Just saw an article about FLA having problems with 6ft long Nile monitor lizards too. People buying the illegally and releasing when the get too big. FLA has perfect conditions for those and big constrictors. That a whole other world there.

 

I've also heard about people release snakes like cobra's down there, its the perfect state for stuff like that to do really well.

 

Florida has no toxic toads or frogs.

 

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/florida/os-bufo-toads-florida-dogs-post.html

 

There are things in Florida that can easily kill a dog, but I don't know that its really much of a problem. I'm in Arkansas and have been all my life. While growing up, we had a couple of dogs get bitten by poisonous snakes, but it didn't kill them. We never even took them to the vet. They'd swell up really bad and act miserable for a day or two, then be okay. Never had a dog get bitten more than once. Spiders and other things, we'd probably never even notice they had been bitten. The indigenous poisonous things are, for the most part, not as bad as you'd think. The risk of death comes from anaphalactic (how ever you spell that) shock mostly or getting bitten or stung multiple times and that bringing on the shock. I don't think pets are as vulnerable to that as humans. Cars were always the number one enemy of pets for us. Neighbors ran a fairly close second. Our animals were always free roaming.
We had a very small terrier once that was deathly afraid of large birds though. He sorta resembled in color a large fox squirrel. He wasn't afraid of anything else, just birds. Always thought there was probably some story behind that. If you ever tried to fly a kite in the yard, he'd go into a full on panic.

 

Also wondering if it would be a stupid idea to do what I do up here with allowing the dog access outside all day through a dog door?

If you're going to be anywhere near water, a doggie door isn't a good idea. Gators have been known to enter through them.

 

why look at that cute lil thang

If you're going to be anywhere near water, a doggie door isn't a good idea. Gators have been known to enter through them.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=euhaYbQ9vqA

bless its heart, I had a iguana almost biggern that <G> seriously, I had a dog, that would go after copperheads, loved em. think the dog would get a buzz from getting bit. it would get bit, swell, 3 days later go down and back to normal.hell on wheels right after. like a puppy. dog died at 18 years old..... monitors, large boas, wild dogs(packs) occasional cougar depend how far back you are and if you let em run loose

 

I agree rsutter, been in Florida all my life and we have always had outside dogs. All of them died from old age or d1€k$ that come flying down the road. Now if you end up near the water gators are a big concern. Dogs get snatched by them all the time, but that is usually small dogs.

 

That little thang, lol! That ain't no gator that's one of them little lizards!!

 

I know but hes a yankee. On the Wekiwa there are quite a few gators bigger than my canoe..

 

Ya have to let your dogs live life, can't have them shut away looking through the window at other dogs living life.
There is a risk involved, but you need to take it to give your dogs a life.

And I don't think the snakes in the US are anywhere near as poisonous as ours; if a dog gets bit here it will certainly die without anti-venom.

As srutter said above, his dogs survived without medical treatment.

I have just come back from a dawn patrol, and I took my two dogs and let them run free. It's autumn here and getting cooler now and I weigh up the risk; early in the morning and it's cool and the sun not yet up, so snakes I assume haven't come out to sunbathe and heat themselves up yet, and the fact that I have never seen a snake in this area; I don't doubt there are some around but it's not a high snake population area, so I think not a high risk of them being bitten.
Not 100% safe, but fairly safe and I take that risk to let them run free in the bush and live life.

Now I get the impression that you want to let your dogs loose in the backyard; are you surrounded by bushland?
If so you might get snakes coming in to find water or to hunt for mice; if you are just surrounded by other houses I think low risk.

And as for alligators; well I think if most dogs see an alligator coming into the yard they will bark their heads off.

 

I live more north then them at the moment. Where I'm at we have a large fence in backyard surrounded by houses, so very few venomous snakes up here, and no gators unless someone sets a pet free.

Not sure exactly what the circumstances are going to be when we move yet.

 

If your scared of things that go bump in the night then Florida is not the place for you

 

In all honesty I had no plans on moving to Florida until my mom decided(was convinced) that her only option to live comfortably in is Florida, and I would like to stay close to her in case something happens. Never been scared of the creepy crawlies up here, you guys down there just have to many creepy crawlies that can actually kill a person or dog.

 

Some dogs know better than to fool with a snake..I watched my 90 lb Collie levitate 6 ft to stand behind my Dad when they walked up on a copperhead...some dogs attack then and get bit...gators are a serious hazard

 

We lost one dog to a diamondback bite in the early 60s, but there were a lot more snakes around back then (and about 25 million fewer Northerners). As for the invasive snakes, like the pythons, they cannot live in the northern half of the state in the winter, so if one makes it that far north, it will die when it freezes in late December or January.

Back in the 60s, I killed a lot of diamondbacks that were 6 feet long and saw one about 8 feet long but didn't have a gun with me that day. I haven't seen one more than 3 feet long in many years. Now that I think of it, I have never seen a small diamondback, one under 2 and a half feet long. Nowadays, I mostly come across pigmy rattlers. They are usually under a foot.

 

I don't know much about the south but ive had gshp my whole life and they are hard as nails I had a dog bit by a rattler in lake George ny in the 70s and it did not bother her much .
I have snakes around the house in ny where I live now and my hounds run free , the gshps are built proof .
I have a small female now and she is built to run .
I have a standard poodle 67lbs worth and he get sick and hurts him self all the time .

 

South Florida is tough, there are lots of non-native critters there.
I especially like the parrots and chameleons that now reproduce there!
Like anywhere, some dogs get into more trouble than other dogs.

 

I can't believe nobody has mentioned the wild chimps in the Green Swamp.:

 

You already did in the other thread I had going about moving to florida :

Y'all won't like Florida. We have Eastern Diamondbacks, Pygmy Rattlers, Coral Snakes, Cottonmouths, Timber Rattler, pythons and boas, black/brown widows, brown recluse, Florida Panther, bobcats, feral hogs, bears, coyotes, alligators and crocodiles, sharks galore, a small population of wild chimps in the Green Swamp, spider monkeys, and the skunk ape. Not to mention mosquitoes big enough to carry away a toddler. And ticks, leeches and sand fleas. I can't see why anyone in their right mind would want to live here. Oh I forgot the heat and humidity too. It makes hell seem cold.

 

I used a big bull snake to "snake" train my dog Sarge.
Trained him to alert & bark, but to keep his distance

 

This has been my method!

It teaches them what a snake can/can't do and generally teaches them to stay out of reach.

Wife's dog growing up hated snakes! He got bitten a time or two and developed a loathing that all snakes must die. Little girls where safe to run anywhere they wanted because he cleared a path for them.

My dogs tend to bark at them from just out of reach until I get there and decide what needs to be done.

SD

 

Snakes weed out the dumb dogs from the smart dogs,,
you'll find out which kind you have.

 

Snake bit dogs swell and get better or don't
Skunk sprayed dogs either get mad or get shy either way they don't come in the house for about six months.

I'd be more worried about a python taking an interest in scruffy.