Many years ago, don't ask me how many, I was staying with my folks and working nights. I would occasionally get off early, coming home in the middle of the night. When I did that, Sophie, our little rescue Miniature Schnauzer, would wake up and get off the bed to come say hello to me. This would wake up my mom.
Well, one night I'd come home early, and me and my mom were sitting out on the back porch. It was a fine summer night about 2:30AM and we were talking low and enjoying the night. I was petting the dog, I knew my assignment, when she decided she needed to go out in the yard to use the facilities, By facilities, I mean the stretch of grass between the greenhouse and the fence. It was her favorite spot to go potty, because she was shy, and she could do it without folks looking there. Yes, she had a personality, and we loved her for it.
Well, she walked off into the darkness, and about the time she would have reached prime pooping real estate, we hear a god-awful snarling and growling with a "YIP" in there somewhere. Now first of all, Sophie never growled. Never. I think I heard her bark 3 times in the years we had her with us. She was a rescue and whoever had her first is someone I would like 5 minutes alone with. She never barked and she never had an accident in the house, not one. If you had a flyswatter or a spatula in your hand, she would leave the room and go cower in the back. Not your aggressive Alpha Dog type at all.
Not knowing what would cause her to act this way, and knowing that one of the access points to the backyard was right there, I quickly grabbed a light and a .45 before checking it out. The whole time the noise was getting louder and louder.
When I got back there I could see a brown and black ball on the ground, looking like one of those cartoon fight scenes that have a whirling ball in the center, with the occasional fist or foot showing at the edges. I'm not sure what dance they were doing, but the raccoon was better at it.
Not wanting to let loose an unsuppressed .45 ACP at night, in town, for a raccoon, I looked around quickly and saw a folding lawn chair leaned against the greenhouse. I picked it up and thrust it at them while yelling something like, "YAAH! YAH! YAH!"
This got them separated and Sophie was off like a shot behind me. Me and the raccoon had a little argument about whether he was allowed in the yard. I won and he scampered over the fence and up a tree.
When I came back around the greenhouse, there was mom scooping up Sophie and taking her into the house. Mom stood her on the table and checked her for hurts. She had a small cut on her lip area, nothing to be worried about. While being examined she just stood there, shaking, with a look on her face that said, "What the hell was THAT all about?"
Pretty sure they just bumped into each other in the dark. Kinda like coming around the corner into an alley and there's a mugger with a knife. Or 8. Pretty sure Sophie would have retreated if she had seen the coon. I would have thought she'd change her toilet habits, but she kept going back there. I guess the privacy was worth fighting for.
