Apparently, it's 'coon huntin season

There are two things I have been unable to call Conker off of. The first are cats, the second raccoons. I always have to go get him when he goes after a cat or raccoon. If the animal vanishes into a bush or up a tree, he will come back, but as long as the chase is on, his ears tune me out. I can call him off deer, turkey, people, dogs, birds, squirrels, skunks (thankfully), and rabbits, which I think is a very good list for a dog with high prey-drive like a Shiba. But not cats or raccoons.

Last night Conker decided to take off after one of the "resident" coons who I sometimes see in the front yard late at night. The raccoon ran around the side of the house. Conker cornered the thing then began to fight. Due to the darkness, I could not see exactly what happened, but me yelling at Conker to leave the raccoon and to come back didn't work, so I grabbed the closest object I could, which happened to be one of my Mother's metal watering cans, and heaved it into the fray. The noise the can made momentarily broke up the fight and gave the coon the chance to escape up the fence.

I don't know how big the raccoon was, and I don't know if Conker hurt it.

Once the coon was up the fence, I was able to call Conker to me. He strutted over, huffing proudly, seemingly unhurt. I immediately picked him up and carried the dumbass inside. I gave him a thorough examination in the brightly lit kitchen and discovered a small bit of blood on one paw. Once I turned it over, I saw the entire underside of the paw was covered with blood.

The cut on his foot is about 1/3 inch long, 1/6 inch deep, and flayed back about 1/4 inch of the pad. It's a bit of a flap but relatively stays in place, so I think it'll heal fine on it's own.
I looked for other wounds but found none, much to my relief. I let Conker go for a moment, and in that instant, he rushed into the back yard and went looking for the raccoon again.

Dammit, he didn't learn that coons are dangerous. He learned that coons are fun to chase and fight with

Anyways, after I retrieved my stupid dog, I took him into the bathroom and subjected him to the torturous process of washing off the dirty bloody paw. It was almost as if I'd drained the life out of him, he was so pitiful looking as I washed his paw, I could hardly see any resemblance to the fierce warrior he had been only minutes before.

I knew this would happen eventually, the damn things come into the yards and climb on the fences fairly frequently. Until now, none of the dogs had fought with a raccoon, just chased and fenced them.
So Conker has a sliced foot pad. It looks okay now, but he limps, and due to the nature of the cut, I can't take him hiking since dirt will get into it but won't come out as easily as it got in. I am oh so happy about this.