“Rusty and the Raccoon”
This adventure happened about 4 years ago, but I was so traumatized I’m going to tell it to you, too.
Our sweet, mixed breed, lumbering, greying Rusty was a more svelte and peppier dog. Of course by svelte I mean more like a beer keg and less like the whiskey barrel he is now. (Clover the loony dog was obviously just a little puppy; I was still “taking” her out to do her nightly business.
We live in a suburban area, but there’s still some wildlife, including squirrels, chipmunks, groundhogs, and the occasional raccoon. We suspected the raccoons were getting up on our deck at night and polishing off the dry cat food, but didn’t really care. Raccoons have to eat too, right? They came and went without disturbing anybody (including the cat whose food they were eating).
Rusty, however, did NOT like squirrels or raccoons in his yard and has chased them several times, running them out up over a fence or up the occasional tree. We thought it was humorous, because he never even got close, and we “knew” he wouldn’t.
Until last night! I took Rusty and Clover out for the last poop of the day later than usual by a good hour or more. As we came out the door, I saw a striped tail disappearing over the edge. Rusty went nuts getting down off the deck. Apparently this raccoon turned the wrong way or hesitated or something, because next thing I knew Rusty had him! There was a lot of growling and barking and puppy yipping and screaming (that was me). Mark rushed out shouting and waving the fire poker.
Thankfully, either him opening the door or me screaming or something distracted Rusty and the raccoon got away. We checked the dog over carefully and there were no scratches or blood and he’s up on all his shots. So all was basically well. But it was WAY too exciting for me and now the cat food is picked up before dark.
By the way, did you know that raccoons are more likely to carry distemper than rabies? So make sure your dogs get all their vaccinations, not just rabies.
So Simply SO 
OMG. At least it wasn’t a skunk. I can only imagine what Ro would do.
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I was very grateful it wasn’t a skunk! Poor Andy, way back, had one spray him in the mouth, which made him drool, which made everything he got near smell like skunk drool.
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Yikes!!!!
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Our older cat rarely moves her lovely plump rump to catch anything. If she did she brings them to us alive and kicking. Once, when my mother in law was visiting, the cat decided to bring her a present. We were all sitting in the kitchen and I heard the cat scratching at the back kitchen door which is a windowed door. My mother in law got up to let the cat in the house. I looked up as she got up and saw something wiggly in the cats mouth. I started to yell nooooo. The cat rushed in and promptly dropped a live chipmunk, which started running around under the kitchen table. Yelling and squealing all around ensued. The cat would watch it a minute then go sit on the chipmunk. My mother in law didn’t see that the cat had brought the chipmunk into the house. My mother in law thought I trained the cat to sit on the chipmunk and wait for me to grab it and throw it out. More stories for the book.
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LOL
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