Raptor Shield
 

Finally found a product for protection against immediate attacks from hawks and other birds of prey. I mentioned this in another about hawk attacks and figured to post it's own thread to see what ya'll think. It's essentially a harness/body armor.
Has anyone actually used or have this product? I saw this while trying to find ways to protect/prevent my yorkie from hawk attacks should it happen and found this site/product. It looks like a fairly new company and I doubt it's 100% effective all around but I can see this being very helpful in giving some protection and time to react/escape. It suppose to be effective against the bird's claws (like can't grab or puncture).
Raptor Shield, protect your dog from birds of prey, Hawk, Owl, Coyote attacks

Thanks for the information! As a victim of this horrific occurrence, I have for YEARS, tried to come up with some kind of a garment or ANYTHING I could use to put on my babies/cover my babies/etc, to protect them from attack from birds of prey or prey animals. The garments I have devised, could only be a form of avoidance.....if the predator did not see the dog as a meal, it did not swoope down and attack. This approach has been reasonably successful, however nothing I would be willing to put 100% of my trust in. My object was to make the pet unrecognizable as a meal, rather than offering any kind of attack protection by using some kind of material or shield that prevented my dog from getting actually eaten. I will be very interested to see how effective this product actually is.....with our small dogs, if this thing will keep the bird from being able to actually grasp the pet in its feet/claws, that is part of the equation solved......I am cautiously encouraged, but I can see where this would not provide a level of confidence needed to allow ME to let my babies run around the yard off leash/unattended in my yard!

Very interesting!!
Like Yorkiemom1 says, I would like to totally deter the aaa track, but that being said this seems to have some merits. After Cali was attack I made her a vest from the left over fabric from one of my son's bulletproof vests that had been damaged (he is in the military - all damaged vests are supposed to be returned to the manufacturer).

The fabric is not light weight and it went through several needles in my sewing machine - but is still don't trust it. If the hawk could have gotten ANY little grip on her she would not be here. That little grip is my fear because if he had gotten airborn he could have dropped her and that would have been deadly as well.

This, however, looks much lighter than my creation and I may get one just to compare. Bottom line- unfortunately she no longer gets to go out and play in her suburban yard without me and my rake-of-death!

IMPORTANT REMINDER if you ever have an encounter with a hawk and the hawk gets killed, bury it to China with as few witnesses as possible and keep your mouth shut. The fine is $10,000 to $12,000 with some jail time added, and the legal fees to fight it can be (in my case) around $5000 - you are dealing with federal court.

Ha! My friend just told me that giving you that hard earned advise may, in it self, be a felony :D

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::eek::cool::ro lleyes:;)
After I told the manager of the raptor house at the Houston Zoo what I was going to do if I saw another hawk/eagle on my fence, scoping my little dogs out, and I was told in no uncertain terms, what would happen to me if I carried out my intentions, I decided silence and stealth was the course of action that was most beneficial to me and my situation! And I SWEAR, I saw on a multitude of frequent occasions after that conversation, a small car with zoo license plates on it, circling around my house at least twice a week, for about 4 months.....

Putting owl scupltures up is supposed to be very effective in as far as the hawks won't perch where an owl is. Even a fake owl. When several buildings in Toronto did this I noticed no other bird at all perching on the roofs/eaves.

LOL! The Fish And Wildlife Officer still drops by from time to time to visit Cali-the-hawk-slayer, as he calls her, but he always eyes the big rack I leave laying beside the house!!!!!

I have done this, as well, but living near a park it might help moderately. Just remember you have to move the fake owl around regularly for it to work.

I have those big owls hanging all around my back yard....you have to keep moving them from spot to spot or the damn hawks learn that nothing makes those "birds" take flight, so they are not impressed....as long as you reposition them about every other day, it seems to be effective. I even bought 2 that have heads that swivel around, making the birds look really frightful....

I admire the guy for trying to come up with a project that might work/help. This is a two item vest - the under and the the cover. Cost for each. The dog is still exposed just like to would be if it had on another vest or sweater. This concerns me as what would keep them from picking up the dog by the head or neck. If mine are outside they are on a leash, next to me. I only use the short extender leash at time, other then that they are on a 6' leash. I prefer them not to be on leash, but know they need to be from time to time. You can never be too careful. They are so quick, you can't take your eyes off for a second.

You're most welcome, when I learned of this product I knew it is at least something that may help and it's certainly better than nothing. The design of this "armor" is also brightly colored to make the dog seem less like food to predators.

Yeah this is said to be lightweight and comfy enough to wear often when outside. From what I've gathered, it's designed to not be grab-able or at least difficult to grab as the bird cannot puncture it. From what I read it's made from a polymer that's used to make bullet proof "glass windows".

I've wondered this myself, but if I had the means etc., I'm thinking an attachment or a continuous extension of the body armor to create a sort of half "cone of shame" over the head area, but keep it transparent or clear to not obstruct vision. And then a sort of back skirting to go over the rear end.
LOL just picturing how that'll look, our furbabies would look like like they are either space cadets or some crazy looking toy turtle. ^^; It's certainly a more extreme look but I believe that sort of design would provide a huge increase in protection. They look nothing like food and they are heavily protected against fatal attacks (useful against attacks from other animals, as well). And maybe some serious padding on the inside around the torso to reduce damage from being dropped, just in case.
For more crazy ideas on addons to this, I can see one of those umbrellas on a leash that I've seen on pinterest and stuff. Keeps water off and hopefully makes them less "noticeable" to birds (as they'll be looking mostly from above). Would be interesting to see a fake little owl attachment that rides the back of the armor, too lol

Abt a year ago, a guy left his Yorkie on a paid boarding kennel. They had runs outside and put him in the run - and a hawk got him because the top of the kennel run was open. They tried to say it was another dog but my vet who saw him knew it was from the hawk by the marks. He didn't make it. - so we all need to be aware of these situations and be pro active on anything that could/would happen.

Don't bank on it, I had an owl and a hawk same day scouting my babies, freaked me out :eek: They were in different trees, one on one side of my house the other one on the other, but the hawk did NOT appear intimidated at all! They both were BIG birds, the wing span of the owl was surprisingly huge! I swear I can't stand these creatures at all!

I swear your experience still makes me cringe! I have shared it with friends and family, it still pisses me off we can't protect our babies because they are "protected" by our government and I am just going to stop there because that in itself pisses me off....thank God your outcome was good!

Wow, looks interesting for sure!