Dogs and possums ...

We have two dogs (both smallish - around 12-15kgs) and we live in the outer suburbs, so we also get possums.

Normally this is not an issue - sometimes the dogs bark at night at the possums, but they're not too bad.

Lately for reasons unknown to us, the possums have occasionally come down to fight with our dogs ... DH actually had to pull a possum off one of our dogs last night, as we heard some awful howling and he went out and found the possum biting into our dog's neck!

DH shone a torch right at the possum which made it freeze, and he unlocked the possum's teeth, got it off our dog, and put the possum in the bushes, and it ran away pretty quickly. Both pups are fine.

How oh how do you get possums to not come into your yard?

My googling only seems to lead to possum boxes (which don't seem very friendly), poisons (again, not friendly and completely not ok given we have pets and our neighbours mostly also have dogs and cats!), or things which emit high frequencies (again - not going to be any good for the other local pets!).

We don't leave food out, the only fruit/veggie plants we have are a lemon tree and a rosemary bush, and our bins are kept in the garage.

Does anyone have any ideas, or anything which has worked for you?

I'm worried we're either going to end up with mangled puppies or dead possums in our yard ...

I would keep the dogs inside at night. Possums are protected and your rights in removing them or deterring them are very limited. Poisoning for example is illegal (some web sites may be from NZ where possums are a pest species and not native). The night time is when lots of wildlife will be active and by keeping your dogs inside you will be allowing them to have their time. Think of it as time-share :)

Sounds like the possums are being very territorial due to new babies? I have used a product that you can get from bunnings called Poss Off, its around $8-10. If this doesnt work Id seriously consider getting possum boxes. Oh and be careful with handling possums they carry a LOT of diseases..Hope you get it sorted soon hun.

Oh and btw the Poss Off is completely natural and doesnt hurt the possum...its a deterrant.

thanks - we obviously don't want anything which will harm the possums, so yes, only animal friendly ideas thanks :)

we're not sure why there has been the sudden influx of activity - we (and our dogs) have been in this house for over 4 years, and as far as we're aware, there's been no big changes in the landscape lately (ie: no local construction or tree removal or anything obvious which would make us think possums are relocating to our yard...)

our dogs are very much outside dogs - keeping them inside overnight would be unfair on them, as there's no dog friendly areas inside large enough for them to play.

I've used the poss off too, but to keep kangaroos out of my roses. Like mystic_angel says, its not a poison and works purely by the smell deterring the animals. I love my roses, but I'd gift wrap them for the roos before I would hurt an animal. We also have a cat, a dog and of course kids that run around in the garden beds so something non-poisonous was a must. Even more natural is mixing about a dozen cloves of garlic in a spray bottle with water and then spraying your fence lines etc. You need to reapply after rain, but no harm to any animals - native or domestic.

and the possums will be deterred by the clove water?

(I know I would ... ;))

Yep. When I was looking for safe ways to keep the kangaroos away, nearly everything I found referenced possums and the garlic water was one of them. I used the garlic first but found I had to reapply it so frequently due to reticulation, whereas the poss off seemed to last longer until the kangas just seem to now stay away from the rose beds.

The best deterrent I found was references to sprinkling either dingo faeces or tiger urine around the perimeter. Still looking for a willing tiger to help me out with that one!!

ETA: Should have said you need to let the garlic water "brew" overnight before using it.

ah - garlic water! I read it as clove water ...

I guess we'll avoid those pesky vampires too, then :)

thanks!