We have a bald eagle nest less than one mile from my house, and tons of hawks, buzzards and great horned owls in the immediate area...we even had a ten foot alligator on my next door neighbor's porch a few years back! When an owl started perching on the peak of a nearby roof during the late night bedtime walk my husband gives the dogs (and swooped down one evening), we have reverted to pee pads inside. We even have to watch them carefully if we are outside in our screened pool lanai since the birds do start circling when they realize the dogs are out with us! :D

I have a screen house / room you get very little air circulation I have to use a floor fan, I don't recommend that, also if pups get excited they could claw at the meshing. Putting a roof over your deck is a good idea if you don't mind not getting any sun. When I first moved here I had what I called a dog run built. At that time I had 2 babies, the run was made using white vinyl lattice, very pretty, wish I had pics of it. I think in my album there's a pic of my sweet girl burying her toy in one of the planters outside of the run, only a small portion can be seen. It was 24 feet long by 16 feet wide. It ran along the side of my house, entered from the deck. The back half was covered with lattice (used as roof), in the summer my girls went in and out as they pleased through an improvised doggie hatch in the screen door, summer I put their big kiddie pool in it, my oldest loved to swim. They were very safe in this area. You could do something like that in a portion of your yard, 10 to 12 4x4's, depending on how long and how wide you wanted. Lattice is sold in 8 foot lengths, 4 feet high, on mine I had 2 planks of 2 x 6 x 8 then the lattice. It's not a hard project, the hardest part is digging holes for the 4x4's. They sell these steel ground spikes that a 4x4 fits in, that can be used instead of digging holes. A friend of mine built it in 2 weeks ends. These are babies that need to be protected, and if you have a yard where they can run and play but can't because of prey birds you do what you gotta do.

Having lunch on the deck with two people and the two yorkies and two collies ( our deck has a fencing around it with gate, so pups are enclosed on deck even though the yard is deer fenced 8 ft. High) two hawks came over the house, circled and then dove. Fortunately, we saw them pass over so we grabbed the yorkies and ordered the collies inside the French doors in time.

I read 2 articles in the news paper, Central Park in NYC, woman walking her Chi, hawk swooped down and grabbed the little dog, because the lady had the leash and trying to pull the dog out of the claws of the hawk the dog had severe internal injuries from the hawks talons. NYC some years back due to the park being over run with rats and pigeons, they bought in several hawks, trained them what was prey, what was not prey (do not ask me how this training was done) the hawk that grabbed this chi had newly been released so they knew which bird it was. They captured it and the hawk went back for more training. The 2nd article I read a man was walking his yorkie, (I don't remember what state this took place) hawk swooped down, grabbed the dog and tried to fly off, same situation, man pulling back on leash, another severely injured dog from talon gashes, these birds when hungry do not fear humans. I believe it was yorkiemini whose little baby fraught off and killed a hawk in her presence, bird was not scared off by human.

They can't pick up over 12 pounds so yeah there is more safety in larger dogs sure they can mess them up but most of the time they don't just do that for the heck of it and it happens when they are trying to kill something to grab it. As terrible as this sounds I am lucky for many reasons but one of them being there are A LOT of rabbits on our property so they are going to go more for the rabbits then the dogs dressed in unnatural colors in a fenced in area that is not big enough for them to swoop in and out of.

I just ordered an automatic 68 inch golf umbrella. Until something better can be put in place I will carry it in one hand the yorkies on the double leash in the other. I will only walk a short way into the yard and as soon as I spot a predator, I will pop it up and spin it over them as we move inside.

Wonder how long it will be before I am put into a mental institution.

Does my newest plan seem at all viable?

Link below to 2018 New Jersey article "Hawk snatches dog from Fair Haven driveway." In this case, the target was a 25-pound French bulldog named Phoebe.

Hawk snatches dog from Fair Haven driveway

Phoebe "was able to fend off the attack." Indicates she suffered injuries--"shredded ... underbelly and legs."

Sounds like it would work as long as you keep your wits about you and not go into panic mode. That's why YT is here lol, so we all don't end up in mental institutions lol. The ppl that know me know how I am with my babies, babies always come first.

I think it’s going to depend upon what kind are in your area.

Thanks for the link,
ppl with larger dogs think their dogs are safe, yes safe in the sense they may be to heavy to be carried off, but a hawk snatching up a heavy dog, digging into the dog with their claws then releasing the dog can be fatal to the dog. My kido is 12 pounds, big compared to the 5 pounders, if the prey birds are hungry they'll go after what's available. I myself will not chance it, my boy may not get carried away because of his weight, but the damage those talons cause could kill him.

The hawks that are hunting here are red-tailed hawks. It was a red-tailed that took a friend’s Chin off her deck where she stood. Rosie was never seen again.

My two are 7+ pounds. I’m not sure but I think Rosie was bigger...not sure. In any case, I would think yorkies are within the hawk’s size range.

I’m reading a lot(thanks for the link) but really know very little, except i’m Scared.

Sorry. Rosie was in Neuton, NJ, not right here.

Look up Raptor Shield (Raptor Shield, protect your dog from birds of prey, Hawk, Owl, attacks). it's basically an armored harness. Saw this awhile back and thought the concept was pretty decent for direct attacks. so if there's hawks and whatnot, very active or prone to your area this may be something useful.

Not necessarily the bigger ones like 17 pounder I have. My research says most don’t mess with anything over 12-15 pounds. Occasionally it does happen but isn’t as common as smaller dogs.