Early-morning wake-up call

   Aki was whining incessantly this morning starting around 4 am, and I finally conceded & got out of bed to let her outside, thinking she must NEED to go out. She threw up a little on the floor before I could get her outside, so I decided to leave both dogs outside until I got up for work, in case she got sick again. Went back to bed. They woke me again at 4:30 am, barking wildly, and I rushed downstairs. I actually thought they were squabbling with each other & was expecting my angry neighbors to be waiting for me. But the dogs were barking up at a corner of the fence. It was so dark that I couldn't see anything but a faint silhouette, which I assumed was a tabby cat. I went back inside to get my camera. Imagine my surprise when the flash went off & I saw who it was:

   It didn't appear that contact was made with the raccoon (no cuts on the dogs, and Mr. Raccoon looked alright), but the poor thing was so freaked out that he just huddled there, silently, bristling to try to scare us off. I always worry about rabies, but I think he was just dumb-founded by getting "treed" so early in the morning. I dragged the snarling dogs inside by their collars, then went out to take a few more photos. As I stood a few feet in front of the raccoon I realized I was shaking from adrenaline. The raccoon looked a little catatonic. I think BOTH of us were afraid; I was afraid he could be sick & might leap onto my face; he was afraid I'd shoot him or release the hounds on him. He probably didn't love my flash going off in his face, either.

   I saw a show on Animal Planet recently, where Karelian bear dogs were used to aid in releasing captured bears into the wild. The dogs harass the bears, barking furiously & chasing them into the woods. The idea is that the bears will associate this treatment with humans & will avoid them thereafter. Hopefully my raccoon also learned his lesson from my Shiba Inuian raccoon dogs & won't be back. (I am going to have a Karelian one day, BTW.)

 

KBD photo credit

   Now I can totally empathize with Kim...