Pitbull and possum

We were getting ready to call it a night, and I needed to let the dog out one last time. I poked the 17 year old half blind and mostly deaf beagle to wake her up and make her go pee so I don't get woke up at 3am lol.

Trot her out the side door and notice my neighbor's pitbull is going ape chit in their yard. She's barking at the gate and ripping the lattice board off it. I tell my dog to stay in the garage, and I went out to see what was wrong. By the time I got a light and got out there I could tell she made it though the gate. She's now barking at the house, but she's still behind my bushes and fence so I can't see what it is, but I hear hissing.

I go around the fence and find her with a big boy and she's inches from his face going off. I tried to separate them but the possum lunged at me and she nipped it, and he almost bit her.

Knowing pitbulls, she's not going to stop and the possum isn't going to move because he's a dumb possum. I decided to end the yell feast and put a 25 cal pellet in its head.

As soon as I did, the dog grabbed it and shook the hell out of it.

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I typically don't shoot them, but I figured this was probably the only solution that stops me or the dog from getting bit.

I let the neighbor know his dog destroyed his fence and also may have been bit by a possum and should get it checked out. He said " yeah, I heard her barking for awhile. Well, I'll get her checked out. "

I don't get it. I never leave my dog out if it's acting a fool like that. It was barking for a good hour which means that possum was sitting there the whole time.
 
Nice story. The part about the dog nipping the possum reminded me what my little 40 lb dog did with a 8 lb raccoon. She'd bite it and throw it a bit but retreat before she got bit. When I put one between it's eyes she grabbed it and shook it but it was too big to shake it as well as she does squirrels. It kept hitting the ground (she's pretty short).

Possums are pretty stupid. When I was a kid, many years ago, I used to get to go raccoon hunting with my uncle in the middle of the night. He had coon dogs and we would listen to them and you could tell when they had a raccoon treed. Only it often was a possum. My uncle sold the coon skins but there was no market for possum skins. But sometimes he shot them (with a 22lr) so they would drop and the dogs could get to them. The coon dogs had no problem with a coon or a possum that was not dead. One grabbed one end, another grabbed the other end and the third latched onto the middle. They would tear it up. Even one good sized dog should win in a fight with a possum. It's only weapon is it's teeth, same as the dog. But a good sized dog could damage a possum leg or spine with one bite. But it might pay a price.
 
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Sorry to say, but in a fight between the Opossum or anything and a Pit Bull, I'm rooting against the PB.
I've had 2 and one was a bad egg, the other was a great dog. The dog involved last night is about as sweet as you could ask. They get a bad rap because of bad owners.

The one I had that was dog aggressive, I got as a foster when it was 6 months old. I put it down at 2.5 years old when it attacked my black lab for no reason.

Did you have a bad experience with one?

I was attacked when I was 4 years old by my aunts Malamute. Any dog can be aggressive.
 
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Glad that your dog was not injured. And I hope the other dog is okay. Good call on the lead nap for the opossum. Your neighbor is a jerk.
I actually found out why he was leaving her out. His roommate was who actually answered the door so not technically his dog. I didn't know at the time and they told me this morning, that the owner of the dog, my neighbor Sean, had passed away that morning. He missed his softball game in the afternoon and wasnt answering his phone, so his buddy came by and found him.

They had left the dog out during the investigation since he died at home and the family were inside trying to figure things out and forgot about her.

I didn't even see any CSU or cops, I did see an ambulance come by when cooking dinner, but no sirens. I guess thats when they were picking him up. No sirens since no urgency I suppose.

He was only 36 and they think it was an aneurysm or heart attack. He was a solid dude, my favorite neighbor. Always cool about the guns and he was former Navy. It rocked me to find out and I'm gunna miss that guy.

I wish I had known because I would've taken his dog. The roommate doesn't want her and he has to move ASAP now, so Sean's sister took her for now. I'm going to see if I can adopt the dog when the dust settles.
 
Our PB is a sweet girl that we rescued from the local college vet program. She was skin, bones and defeated. We adopted her and brought her in with our other terrier mutt and yellow lab. She began to bulk up and find her place. 10 years later she is a super smart dog who has learned tons of tricks as long as there is food involved. She is not animal friendly but good with people and kids. She hates cats as she got super infected when she grabbed a stray in the back yard. She is also a mole killer but you will have a trench in your yard after she digs it up.
 
I actually found out why he was leaving her out. His roommate was who actually answered the door so not technically his dog. I didn't know at the time and they told me this morning, that the owner of the dog, my neighbor Sean, had passed away that morning. He missed his softball game in the afternoon and wasnt answering his phone, so his buddy came by and found him.

They had left the dog out during the investigation since he died at home and the family were inside trying to figure things out and forgot about her.

I didn't even see any CSU or cops, I did see an ambulance come by when cooking dinner, but no sirens. I guess thats when they were picking him up. No sirens since no urgency I suppose.

He was only 36 and they think it was an aneurysm or heart attack. He was a solid dude, my favorite neighbor. Always cool about the guns and he was former Navy. It rocked me to find out and I'm gunna miss that guy.

I wish I had known because I would've taken his dog. The roommate doesn't want her and he has to move ASAP now, so Sean's sister took her for now. I'm going to see if I can adopt the dog when the dust settles.
WOW! I'm sorry for my negative remarks on the dude.