Some other article where I read about this presented it as the raccoon appearance getting cuter, more appealing to humans.
Not so much dogs though. I am still traumatized by the story of my friend's dog who had its face torn off by a cornered raccoon.
To be fair to the raccoon, any animal that is cornered and fearing for its life would do anything to save itself.
True enough but where I live on Vancouver Island, the only animal likely to feel 'cornered and fearing for its life' would be a raccoon. Bears and cougars are dominant. There are no coyotes here so far. Rabbits and squirrels are very good at avoiding dogs. The possibility of raccoons becoming more domesticated would, in my opinion, be to the detriment of dogs in the short term at least.
