A big dog-like animal came to the door of the neighbors’ house and started sniffing around. The neighbors don’t have a dog, though. Nobody on our street has a dog this shape and size. There are people down the street with a large dog but theirs is white and furry, and this one is dark and has no fur.
Can this be something other than a dog? Something scary? I’ve heard creatures howling at night. What can it be?
Clarissa's Blog 
Most of the U.S. has coyotes, wild, doglike animals. Coyotes will dig in trash for food, if they can. They’re usually golden colored, not dark. Coyotes can interbreed with dogs and with wolves.
When you describe it as having no fur, what do you mean? Is it un-furry like an elephant, or does it have short hair that just isn’t bushy?
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It’s dark, so I can’t say for sure but the large dog we have in our street has very noticeable, bushy fur, and I’d recognize it. So that’s not it.
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A coyote?
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Maybe one of those cougar things?
This is disturbing.
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Not bloody likely.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar
Unless it’s sick, it wouldn’t be checking out houses. You are more likely to be struck by lightning than to get attacked by a cougar east of the Rocky Mountains.
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This is very good to know. I was freaking out for real.
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If it looks like a dog, it’s a dog! Or maybe a dog-coyote hybrid (standard coyotes are smaller than most dogs). There aren’t any wolves left in Illinois.
Maybe a werewolf — did the full moon come early there in Illinois?
Cougars are big cats — nobody would confuse them with a canine.
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looks meaningfully at Clarissa
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Yeah, Clarissa’s safe, the werewolves won’t go anywhere near a Samsun…. oh wait…. mmmm bummer.
Maybe she has some silver bullets stored somwhere.
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“Yeah, Clarissa’s safe, the werewolves won’t go anywhere near a Samsun…. oh wait…. mmmm bummer.”
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No, the phone is still not here. I got a box in the mail yesterday and was so hopeful but. . . it turned out to be baby sneakers that I bought for Klara. I never hated a pair of sneakers this much. And I do hate sneakers in general.
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“Cougars are big cats — nobody would confuse them with a canine.”
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If it looks like a dog and sniffs like a dog, it’s a dog!
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