An urban fauna alert from parenting e-mail list Madrona Moms:
A word of warning - a very large raccoon just attacked my two small dogs (less than 20 lbs) after I let them out in the backyard to go to the bathroom.(at about midnight). They appear to be okay, but the raccoon actually grabbed one dog and they were rolling around in the yard fighting. We live on 29th between Spring an Marion, and the raccoons appear to be attracted by a neighboring plum tree.
Hopefully neighbors human, canine and procyonid can share the space.