That is where the incident begins. Because Dakota was tied up at the back of the barn, she was not able to do her duty of guarding the property. She is constantly barking. Admittedly, it drives us crazy. What we sometimes forget to appreciate is all the critters who wonder over from the animal sanctuary across the road and who are scared off our property because of that bark. Which explained the sight of a raccoon down by the drive shed. It was the first wild animal we spotted at the farm (not counting the dead raccoon stuck in our pasture fence). And I knew it was here because Dakota was not there to scare her away.
We ignored the raccoon as it couldn't harm anything near the driveshed and at supper when I went out to feed the animals, I heard Dakota barking like mad from behind the barn. I knew she had spotted the raccoon and was going ballistic because she couldn't chase after it. So I untied her and the moment I did, she shot off in the direction of the driveshed sniffing the ground like she was a police dog hunting down the narcotics. I'd never ever seen her do this in the 10 years we've owned her. It was impressive admittedly.
She suddenly veered back to the barn sniffing the ground like mad. I was right behind her sure we'd find the raccoon in the barn. Dakota went wild in the barn sniffing, even going up on her hind legs to smell the air above her, but there was no sign of the racccoon. I sighed with relief, doubled checked my ducklings were okay and no raccoon had them for dinner, then left the barn, shutting the door behind me in case she decided to come back.
About ten minutes later, my oldest headed out to the barn, opened the barn doors then suddenly slammed them shut. I happened to see this from my window so went out to see what was wrong. The raccoon was in the barn, feasting on cat food...right next to my lovely ducklings. I couldn't believe it. I had checked ever single corner of that barn. There had been no raccoon. Then as I entered the barn, Dakota who was right on my heel, came charging in after the raccoon. The damn thing didn't run away as I had thought. Raccoons are fighters. She stood her ground and took on Dakota. A nasty fight ensued. I took a single photo, but was too preoccupied with the fight so it didn't come out very clear.
As for the raccoon, she wasn't done exploring our property. We went into the house but noticed it shortly afterwards walking around our backyard.