Raccoon. St. Bernard. Friends? ...or enemies... Answers?

Question

I have recently purchased a small raccoon as a household pet. Ironically, I also own a St. Bernard named Cleveland. He usually tries to attack most small, and medium sized animals and I was just curious to see if perhaps he would maybe feast on the carcass of my new small raccoon. Thanks so much for your help.

Answer 1

when a raccoon leaves cujo's house it's probably going to come out in a pile of dog crap

Answer 2

I used to have a large-breed dog who's favorite prey included squirrels, chipmunks, and the groundhog that lived in the brush pile behind the house. One day, when she was about 5, I introduced her to my new baby ferret. To my dog, ferrets = squirrels = delicious. My dog sat in front of the ferret's cage barking, snarling, and drooling for days and days. I could not have the dog in the house when the ferret was out of the cage, because she would have immediately eaten the ferret. A couple of weeks later, after I had yelled at her numerous times, my dog (who was pretty smart) began to grudgingly understand that she would have to tolerate living with a ferret. My dog always resented that ferret, but funny thing: a little less than a year after getting my first ferret, I got another baby ferret. My large dog became instant friends with the new baby ferret. I think it was because she was used to ferrets by that time. She still held her grudge against ferret #1, (who was always afraid of the dog) but she welcomed ferret #2 into her home with open paws. Ferret #2 and Dog would play together, and one time Dog even saved #2's life, when #2 snuck outside in winter and would have frozen to death if alarmed Dog hadn't whined at the door until we let her outside where she insisted we follow her to #2 who (we had no idea) had been shivering under the front steps.
In conclusion, you will have to make it very clear to your dog that he is NOT allowed to kill/eat or even wound the new pet, then you might have to get a second coon (bad idea - from what I have heard from former raccoon owners, they don't make the best pets for a variety of reasons, but that's a whole new topic) when your dog is used to raccoons in the house. Perhaps your dog and coon #2 will become friends.
Also, if your dog does allow the raccoon to live to adulthood, you will likely have a power struggle on your hands. Raccoons are extremely smart, and can get pretty big too. I'm sure it will assume it owns your entire estate, which I am guessing your dog has already staked a claim to. The two animals might end up at war with one another. Never allow them to be alone together!

Answer 3

I believe that raccoons are used to train St Bernards in certain cultures the most common of which being Germany of course. This question reminds me of an old bit of folklore which spoke of a sad and lonely St Bernard who was driven to the brink of insanity but a brave and courageous Raccoon helped him overcome his problems and save the village from a flood. This story gives me hope that the two will become close friends in no time at all. You have no need to worry about one killing the other. unless of course in a flood *spoiler alert* the Raccoon is tragically killed in the end but the St Bernard goes on living with memories of his friend.

Answer 4

Well I've had my share of dogs and animals dogs like to hunt at the same time, so I know what I'm talking about lol. It really depends on your dog personally. One of my dogs is a pointer mix and she loves to eat small animals (luckily not the cats!), but i found a baby squirrel and raised it until it was an adult and she seemed to know that it was apart off the family and would actually protect it from the cats. This may or may not happen with your dog, though. What I did was I put the dog in a room and brought the squirrel in in a pet carrier and i let her sniff it. She appeared to not be in hunt mode so I slowly took the little guy out and firmly (not too firm you don't want to squeeze lol) held him a safe distance from the dog so that in case the dog went for him, I could intervene. She was curious, but not in an "I wonder what it tastes like" curious. Be cautious, but let him smell your racoon to get used to it. Show him that you love your little buddy and it isn't a gift to him.....Good Luck!

Answer 5

of course not dogs like to hunt small animals like raacoons and squirrels and occasionally poodles (jk on that last one)

Answer 6

You will have to train your dog, but his instincts will work against you.