Fox or dog? Telling paw prints and trails apart

Canids walk on their toes. Four toes touch the ground; a fifth sits high up on the front foot and almost never prints. The claws cannot be retracted, so you usually see small dots or lines in front of the toes. Behind the toes lies the main pad. Fox, dog and wolf share this structure – and it separates them from cats, which retract their claws when walking and leave rounder prints.

The fox is lightly built and has small pads. Its two middle toes sit clearly ahead of the outer ones, and plenty of bare ground remains between the pads. In winter, hair grows between its pads, and then the prints look soft and blurred. Dogs vary greatly by breed but usually have stronger pads, and their toes sit closer together and more level. This makes the print round.

The trail pattern comes from the gait. A fox heading for a goal trots economically: the hind foot lands exactly in the front-foot print, and all prints lie almost on one line. Trackers call this a direct-register trot. A dog on a walk has no goal; it swings back and forth, jumps and turns back. The overall picture over many metres is therefore often more telling than a single print.

Do not look for the first print you see but for the best one. At puddle edges, in damp mud or in thin fresh snow on firm ground, pads and claws are clearest. Lay a tape measure beside it and photograph straight from above, ideally in low light in the morning or evening. Measure several prints, because front and hind feet differ: the hind foot is slightly smaller and narrower.

As a guide value: an adult fox has front prints about 4.5 to 6 centimetres long and 3.5 to 4.5 centimetres wide. That overlaps with many small and medium-sized dogs. So size alone is not enough. Only when shape, size and trail pattern fit together is your guess well founded. Still note it as a guess, not a certainty.

Follow the trail for a while without stepping on it. If it runs dead straight over ten or twenty metres with prints in a row, that points to a fox. If it swings about, makes detours to every bush and runs next to shoe prints, that points to a dog. Also pay attention to the place: dog tracks gather on popular walking routes; fox tracks are also found away from them, at field edges and hedges.

The biggest danger in tracking is invisible: pathogens in droppings. Fox droppings can contain fox tapeworm eggs, and dog droppings can transmit parasites too. So, without exception: do not touch, do not sniff, do not crumble. If you want to point at something, use a small stick and leave it there afterwards. After every tracking session wash your hands thoroughly with soap before eating.

A fox that shows no shyness, staggers, is emaciated or has bald patches in its fur may be ill, for example with mange or distemper – both can affect dogs too. Keep your distance, do not lure or feed it and keep your dog away. In settlements, report such animals to the municipality, the local hunting tenant or the police.

You never touch wild animals, not even injured or seemingly tame ones. After a bite or scratch, rinse the wound thoroughly with water and soap and see a doctor. For serious injuries call 112, in Austria also 144.

Telling them apart is worthwhile on every walk after fresh snow or rain. It shows you that foxes live around you, even in the middle of town. For children it is a good start because the tracks are common and the differences become visible with a little practice.

You reach the limits with very small dogs that leave fox-like prints, and with tracks in leaves, grass or deep powder snow where no detail shows. Reliably telling a wolf trail from a large dog trail is often impossible even for experienced trackers – that is what experts and genetic analyses are for. If you see a strikingly large, dead-straight trail, report it instead of committing yourself.

Foxes mark their territory with droppings and urine at conspicuous, raised spots such as stones, grass tussocks or molehills. In winter, during the mating season, such spots often smell strong. Fox droppings are usually twisted, pointed at one end and contain hair, bone splinters, feathers or fruit stones – depending on what the fox has eaten.

If you regularly record tracks in a tracking journal, after a few weeks you will recognise fixed runs: routes a fox uses again and again. This is exciting and possible without any disturbance. A plaster cast of a particularly nice print makes a lovely keepsake – as long as you stay on the path and touch no droppings.