Night Raid

So we’ve had raccoons in our yard for about a long time now.  We live in a bit of a rural area so this isn’t a new thing to us, but what is new is my dog: Minnie.  She’s a toy Australian Shepherd that my husband surprised me with on Christmas last year.  I absolutely adore her but we’ve never had a small dog before; in fact we have only ever owned full size Labradors.  He bought her for me when I casually mentioned how fun it would be to have a little lap dog to cuddle with when he’s deployed.  Well he’s a better listener than I guess I gave him credit for because there she was, with a bow on her head under the tree just a few months later.

The only real problem with having a tiny dog like her in a place like here is all the other animals that she has to compete with.  She’s only about 10 pounds so most of them outweigh her greatly; usually we don’t have a problem with any of them, except the raccoons in the yard.  It’s not like she attacks them or anything either, in fact she’s terrified of them! They attacked her when she was very young and she’s been careful of them since, but since she won’t fight back they definitely pick on her.  I’ve had to scan the yard with a flashlight every time she wants to go outside at night for months!  It’s absolutely ridiculous, but I love my dog too much to leave her to her own devices.

Now last night was the same routine, Minnie scratches at the door around 1 am, I scan the yard for any reflection of the raccoon’s eyes, and then I let her out.  I must have been very tired because I missed them last night and not long after I shut the door I heard my little dog crying for help.  I ran outside barefoot in little more than a nightgown and robe to save my Minnie! Two of them had attacked her and while they hadn’t done serious damage, I still had to take her to get sewed up this morning as soon as her vet’s office opened up.  I have had enough of this.  I know I should let her learn to defend herself but I’m not just going to stand by!  I’m going to finally take care of these raccoons in my yard one way or another!

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