Recommendations for a spotlight to scare off wildlife at night?

Just get yourself a flamethrower and KIWF (Kill it with fire.)

One quick pop vs hours of nonstop barking?

Also, beware annoyed neighbors that might get fed up with the nightly concerts and toss some poisoned meat into your yard.

I second the suggestion to keep Li’l Monster inside the house at night no matter what. Otherwise whatever happens to LM is on you.

(Didn’t know about the skunk/rabies thing, that’s another good reason to keep LM inside.)

Ever try to out-stubborn a cat? I did, and dogs are pushovers in comparison. Rescue #2 was an outdoors cat all the way, got raked but good on his shoulder, enough to “cut into the musculature” and a puncture-wound in his cheek that blew up like a balloon. So off to the vet, stitches out the wazoo, Penrose drain in his cheek, Cone Of Shame around his head, etc., and still the little devil was clawing at the door trying to get out. Had to dope him up with ACE that made him wobbly like he was drunk, and still he was clawing at the door. Wasn’t working, and when he saw me opening the door by the knob, he climbed up on the platform next to the door and tried clawing at the doorknob! Smart cat, but determined to get out.

I just had to stick with it. A semi-feral cat that Just Wants Out, another male cat indoors that wasn’t exactly making him feel welcome, but I just stuck with it, and, yeah, months later, they’re playing with each other, chasing each other around (usually waking me up with the ruckus when I’m sleeping), and both are pretty happy indoors.

So if I could do that with a cat, you can sure do that with a dog.

Mmmm, might work, but I get the feeling he actually likes his dog.

Not the dog!

how about use a flashlight to illuminate/indicate your target,
then use a pellet gun or slingshot for quieter discouragement?

Can someone explain to me Amazon allowing returns for perfectly working products?

If you buy something and it works as advertised, but your idea of what you wanted it to do doesn’t work, how is it fair on the seller to return that product?

Seems extremely unfair

Thank you!

our property is 2.5 acres, about 3/4 acre flat top where the house is and hill sloping down. the entire area is fenced, the 3/4 acre around the house has an additional fence separating it from the slop, cannot exclude critter access from the "hill" too many gates, and crawl areas under them and the fence...

the fence around the house area has snake fencing (1/2" hardware cloth 12-18" deep), chicken wire to 5 feet above ground, and an extension to 8ft all around.

Tried it, but she cheats, pretends that she has to go pee... and she also barks from inside the house at the critters.

our older dog recently developed epilepsy, fairly bad, and cannot be controlled by drugs (tried multiple drugs/combinations over the last two years). the indoor barking wakes her up, and when she does not get a good night's sleep, she is much more susceptible to seizures.

little monster is super obedient (except when it comes to hunting critters...) and has been trained from day one, though not as much as our older and previous dogs due to having to deal with the epilepsy...

it is amazing to see my wife work and train the dogs (on a daily basis). from the basic sit, stay, hang on, come, etc, to more sophisticated tricks, scent hunting, pulling, etc.

however, the dogs do know that I am a pushover and do take advantage of me (lots of stories, including all of them pretending to starve, and leading me to their bowls and food container... so I gave them a second dinner...). but not my wife...

but the little monster has a much stronger hunting drive than her aunt (our older dog), and my wife says not to issue a command when you cannot enforce the command (or know that the dog will not obey). so calling her to come in the middle of the night while she is hunting is not a good solution... though it is the only thing we currently do, with lavish praise and treats when she comes home. but little monster seems to take advantage and goes out and barks just to get treats when she comes in... wife is now working on teaching her the difference between "be quiet" and "come home"

she was crate trained when young, all our dogs were when they were puppies, but as they grew older, wife abandoned the crates other than on trips, in the truck and hotels.

have two, however, my wife stopped using them, in general, my wife does not like collars when the dogs are at home. she grew up on a ranch and witnessed several animals strangle/hang themselves on their collars. anyway the bark collars did not work as well as teaching her the "be quiet" command

thanks again so much for all the info.

-avi

It’s not, but that’s part of “a to z”.

Same like people who can’t read the ALL CAPS BOLDFACE warning to take out the insulating disc between cell and spring, then return it and 1-star it claiming it “doesn’t work”.

Like was said about WallyWorld also applies to Amazon, “The only thing worse than selling through Wal*Mart is not selling through Wal*Mart.”.

Ie, you gain a huge buying audience, but gotta play by their rules or else, even if you get unreasonably screwed.

when you are not at the store, and cannot touch/feel/try the item, a liberal return policy goes a long way...

and I do the same for Home Depot / Lowes, I am a software guy, when it comes to hardware, I usually buy everything that might work, and return the rest.

I do believe that both Amazon and brick-and-mortar stores re-sell the unused items.

-avi

As a store owner I find that attitude shi**y since it’s now secondhand and an honest business would list it on clearance marked as a return.

There’s reviews out there to read for a reason

Thankfully NZ is against such practices.

Edit: I’m referring to a used product, not unused as that’s required by law and not an issue to me

You think that people that return stuff to Amazon don't read reviews?

Many of them read tons of reviews, including myself.

Remind me not to visit your store or buy anything from you (if I go to New Zealand) because your attitude is really sh*tty.

Accepting returns may not be pleasant for a seller, but it's just the cost of doing business.

Buyers don't like to be stuck with something that they just bought and don't like/want/need the item.

If it’s correctly advertised and works as intended then the seller isn’t required to accept a return, why should he?

If it’s unused in its original packaging a return is required by law, but if its been opened and used that’s what I’m referring to

Pretty obvious what I was meaning if you read it correctly

Hey how bouts carrying a green laser pointer too. I use it all the time when the local Woodpecker lands on the vent pipes on top of the house and starts going at it! Damn man, before I found out it was a Woodpecker doing all that rumbling knocking sound, I thought it was the plumbing or something. Days going around flushing the toilets and turning on the faucets. })

Can't laser pointers damage an animal's eyes?

I mean, I was talking about using a flamethrower, but I was just kidding around.

I frequently shop at Amazon because it's so easy to return stuff.

Sometimes I'm willing to pay extra just so that I have that option.

I don't abuse that feature, but I'm sure Amazon gets a lot of business because they are so customer friendly.

I always aim around the bird. Never occurred to me to shine in their eyes. My idea is if the bird is happy, then I’m happy too. :slight_smile: But that pecking/ rumbling noise has gotta go! :smiley:

I’m talking about items that the customer has used and then decides they don’t want it. If it’s correctly advertised and works as intended, if not, then of course a return is within their rights.

I’m not referring to unused products that are still in their box.

I test everything when I receive it and again before shipping. All flashlights are inspected, I tighten retaining rings, add lube, clean contacts, test usb charging on my tester, and test lumen output to make sure it’s performance is accurate to my given spec. Only had 5 returns in 6+ years

This same post is on CPF and here. Three replies there and 44 here.

If you have an easy return policy it gets abused. Amazon has the easiest. Supposedly, Amazon watches for extreme abuse.