Personally, sounds to me like the dogs attacked the ground hog, not the other way around. The groundhog probably didn't have a chance to have the option of running and realized it's best chance was to try to make a stand and get the dogs to back off. With two dogs, I'm not surprised the groundhog defended itself instead of turning and running. That would have been a death sentence for sure. It's fight or flight - flight wasn't a valid reaction so it chose fight. My dogs have been in similar situations with both a cat and a raccoon in the yard. Sometimes wildlife will venture into the yard and the dogs zoom out of the door and across the yard in the blink of an eye, catching the 'intruding' animal off guard.

Without witnessing the groundhog's actual behavior I couldn't tell you if it was rabid or not. Did they kill it/actually get to it? Many times when dogs are inexperienced they do as you said, just getting excited/hopping around not knowing what to actually do with the thing once they catch it.

 

Yes. The dogs did go after the groundhog. Eventually we got the dogs into the fenced run, but the standoff kind of continued with the dogs inside and the groundhog outside the fence. Eventually it ran off, seemingly unhurt, or not seriously hurt.
From what I know about rabid animals, this groundhog was not exhibiting the classic behavior of a rabid animal, which would be the animal going at the dog with ferocity, biting viciously, and not letting go. A couple months ago, a child was attacked by a racoon in Paterson NJ. That animal got a hold of the poor boy and wouldn't let go until someone was able to hit it with a broom handle. That animal tested positive for rabies and the child was treated appropriately.

I am going to call animal control on Monday (when they're open) and talk to someone, file a report if that is the protocol. I had always thought that the local police handled this kind of thing, but with all the outsourcing, etc, that has changed. If it had been a person who was being attacked, I would have called 9-1-1, and then the local cops would have responded. In that case, I'm pretty sure they would have gotten someone from animal control to the scene.

 

We have groundhogs around us. They typically stay off our property which I assumed it was because of the dog scent in our yard. When our last dog died there was a period of a few months that we didn't have a dog and the groundhog(s) ventured into our backyard which they never did before which is why I assumed that the dog scent was the reason. This is also true of the deer when they come around. I certainly would talk to the animal control, google for more info and possibly talk to your Vet to get as clear of an answer as you can get.

 

If your dogs are UTD on their rabies boosters there shouldn't be anything to worry about. The groundhog had a right to defend herself and didn't exhibit any inappropriate behaviors. It ran away when it had the chance, so that's a pretty good indication it was in sound mind and was just surprised by being rushed by 2 dogs. Just a normal groundhog-in-the-yard encounter, I'd say. Hopefully she learns her lesson about going in the fenced area .

From what I can find, the females get a lot more defensive when they have babies. So probably it's a female and has babies nearby.

 

What did you want the police to do about it?

 

It was just an overreaction on my part. I was thinking rabies, and calling the cops was my first reaction. I did not call 9-1-1, but used the non-emergency #.
I appreciate all of your input on this. I feel a lot better about it.

 

It's a 12lb, solitary, territorial squirrel during mating/baby season. That kind of behavior is not unusual, or remarkable in any way. It certainly isn't indicative of rabies, and frankly you're lucky your dogs didn't get torn up.

 

There is a real reason Earth dog breeds are not soft.. These little (cute rodents) are very strong and violent creatures when it comes to defending themselves..

 

Groundhogs can be bad-a$$ mofos. It is not at all unusual for them to stand their ground to defend themselves.

In any case, it would be very rare for a prey animal to contract rabies. Whatever rabid animal might have given them rabies in the first place almost always kills them. If your dogs' rabies vaccinations are up to date I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Just curious; Why is it that raccoons are the most prevalent carrier of rabies in the U.S.?

 

agree more likely to get the plague from their fleas..

 

Please don't bother the police with this. They have better things to do. What do you expect them to do anyway? They aren't going to remove the groundhog. They are not common rabies carriers anyway, very unlikely it was rabid. Yes, they will defend themselves. My first dog a pitbull mix would attack them if he got to them in time and they always fought back, they are tough little buggers. However a sharp blow to the nose will kill them almost instantly, cause of how their skulls are shaped. Same with porcupines and similar large rodents. If it keeps being a problem, get your dogs to corner it then whack it with a shovel (restrain the dogs first so you don't hit them by mistake!). You have to hit it square on the front of the snout, not on top of the head, otherwise you'll just have a very angry, messed up groundhog lol

sorry, missed your other post. didn't mean to sound haranguing about the police thing

 

This does not work well with Possums.

 

Raccoons aren't actually prey animals... they're predators. Mid-level ones, to be sure, rather than apex, but they eat other animals waaaaay more than they are eaten.

 

rather my dogs fight a parie dog then encounter a raccoon who are shredders... I think bats and skunks are more known for being rabies carriers

 

So I guess we were very lucky that our dogs weren't bitten, let alone injured by the groundhog. So far as calling the police, I only talked to a dispatcher or whomever it is that answers the non-emergency phone. I did not insist that an officer be dispatched, so the phone call is as far as it went. The groundhog ran away while I was on the phone trying to contact the animal control people, who weren't in on Saturday.
FYI; I listen to the police radio a lot, and it always amazes me at what people call the police for. Of course, I only hear the radio call when they dispatch an officer, but dispatching a car on an animal issue is quite common.

