My dog met an oppossum last night...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

He was whining to be let out at about 3am. When I opened the door, he went tearing over to the yew tree, and barked as the critter climbed up. They move so slowly that he got a good sniff of 'possum butt before it was out of reach. I think Wolfy thought it wanted to play with him.

[tigereye]

1. a possusm that wasn't on the road -

that's good. I always feel bad when I see them by the side of the road, since their vision and judgment seems to be pretty poor. Fascinating creatures.

[BreweryYardRat]

3. They are pretty cool.

[Deja Q]

6. That doesn't look very sanitary. Try this little home for them instead:

Of if that doesn't suit their fancy, try this:

[BreweryYardRat]

7. That's not funny.

Nor is it socially acceptable outside of small towns in the South (and yes, I'm from the South, so I know what I'm talking about.)

[Deja Q]

23. People liked 'The Beverly Hillbillies'...

Okay, a forest critter in a crock pot. Somewhat tasteless, yes. (pardon the pun) There's far worse in the name of "comedy" our society readily finds acceptable... It could have been a squirrel and I'd have said the same thing. There is no context to that except it's something bizarre. (like the photo of me eating milk bone brand dog biscuits. Nobody wanted to crucify me for doing that one...) You are the one applying a context to it. Not I. I think the phrase "You said it, not me" has some validity.

Here is what should be socially unacceptable:

* Racial slurs
* beating
* mugging
* rape
* killing
* molestation
* pedophilia
* greed
* assault
* sexual assault
* hazing
* framing/setting up
* embezzlement

And in today's "society", those seem to be accepted and tolerated a lot more readily than humor which, believe it or not, exponentially cleaner than most of what FOX network or Comedy Central puts out. And I've been told to turn the channel or grow a backbone when I protest the stuff they put out.

What next and now that we're on the subject, somebody sues CBS for producing "The Beverly Hillbillies" and all the other spinoff/related shows of the time?

I've eaten tripe and enjoyed it. Horse ain't that bad either. Won't stop me from making jokes about that either.

[ashling]

27. You should add to your list:

*Republicans

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. Awww!

They're so cute!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. They are odd creatures, aren't they?

I'd love to know what goes through their little minds when they see oncoming headlights. It seems like they're hearing voices that say, "Go into the light!"

[peekaloo]

2. I have two that visit my backyard.

I leave them leftovers.

They seem like passive creatures but they do have a funk about them.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

17. We used to have one who'd curl up in the mulch bin to sleep...

They have formidable teeth. I wouldn't want to feel its bite!

[bertha katzenengel]

4. Did Wolfy enjoy the sniff?

BTW, how did you come to name him Wolfy?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. He came back in wagging his tail...

so I guess he liked it!

His full name is Wolfgang Amadogus :-)

[sakabatou]

5. My dog got bit on the ass from one

[GoddessOfGuinness]

19. Ouch!

[sakabatou]

26. Funny thing is though he killed one before

so I think he was a bit too cocky this time.

[xchrom]

8. i love oppossums.

i do feel bad that everything either eats them or picks on them.

our local raccons pick on them, bully them, torture them just for the yucks.

[hfojvt]

10. Do they really?

By gosh, they are evolving into human-like behaviour. We need to train the possums. After all, they are the ones with opposable thumbs.

[xchrom]

13. lol -- indeed -- i'm not sure their little pea-brains

will ever be able to appreciate that ''subtlety''.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. Opossums are omnivores, too...

I guess raccoons just see them as competition for the food supply.

Check out this site: http://www.opossum.org/

[texanwitch]

9. I feed a young one in my backyard.

They like catfood.

They eat rats, mice and other things you would not want around your house.

They are good guys.

[zanne]

11. They sure do like catfood.

Especially the canned kind. I leave canned food out at night for a couple of strays and it attracts possums. When I first saw one, I thought it was the ugliest animal I'd ever seen. Then I caught one in a Havahart trap and when I released it, it looked up at me and slowly waddled away. I've loved them ever since. It's funny how some animals (and people) are ugly until you get to know them.

[texanwitch]

12. I have be trying to trap this young one but she or he is to smart for the

trap.

I will keep trying.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

21. Interesting that you mention that...

Our local "code enforcement" officer cited us a number of years ago, because we had a car in our driveway that didn't run. He mentioned a potential rat problem, and I said I wasn't arguing, but I'd yet to see a rat in our part of town. I told him I'd seen oppossums and raccoons, but never a rat. His reply was, "Oh yeah! We've got all those pests, too!" :eyes:

[hedgehog]

31. They also like chickens!

Keep away from my hens, you possums!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

33. Wow!

I had no idea...

[texanwitch]

40. What kind of chickens, I took care of the chickens on the farm in the summertime.

The Grandparent's chickens were mean.

[hedgehog]

43. Sleeping ones, mostly.

Some birds get really docile when it gets dark.

[texanwitch]

44. My Grandparents chickens would roost in the tree outside the chicken house and I would

have to collect them every night for safety.

The damn birds would peck me.

