First of all, most mammals like Deer and raccoons if you stare at them in the eye they think either you want to eat them or kill them. If they don't know you this is what they think right off the bat.
So, the lady who was all cut up in the next story where her little dogs were barking at a raccoon outside a screen door was a really bad situation. When the little dogs likely barked at the raccoon, the raccoon thought one of two things or both, "I'm really mad because you are confronting me and since you are small I also want to eat you." So, the raccoon came like a banshee through the screen door on a hot night and attacked the dogs at about 2 am when the lady was asleep, the lady woke up and defended her dogs and got really cut up in the process.
The solution: If you live in raccoon country with dogs you don't want to have your sliding glass door open with the screen closed because this could happen to you in raccoon country in the middle of the night because Raccoons are nocturnal. In other words they sleep during the day in culverts and drains in suburbia and come out at night to feed on dog food and any little dogs or animals or cats available to them. And if you defend your animals (unless you have a long pole or gun) you are going to be the one all cut up, aren't you? It takes a bigger dog like a German Shepard, Labrador or bigger dog to successfully take on a raccoon and even then they are going to likely be bleeding even if they survive a confrontation with a raccoon. Maybe a pit bull bred for fighting might have very few scratches but your kids might not be safe from a pit bull trained for fighting either. Raccoons are really really fast, and have very sharp teeth and claws and even cats know to run up trees away from raccoons but dogs don't always know how to get away from a raccoon if they are small and so often they die or are maimed.
If I see a raccoon at night I try not to look at them in the eye so I don't antagonize them. I usually tend to own bigger dogs but both of them passed on this year, so, usually raccoons aren't my problem but sometimes I have to be careful of deer with fawns or bucks in season.
But, the single most dangerous thing you can run across is a family of raccoons. This is really scary a lot like running across a family of 8 or 10 monkeys (I have done this too) in India and Nepal and it can be equally terrifying, depending upon the situation. For me, I know I need to get inside a car or truck or home right away (unless they are moving away from me). Otherwise, sometimes you either have to walk away or stand your ground depending upon the situation.
I came across a few years ago where I live in a forest on the northern Coast of California a buck in the dark and didn't have a flashlight on and my dogs had cornered a big buck deer against a fence. I turned my flashlight on to see what the dogs were barking at and saw a huge multi-pointed deer in front of us. But, guess what happened? The Buck Jumped over my head and I'm 6 foot 5 inches tall and ran away. I thought we were going to get punctured by those horns but the buck was smart and just jumped over the top of my head. Luckily his feet missed my head with his hooves.
So, even if you understand wild animal behavior like I do, sometimes you can get into trouble and barely get out of it, especially walking your dogs at night without a flashlight on.
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