Urbanized animals, which have learned to adapt very well to humans and their homes, aren't usually phased by dogs or dog scent, or if they are, it won't last long. The temptation of an easy meal is too strong, so its tough to deal with these types of animals. I have several neighbors with dogs, and it has no effect on skunks, raccoons, rabbits, chipmunks, or squirrels, and trust me, one of my neighbors dogs used to pee on my young spruce & pine trees, and I used to gripe about it, because it kills the trees. Anyways, these trees are 10 feet from my garden, and it never stopped the pesky animals from stopping by. I have done plenty of nice things for the animals, in the way of trying passive methods to get rid of them, and nothing works long term, and it just causes you more hassle then anything. The only true way to get rid of pesky animals is to literally GET RID of them. Joe

Hmm... Well if you add enough spices, you can eat anything! I don't even want to think about some of the "meat" that I've had in spicy dishes in Asia! ;~) As long as it's stopped moving and doesn't try to talk to me... I'm so mad! One of my worst rual terrorists got away last night! :~( I set my trap with a duck egg and finally caught another fox. It was 11'ish and I left dealing with it for today. I'd been out doing fence repairs and just wanted to shut down for the night. This morning, it was gone!:~0 They aren't suppose to be able to get out of these. With the ponds getting lower and lower, my few ducks left...will be no ducks left! We did have a truce until they started raiding the poulty and gardens so badly! One or two were fine, but now I have a ravenous horde! Fortunately, they don't seem interested in orchids. Although, I wonder if they've been diggin' in my Cyps!

>Other digging animals include skunks, squirrels, and possums. If you catch a skunk, you'll have to let it die in the trap.And we have all three of them around here. I don't think it's squirrels, as this happened overnight. As dismayed as I am, I don't think I want to resort to such drastic measures as trapping the animals and relocating them, or worse, killing them. We live on the edge of a greenbelt and my personal opinion is they were here first. Situations like this are to be expected, I guess. I was just hoping there was some kind of effective deterrent (like coyote urine???) that I could spread on the lawn to inspire the critters to find more hospitable feeding grounds.

My husband moved to Grove a few months before I did, and I was just kind of going back and forth. During the hottest part of that summer, a skunk was under the house, and tore his way into the vent pipes that carry the air conditioned air. It was that heavy foil type stuff so he could make a hole in it. He did. He couldn't get back out and died there. My DH worked for the Boy Schouts and his office was at home, so he not only lived here, he worked here. He opened all the windows and I think turned on 6 ceiling fans until someone could come get the skunk out. He said it was horrible. Needless to say, after we bought the house, I was quick to put a door on the crawl space and make sure that another animal could not get under the house. Then we had the heating and air folks come and replace all that vent system with something durable. That summer, a neighbor who is now deceased, trapped 28 skunks. He trapped them, threw a blanket over the trap and with the trap on his trailer, backed it into the water. He said none of them could swim, especially with that cage on their back. I know there are still a few around because I occasionally smell them. About a half mile from my house, I watched one come out of a culvert pipe and cross the road in daylight. Those scare me. My tolerance level is low for skunks, possums, amardillos, Japanese Beetles, and Squash bugs. (And especially humans who steal) LOL