Originally Posted by JARblue

I was just awoken by Athena (our miniature schnauzer) constantly barking at something outside. She doesn't do this normally, so I went to investigate (and to shut her up - something our disrespectful neighbors typically don't bother to do when their dogs are bothering the whole neighborhood during the night/early morning ).

I peeked out front first to make sure it wasn't someone out in the front yard. Then I went to the backyard and looked where she was barking.

I walked within about a foot of a raccoon at eye level before noticing him

Thankfully just saying "Oh $hit" fairly loud seemed to scare him enough to bolt back over the fence. I put up the one thing he was probably trying to get into - an old dog food container with a few old kibbles in it. I hope not to see him again anytime soon