Prince and the Baby Raccoon

Prince dislikes a lot of things...cats, opossums and thunderstorms being a few of the more noteworthy ones. Another of his least favorite things is raccoons.

Perhaps he dislikes them for purely physical reasons, but I tend to think that it's because of their attitudes. Of all of the animals that my dogs have encountered, the most brazen ones are raccoons, who almost never run from anything.  I've heard from neighbors about them attacking their dogs, and I have actually had them get into fights with my dogs, although fortunately neither the dog nor the raccoon were seriously injured. Perhaps the most badly behaved of them all, though, was the mother raccoon that came into my yard several summers ago.

For some unfathomable reason, she brought her tiny kits with her... and they were actually as small as an 8-week old kitten.  Not knowing that they were around, I happened to let my Chihuahua Isabel out, who promptly began to bark at them.  I suspect she just wanted to sniff and maybe even lick them, but the mother was having none of it.  Even though I was standing there, she rushed the fence and hit it, snarling at Isabel so loudly that she ran away.

Unfortunately for the mother raccoon, Prince was in the back porch and promptly came thundering outside to see what the commotion was about.  When the mother raccoon saw him, her maternal instinct was instantly superseded by terror.  She fled from the yard with her children in tow, leaving one poor little kit behind in her haste.  At the moment I saw him, he was clinging to a twig with one paw, on a bush that only came up to my knee.  Prince saw him the same instant that I did, and went rushing toward him, barking furiously.

"Prince!" I shouted, "No!  Leave the baby alone!"

It was the same thing I always said to him when he teased Isabel too much, or one of the cats (back when he still liked them).  I had little hope of its having any impact on him, but he suddenly stopped, sniffed at the baby and ran back to where the mother had been, ignoring the kit as it fell onto the ground with a plop and then hurried after its mother and siblings.

I like to think that Prince knew it was a baby, and that's why he didn't try to hurt it, but it's just possible that he may have finally listened to something I told him at exactly the right time.  Either way, I consider it to be a win/win situation.