Doggie Down!

Hooked the dog on his lead this morning. He was outside for around ten minutes when I heard a scratch at the door. I opened it and he comes limping in with cuts all over his legs and face, not putting any pressure on his left front paw. He has a couple of really deep gashes near his mouth and on his legs. Wife has him at the vet now, they sedated him because he is in shock.

I went out and looked and he ripped the ring out of his leather collar. My best guess right now is he ran over into the woods and cornered the big raccoon that lives over there.

Edit; vets just confirmed raccoon...

Oh man, poor guy! I hope he is feeling better soon!

I've got to find a better collar for him. He breaks the plastic clips on the nylon ones and I thought the leather would be better but I guess not.

Hope he heels quick. Dumb raccoon

Over fifteen cuts and abrasions. 3 extremely deep, one requiring stitches and removal of a raccoon tooth. Quarantine for ten days.

Perfect timing as I'm getting on a plane for Texas in a couple of hours

The raccoon bit him so hard he lost a tooth? Dayum.

hope he comes through without the dreaded R. Of course now he can say "well, you should see the other guy"

He was up to date with his shots, however after speaking to animal control he is the second dog on our street to be attacked by a raccoon this week. He is a big wuss so I don't see him getting close to another animal on purpose. Hell the yard rake leaning against the house scares him. I'm thinking the raccoon may be sick...

I hope he comes out OK. Have you tried one of those metal choker chains? I also see some of the dog walkers in Manhattan have two collars on a dog so in case one breaks.

Maybe the raccoon attacked him while he was on the lead and he broke it to get away. But that still begs the question, where is the raccoon now?

EastCoastMojo wrote: Maybe the raccoon attacked him while he was on the lead and he broke it to get away. But that still begs the question, where is the raccoon now?

My guess is he checked himself in to the ER.

You must have a really well soundproofed house-raccoon fights sound like the devil himself is outside your door.

MrJoshua wrote: You must have a really well soundproofed house-raccoon fights sound like the devil himself is outside your door.

I'll second that. A few years ago there was a raccoon in our backyard. I let my dog out to go scare it away. Now, before jumping on me, I'm a city boy. I had NO idea that:
a. raccoons are soo slow
b. raccoons are something to avoid
That being said, my dog dispatched the raccoon pretty quickly. She had a nick on her nose, but killed the raccoon within seconds. After that, I decided to leave raccoons alone.

nicksta43 wrote: He was up to date with his shots, however after speaking to animal control he is the second dog on our street to be attacked by a raccoon this week. He is a big wuss so I don't see him getting close to another animal on purpose. Hell the yard rake leaning against the house scares him. I'm thinking the raccoon may be sick...

or maybe the raccoon is just a badass and the dog owed it money..

That's just it, didn't hear a thing. Dodger had to break his collar and then went into the woods. I've got some pictures but photo bucket was down.

Poor thing. Hope he heals soon.

Do dogs learn "the hard way"? I don't mean to sound flippant, but will he learn not to berkeley with a 'coon? I mean, the dude ripped his collar to chase the little bastard, and my wife is making weird noises like she wants to replace our aged feline with a canine at some point (probably to replace me more than the cat). I needs the info.

Poor doggie. Raccoons may look cute, but they're mean bastards.

nicksta43 wrote:

I hope Dodger mends nicely with no complications and gets a better collar.

And what's up with the décor? Did the little guy have a different episode a few months ago or is something else going on?

Ouch, hope he heals quickly. And people wonder why I dispatch coons on sight with something heavier than a .22

Teh E36 M3 wrote: Do dogs learn "the hard way"? I don't mean to sound flippant, but will he learn not to berkeley with a 'coon? I mean, the dude ripped his collar to chase the little bastard, and my wife is making weird noises like she wants to replace our aged feline with a canine at some point (probably to replace me more than the cat). I needs the info.

my German Shepherd learned not to chase skunks after she got sprayed right in the face and i wouldn't let her in the house or even go near her for about 3 weeks until the scent went away..

my parents' border collie learned not to chomp on bees the hard way. He learned so well that they could get him to leave the room in a scattering hurry by playing Pink Floyd's track with thebee buzzing from speaker to speaker...

travellering wrote: my parents' border collie learned not to chomp on bees the hard way. He learned so well that they could get him to leave the room in a scattering hurry by playing Pink Floyd's track with thebee buzzing from speaker to speaker...

Ha ha! Classic!

Teh E36 M3 wrote: Do dogs learn "the hard way"? I don't mean to sound flippant, but will he learn not to berkeley with a 'coon? I mean, the dude ripped his collar to chase the little bastard, and my wife is making weird noises like she wants to replace our aged feline with a canine at some point (probably to replace me more than the cat). I needs the info.

This is one of the dumbest dogs I've ever known. He's not even a year old yet but in this particular case it's yet to be determined if he'll learn. I will say that animal control set a trap and caught a ground hog that was mauled just like dodger was. I think it's just a particularly viscous coon.

Oldsaw; that picture was taken today, you'll notice both thanksgiving and Christmas decorations in that pic. I have no reason's or excuses...