Raccoons attack dog, owner in their front yard | Urban Wildlife

A woman let her dog out into the yard at her home near 26th and Yesler.

What happened next made her scream so loudly that her neighbor called police.

Zeus, the mini pinscher, has a big bark, but he was no match for the raccoons who attacked him in his own front yard.

Owner Amanda Eley believes the raccoons slipped through a hole underneath a neighbor's fence. Two went after the dog while the third went after her.

"They were growling and vicious and attacked right away, instantly," she said. "I've never seen them, so that's why it took me by surprise."

Fighting off her own attacker, she heard Zeus struggling.

"I heard him whimpering when they would bite down on him. I would hear him cry and finally he made no noise at all," she said.

Eley eventually managed to grab a nearby mirror and throw it in the direction of the raccoons, and scared them off.

Zeus still has some bite marks, but he's expected to make a full recovery.

Still, Eley says she can't rest easy.

"It seems unfair sometimes that you are in your own and raccoons can come in, and kill a member of your family, really," she said.