The perils of rural New Mexico living

I just got back from taking our big dog, Babe, to the vet. This is his second trip due to a corneal laceration from having his head down in the grass and brush snooping around. Having spent his whole life on St. Augustine manicured to 3", I guess he just doesn't know how to avoid grass injuries. Hopefully, he will learn before he puts an eye out.

While I was there, I queried the vet, a lifelong citizen of Capitan, NM, and ranch raised, on what kinds of things we need to watch out for here regarding our dogs. Her answers were a little disturbing. When the deer start fawning, they will attack a dog with little provocation. She said she sees lots of dogs, particularly small ones, that have been badly stomped by deer and a screaming, yelling, arm-waving human apparently won't phase them (the deer) much. Deer are about like rabbits (or some people consider them to be more like rats) around here and not too afraid of people. They graze all around our house every day and we see them grazing in yards all over town. 

The mountain lions and bear have gotten so tame and accustomed to people that they will come right up on your porch to look for food. Food includes fat wiener dogs or cats that aren't fast enough to get away. She said we should put flood lights in the area where we let our dogs out at night--the bright light usually keeps the bears and mountain lions away. (Thankfully, the bears just come down in summer.) Right now, there is a mountain lion in the area that is coming right up on people's porches and snatching their cats. Local authorities are trying to hunt him down before he decides to snatch a kid. 

We also have skunks and porcupines, which our dogs won't know anything about. My old dog, Bashful, has congestive heart failure and apparently the change in altitude means a change in medication. He has been a little droopy, so he will be the next one to the vet. On the flip side, the local ticks aren't the kind that carry Lyme disease and we don't have to dose for heartworm in the winter months. Mountain life is going to take some adjusting for both quadrupeds and bipeds, I think. Now I really do have something to fear in the dark.