- In Murder in the Middle Pasture, Hank realizes he is trapped between a pack of stray dogs and a coyote trio, each of whom would happily maul him to death, complete with a chilling illustration. Fortunately, he manages to pit them against each other.
- In The Case Of The One Eyed Killer Stud Horse, Sally May goes through a stressful Thanksgiving morning while trying to get everything ready, culminating in her tripping over Hank and twisting her ankle. She loses her temper and starts strangling Hank, screaming about how he's ruined her holiday and that she will murder him with her bare hands (with a picture of the whole scene to boot). Luckily for Hank, Grandma arrives just in time. That this scene stands out as nightmare fuel in a story where the main antagonist is a rampaging stallion who is willing to trample dogs and innocent children to death For the Evulz is saying something, as is the fact that Sally May arguably comes even closer to killing Hank before he even encounters the horse than said horse does when he curb-stomps Hank near the end. note
- In Lost in the Dark Unchanted Forest, Hank is following the footprints of the runaway Little Alfred when he sees another set of prints and realizes that the most aggressive bobcat in the territory is stalking Alfred (although, in a much later book, the bobcat claims he would have spared Alfred after realizing how young he was).
- In The Case of the Missing Cat, a pre-Characterization Marches On Hank gets mad enough at Pete to carry him miles into the pasture by the scruff of his neck and leave him there for the coyotes to eat (although Conscience Makes You Go Back).
- Drover's Secret Life (Drover's story of how he ended up on the ranch):
- After Drover's mother forces him to leave the yard and get a job, he comes across a carnival and finds a shady dog named Slick who offers to give Drover lessons on how to be a handsome prince. Turns out, Slick was setting Drover up to be fed to the "Dog-Eating Anaconda" during the show. If Boris O'Bat hadn't flown in and told Drover what was going to happen, Drover wouldn't be around to tell the tale.
- Also the fact that the "Dog-Eating Anaconda" is an attraction at a carnival, and that there are people there who find it entertaining. No wonder Drover's mother had always warned him about carnivals.
- Any book that features a natural disaster, especially if it causes major destruction or if characters are in danger.
- In The Case of the Swirling Killer Tornado, a tornado sweeps across the ranch. Luckily, nothing bad happens aside from Hank and Drover getting picked up by the tornado and dropped into Slim's cottonwood tree, but it's still scary while it lasts.
- The Case Of The Prowling Bear: The climax has Hank, Drover, and Slim having to deal with an escaped problem black bear while a cold front is sweeping the ranch. They're utterly physically outmatched — the bear backhands Hank several feet at one point — and even getting into Slim's house doesn't keep it away; it just batters in the door, forcing them to run out the back into the subzero temperatures. Slim tries to pile everyone into the car, only for them to have another close call when the door sticks from the freezing weather. The last instance involves them being stuck in the pickup, which won't start thanks to the terrible cold, while the bear prowls around outside. It's sheer luck that saves their lives — the bear's foggy breath and lack of object permanence send it off somewhere else, and the deputies are driving around the area looking for the bear.
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