Not sure if anyone else has this problem, but for some reason my dog has gets quite upset, when a Possum gets in his territory. There have been many mornings through the years, where we walk outside to leave, and a dead possum has been left for us......:???:

I grew up in an area that didn't have a lot of possums, but the dogs would get ground hogs.

Wow, dead possums... Only thing I can think, is how territorial dogs can be about their property. Put together a dog's territorial behavior with their natural prey drive, and I can see it. My dog wants to attack any other animal it sees. Even peoples' pet cats.

I figure that some dogs just have much higher prey drive than others, and I just can't see many dogs ignoring a possum or other animal that comes onto his property.
I would be more concerned about making sure his shots are all up to date, for fear of rabies and anything else a wild animal could be carrying.

There is the possibility that it is a Territorial situation, as he has acted this way with Squirrels, and Armadillos as well. He has yet to catch the Squirrels, but he has tried..... As for the neighbors cats, he lets them play in the yard, unless I come out the door. I have watched them out the window, like they are friends playing. But, once I come out the door, he's after them like he wanted to eat them......

Our puppy has a thing with birds... all kinds of birds. If he sees one in the yard, he tears off after it. I guess he doesn't like birds in his territory. He's never caught one though, so I'm not sure.

I'm not sure if its territory so much as "OMG SOMETHING TO PLAY WITH!" and dogs play with teeth and paws and not all animals can handle that type of roughhouseing... I know our dog growing up would run UP a tree to try to catch a squirrel...he always just wanted to play with stuff that moved, especially little fast things like birds squirrels and opossums