was coming down, and I guess being a bigger dog, scared the bird an it went back up just before reaching athena.

I went and grabbed athena and Zeus so fast it scared the crud out of them both and rushed them inside. NEVER AGAIN will I allow myself to get so "RELAXED". For now on, if my babies go outside, someone will be standing there right next to them. I got real lucky today.

Please take what happen to us as a warning and never trust your baby is safe from big birds.