Karen Carpenter of Carson learned that lesson recently. Fortunately, this story has a happy ending.

Mrs. Carpenter lives in a culdesac near 220th Street and Wilmington Avenue in the south part of Carson.

For the past month, a hawk has been perching daily on a power pole overlooking her large, fenced-in backyard where her 7-pound, white miniature poodle Randy likes to play.

One day a few weeks ago, she was walking by a window in and heard Randy scream.

"I looked out and saw that the hawk had my dog (in his talons)," she said. Both were semi air-borne when Randy managed somehow to squirm free unharmed and take refuge under the pull-down slider blind covering Mrs. Carpenter's patio.

"The hawk sayed right outside the slider, looking down" as Randy poked his nose out.

The hawk continues to stalk, so Mrs. Carpenter is keeping her dogs -- since then her son and daughter-in-law gave her another white miniature poodle, GiGi, this one only 4 pounds and about a year old -- indoors. They only go outside with their owner on leash.

"They're so used to being outside, running and playing," she said. "It's heartbreaking I can't let them have that privilege."

But for now, it seems to be the best way to keep them safe. She wanted her story to go out as a warning to other owners of small pets.

I did a little online research and it turns out this isn't a unique problem.

Acccording to the Web site Hawks Aloft, raptor birds hunt a variety of prey, including rodents, birds, rabbits, snakes and insects.

From the web site: 

And yes, large raptors, such as Red-tailed Hawks and Great Horned Owls, can indeed kill a small pet. We have received dozens of inquiries about 6-pound dogs, 10-pound dogs, etc., all the way up to a 60-pound dog. There is no specific cut-off weight at which your pet's safety is guaranteed. If the size of your dog or cat is similar to or not much larger than naturally occurring raptor prey, there is a risk.

If you are concerned about your dog or cat, the best advice we can give you is to keep your pet indoors or supervise them closely outdoors.

For dogs who stay outdoors by necessity, the site suggests providing some outdoor shelter or a covered dog run. Mrs. Carpenter was advised to put a net over her backyard, but she said the area is simply too large to do something like that.

According to the Cornell University Web site, another help is to take down bird feeders or any other potential source of food that draws small birds or squirrels. Sounds like once the attraction is gone, the hawk will move on to better feeding grounds.

Hawks hunt during the day and have excellent eyesight. Red-tailed hawks, common in our area, can spot a mouse from 100 feet away, according to another Web site I found.

I once spotted a Red-tailed hawk sitting in my pine tree in the back yard, So beautiful, but I was glad my dogs were on the larger size (still, if 60-pound dogs are at risk, maybe I should start paying more attention).

Our photo editor tells me there's a hawk that hangs out on the power poles along Western Avenue between 9th and 25th streets in San Pedro.