[ashling]

14. Dog & possum pic

[GoddessOfGuinness]

22. I saw that pic right around Election Day....

It doesn't surpise me that she enjoys animal torture.

[smitty]

24. Be thankful he didn't meet a skunk.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

25. I never fully realized how nasty skunk odor is

untile a friend's dog ran into run. He smelled so bad that I thought I would gag. It's much worse than that mildly acrid whiff you notice when one is lying beside the road...

[Shine]

36. We had 14 of them living under our house, at one point. OMG, that's a story!

the short version: we got them all out, eventually, thanks to a biz we hired to come catch them and release them in the wild....over the course of a solid 7 or 8 days we finally got them all out. 2 of them didn't "go quietly",however, and released their scent as they were in their cages. Ugh!! The whole back end of the house reeked for hours, afterwards.

Yup, because of that experience, I now know more about skunks than I ever cared to know. :eyes:

:hi:
I'm glad to know things worked out for your dog and the possum. Those things can be quite fierce, actually.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

37. Peeeeeeeeeeeeee EWE!

That must have been awful!

[benny05]

39. It was not pleasant

and it was sad...but possums are critters, as far as my pooches are concerned. Not a totally bad thing.

[Shine]

41. Yeah, it was pretty nasty.

that was 10 yrs ago. We'd just bought our house the season before when we discovered our "extra guests", living under the house.

The biz that we hired charged us a flat $90 and then $100/skunk. We figured, at the time, we were looking at a $300-400 investment in our new home, tops, so we agreed.

Well.....14 skunks later, we got them all out, but we had a $1500 skunk bill!! :wow: We'd just bought the house and had no extra money, so we had to set up a payment plan, to pay off the damn skunks! :rofl: It was pretty funny....I remember we were lookin' at getting a new dishwasher at the time, thinking, "Oh, that's about 5 skunks' worth!" LOL.

Good times, good times. :D

[Shell Beau]

28. My dog met one before and he didn't want to play with it.

But, that is when I realized how mean they can look. Those teeth!!! :scared:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

30. I've always heard that they prefer to play dead or run away

to combative self-defense; but I imagine they could give a nasty bite if they felt they had no other options.

Years ago, we had a border collie who killed one in the back yard, which shocked me, because she never showed any behavior other than that of a herder...unless some other creature killed it, and she found it, a la Babe. It was heartbreaking, though, because the opossum had babies that were strewn around the yard, making this hissing sound. It was dark, and late, and we only found a couple that were alive, and they weren't alive for long. :cry:

[Shell Beau]

34. Aw, that is sad!

My dog now has killed a possum before. I suppose it was him. I have also found a bird, a squirrel, and 2 poor cats that my dog killed. It broke my heart each and every time. I thought he was a viscious dog for a while. He didn't show these traits to people, but I kept finding dead animals in my back yard. But then people pointed it out to me that some dogs instinctually kill other animals. :shrug: Luckily, I haven't found any poor little animals lately! I also have 2 other dogs that he adores!

[benny05]

29. We had a possum last week

That was laying severely injured because of one of our pooches. Our pooches are working dogs, so it was natural for them to "protect" us.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

32. Dogs will do what they do...

No doubt about that.

[iconoclastic cat]

35. When I was a kid, two of our cats backed one into a corner in our garage.

Luckily, there was a hose nearby, and I sent my stupid cats flying. The possum, however, lived its entire life in the garage. The cats never bothered it again, and it eventually died there. I was kind of sad when that happened.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

38. Awww...

It was nice of you to share your home with him...

[iconoclastic cat]

42. Our place was a zoo.

Five cats, a disabled boxer (the breed of dog, not athlete), a crow that had been injured and just hung around after we fed it, and various fish and lizards. That is not to even mention the transient critters: Several deer that made breakfast stops in our backyard, pheasants, rabbits, the fattest woodchuck ever, and about a hundred chipmunks. This kind of thing happens when you live on the border of a forest preserve.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

45. Sounds wonderful!

I've always wanted to make friends with a crow...not keep one as a pet or anything, but just win the trust of one, without compromising his safety.

[iconoclastic cat]

47. If you make friends with a crow,

be prepared for them to follow you around. My mother-in-law has trained a flock of about five of them to follow her to and from work (this was the plan, btw). And yes, I married into another family of animal lovers.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

48. How did she manage that?

Did she raise them from hatchlings?

[RebelOne]

46. My dog had an encounter with a possum once.

One night I had her out in the back yard. All of a sudden she lunged at something. Luckily, I had her leash on. I shone the flashlight on the biggest possum I had ever seen. It was nose to nose with my Rottweiler.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

49. I'm glad they both

were ok!

[Courtesy Flush]

50. We had possums in our house years ago

We were lying in bed, and could hear the cat eating her food... wait a minute, the cat's here in the bed!

We got up, and there was a baby possum eating the catfood. It was a comical sight, the two of us trying frantically to scoop that thing into a trash can without touching it.

Turns out it was one of a litter. Every night there was a new possum. By the time the third one came along, we weren't so skiddish anymore. I just picked it up and dropped it onto a bucket.

They live in City Park now.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

51. Haha!

That must have been cute!