Raccoon Caught Red handed

[Lacrystol]

My dog Milo, is a jack russell, I see him outside by the coop, just standing there. I asked my husband, should I go see what's up with him. He of course says " if you want, I'm going to eat dinner". So I grab the flash light and head outside, now keep in mind we have never trained Milo. So I'm in front of the door of the coop but I have to go towards the front, you see the side of the coop where the door is it's all covered with wood. The front of the coop has half chicken wire and half wood. I see nothing then i looked inside the coop. LOW and BEHOLD. There's a raccoon hang upside down on the light. My chickens are scattered everywhere.. I opened the door, Milo goes in, he's going crazy because he knows it's in there but can't find it. I'm shining my flash light towards the house screaming and jumping up and down. My heart is Racing....

My husband finally comes out which seemed FOREVER, he takes one shot at the raccoon, doesn't kill him but knocks him down to the ground. Well that was bad news for him because Milo grabs the raccoon by the neck, i didn't even know he knew to do this. The raccoon is making this horrible noise which attracted my Mastiff Reno, so now Reno joins in. As Milo is holding the raccoon by the neck, Reno is grabbing it from the body..

Now about 5 years ago we had a different mastiff, her name was Gunther. Reno is nothing like Gunther, Gunther would grab any and all critters and ONE shake that would be the end of it.. ONE SHAKE... she didn't have to bit through the skin either... But apparently Reno hasn't quite master this yet, he was just humm I'm not sure what he was doing, ha ha ha ha I know he grabbed the body of the raccoon but no shaking or nothing... Perhaps his job was to hold the raccoon down. I know for a fact if a raccoon wanted to, they could tear Milo apart but the way Milo was acting you would think he was the Mastiff. Once the raccoon quit making noise both dogs let go and walked away like nothing ever happened. It was amazing but also sad. sad for the raccoon but amazing that my dogs protected my chickens..

Now how this raccoon got in is crazy, there's a small opening on the top of the door, she squeezed her way in and grab the 2 by 4 beams going across the coop and used it as a balance beam ONLY upside down...

 

[Dar]

Good boys! Extra milk bones for u tonight!

 

[SillyChicken]

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2011/02/man_faces_misdemeanor_charge_o.html

Me personally, think the dogs are just doing their job! But be careful cause apparently, it's wrong to allow them to do this.

I was in my yard with my Corso and had a sick, wet ground hog come up my yard right at me... who knows what was wrong with this thing but he was coming right at me. My Corso ran up and grabed him and gave him a good shake and that was the end of it. Gotta love a good working dog!

 

[Mattemma]

I read the coon article. I see it is against the law to allow the dogs to kill the animals.They are only allowed to locate.

 

[KDailey]

Well to me, the whole thing is rediculous. The raccoon was damaging property so the dog killed it.

In this case, the raccoon was attempting to eat your chickens, and it was accidental that the dogs even got to it but I also see it as lucky that they did.

 

[ReikiStar]

Not surprised Reno just grabbed the raccoon and didn't shake. The design of Mastiffs is to HOLD an intruder so the Master can decide what should be done with it. Terriers have their own agenda.

Sorry you had this experience but nice to know the dogs are looking out for the chickens. I'm also sorry for the raccoon, horrible way to go, but it wouldn't have given the chickens a second thought on terrorizing them so...eat or be eaten.

Time to think like a raccoon and double, triple check possible entry points on the coop!

 

[Judy]

I think if it were me I'd check into the state law. I suspect it has to do with hunting them. Does not make a lot of sense to me to have a law against a dog killing a coon that entered the dog's territory, but I'm certainly no lawyer, nor do I know a thing about Ohio law.

And, I'd handle the dog carefully and give it a good bath. Google raccoon worms.

 

[laseterlass]

Hate to tell you this. JRT are killers. Your racoon could hurt him. But your Jack is bred to get fox and badger. It will survive a coon. Unless it is one of those dwarfed ones.........

 

[pride&joy]

Quote:
Well I say it’s time to give the dogs a nice reward and a good bath/looking over make sure there are no puncture wounds. Hopefully they are up on their rabies vacc, oh and not to poke fun looks like your husband needs some target practice lol

 

[Jerseycoop]

Good dogs! By no means do I believe the dogs were wrong in defending their territory from the coon but I wonder if the coon had rabies how would this affect the dog's health assuming they're vaccinated? I know they are notorious for rabies..hmmm