Back to groundhogs; What is the difference between a groundhog and a prairie dog? Wikepedia says that groundhogs and woodchucks are the same animal, but not prairie dogs. Hedgehogs are something different as well - more of a porcupine, but unrelated.
And speaking of porcupines... I recall once while hiking in the Catskills I saw another hiker's dog snooping around under a rock, then suddenly came away yelping. Turns out it was a porcupine, and the dog had been shot full of quills. That dog was so patient while his owner pulled the quills out one by one. We do have the occasional porcupine here in Bergen County NJ, but it's very rare. OTOH, I have seen more of them in the Catskills than anywhere else I have hiked.

 

A Prairie Dog is slightly bigger than a squirrel and doesn't have a bushy tail like a squirrel. https://www.google.com/search?q=pra...bih=955&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqxa7r08vMAhUBVh4KHZJTCpsQ_AUIBigB Groundhog is a rather large ground animal with a flat tail kind of like a Beaver. https://www.google.com/search?q=pra...m=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqxa7r08vMAhUBVh4KHZJTCpsQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=ground+hog

I don't think porcupines shoot their quills but I think the ends have barbs on them that catch very easily. http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/porcupine/

Personally I would rather my dog stay away from them all LOL!!! Our last dog used to bark at them whenever she saw them out in the field, our current dog doesn't seem to pay any attention to them ... of course it may be because they are on the other side of the fence and kind of far enough away. She does like to chase the rabbits that come into the yard.

 

We do not have groundhogs down here...

I have run into them while hunting and traveling in other states... From what I have seen, I am kind of surprised your dogs did not kill it... Especially with two dogs....

The water hose did not work because their prey drive had kicked in to a level that nothing else mattered... They become pretty oblivious....

Rabies are not really a concern in herbivores......

And if your dogs are vaccinated, it is not really a concern..

 

Here is a pair of Bassett Hounds making very quick work of a ground hog..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwLQ2Di8cNY

 

At the farm, out dogs constant tangled with wildlife. Raccoons, muskrats, beavers, skunks, fox, porcupine, coyotes, everything. Needless to say, they were up to date on rabies. Your dogs should be fine, I think. The one would recall off wildlife he was attacking usually, the other, he would come back when it was dead. We grabbed the rifle in case the dog started to lose, but that's about all we could do. Like heck we were sticking our hands in that tangle!

 

Not counting things I have intentionally ran with hunting dogs..

Over the years, my dogs have chased and killed all sorts of small critters...

Raccoons, rats, possums, bobcat, a nutria, a few iguanas, coyotes...

All in all I would rather then not chase raccoons... But if they scrap with one, I am not keen to put my hands in there.

 

had a close encounter with an angry nutria... lol .. flat boat out frogging at night.. Friends brother beat it with and ore and pulled it in the boat it was so stupid telling him it's not dead don't bring it in the boat.. If I hadn't been more afraid of snakes in the water I would of jumped out of the boat when it woke up angry....

 

They will pay you for nutria tails in Louisiana.... Florida does not pay for them.

 

lol.. in Louisiana if you see it,, you eat it.... Nothing like getting my head slammed into a dash board for my friend slamming on the breaks trying to out run the other people stopping to grab a turtle crossing the road..

 

AFAIK groundhogs are pretty similar to the marmots we have up here (Alaska). My dogs both murder them pretty easily, but my dogs are kind of thugs about critters - I can see where they'd present a challenge to dogs that were inexperienced at hunting. I worry more about parasites than about communicable diseases (we keep up to date on vaccinations) or injury to the dogs, honestly. Regular dewormings are needed here. I suspect most dogs'll try to kill wildlife, given the opportunity. Once I called Cassius in from outside and he came bounding in, and threw a half-alive ptarmigan at me. I just about wet myself. Queenie doesn't bring me presents, she just eats her victims right away.

 

My grandparents' farm dogs were very skilled at killing them. They'd usually get at least a few per week - I'll tell ya, those giant rodents put up a viscous fight! I don't think they can run very fast, so they have to be aggressive. I don't know how the dogs didn't end up with serious injuries. I sure wouldn't want to get near one!

Bella chased a big fat one under the equipment shed in the field across the street once. It was only a few feet away from the shed in the tall grass and we didn't see it until we were almost on top of it. I could hear the thing growling and hissing from under the shed...thankfully Bella thought better of trying to go in after it...the thing was ready for a fight.

 

As I said I do not have a ton of experience with Groundhogs. But I have seen them scrap with dogs. I hunted a farm in Kentucky annually for 10 years. They had a JRT whose sole job was groundhogs... The was great at it. They had crops that attracted the groundhogs... So he seemed to always be killing one... One day I was in a deer stand in a row of trees off a corn field that had been harvested. There were three groundhogs out in the field.... Here comes the dog along the edge, sees the groundhogs, he ran out at the first one, growl snarl, shake shake shake, dropped it and ran to the next one.... He got all three than continued down the tree line... That is what that dog did all day long.

I find it odd that folks do not think their dogs know how to kill critters because the dog may not have done it before. Most dogs will play with toys and shake them violently.... In essence they are "killing" the toy. That is what it looks like when a dog kills a small animal. they grab it and shake it. Of course a dog gets better at it after having done it a bit. But nearly all dogs have the basic idea.....

 

especially the ones that like to dissect and rip out the squeaker when it's not enough just to kill the squeaker, the ones that must rip the squeaker out of the toy

 

LOL, that is my Belle, she kills the squeakers and then rips them out of the toy. My husband always thought she wouldn't kill anything but she found a mouse under the snow this winter and made short order of that thing! She loves to chase squirrels and rabbits and I have no doubt she would kill one if she caught one.

 

Ralphie "kills" chunks of sod. He rips the dead bits out of the ground, shakes them and flings dirt at me, then drops it and moves on to the next one.