[4][5][6][7] Due to the fur trade, the common raccoon dog has been widely introduced in Europe, where it has been treated as a potentially hazardous invasive species.

Reflecting their omnivorous diets, common raccoon dogs have small and weak canines and carnassials, flat molars, and relatively long intestines – (1.5–2.0 times longer than other canids).

The tail, at 12 to 18 cm (4.7 to 7.1 in) long, is short, amounting to less than a third of the animal's total length and hangs below the tarsal joints without touching the ground.

[13] Common raccoon dogs are omnivores that feed on insects, rodents, amphibians, birds, fish, reptiles, mollusks, crabs, sea urchins, human garbage, carrion, and eggs, as well as fruits, nuts, and berries.

Common raccoon dogs are able to eat toads that have toxic skin secretions by producing copious amounts of saliva to dilute the toxins.

Insectivorous mammals hunted by common raccoon dogs include shrews, hedgehogs, and, on rare occasions, moles and desmans.

Plant food is highly variable, and includes bulbs, rhizomes, oats, millets, maize, nuts, fruits, berries, grapes, melons, watermelons, pumpkins, and tomatoes.

[3] Common raccoon dogs adapt their diets to the season; in late autumn and winter they feed mostly on rodents, carrion, and feces, while fruit, insects, and amphibians predominate in spring.

[3] Wolves are the main predators of common raccoon dogs, killing large numbers of them in spring and summer, though attacks have been reported in autumn, too.

[20] At birth, pups weigh 60–110 g (2.1–3.9 oz), and are blind and covered in short, dense, soft wool lacking guard hairs.

From 1928 to 1958, 10,000 raccoon dogs of the N. p. ussuriensis subspecies were introduced in 76 districts, territories, and republics of the Soviet Union in an attempt to improve their fur quality.

By 1934, common raccoon dogs were introduced into Altai, the Northern Caucasus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan (then known as Kirgizia), Tatarstan, Kalinin (now Tver Oblast), Penza, and Orenburg regions.

Common raccoon dogs in Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Trans-Baikaliya, and Altai did not fare well, due to harsh winters and scarce food.

as well as in the Chernozem belt of Voronezh, Tambov, and Kursk; the lower Volga Region, and the level parts of Northern Caucasus and Dagestan.

[22] The common raccoon dog is now abundant throughout Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and has been reported as far away as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden,[8] Belarus, Poland, Germany,[23] Netherlands,[24] Belgium,[25] Luxembourg, France, Switzerland,[26] Czech Republic,[27] Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria,[28] Serbia, and Moldova.

[29] However, by 2018, it had become fully established in Jutland (the mainland of Denmark, directly connected to Germany), with further projects mainly aimed at limiting or preventing its spread on the Danish islands.

[30] In June 2021, a study commissioned by the United Kingdom's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs identified the common raccoon dog as one of 20 invasive species likely to spread to the UK.

[31] A virus similar to SARS-CoV was isolated from Himalayan palm civets (Paguma larvata), a common raccoon dog, and humans working in a live-animal market in Guangdong, China in May 2003.

[32] Common raccoon dogs, as well as masked palm civets, were originally believed to be the natural reservoirs of severe acute respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus (SARS).

[35][36][37] An early locus of COVID-19 transmission was the Huanan live animal market, and even before the pandemic, the place was identified as a likely site for zoonosis (diseases hopping to humans from other species).

[38] The New York Times was not able to reach the Chinese scientists for comment by March 16, 2022,[40] but George Gao, the former head of the CCDC and lead author on the February 2022 preprint, told Science that the raw data had "nothing new", and he refused to answer questions about why his research team had removed it from the database.

[41] The Chinese government has long insisted that the virus originated outside China,[41] and until June 2021 denied that live animals were traded at the Huanan market.

[38] The introduction of the common raccoon dog to Europe is thought to have brought with it infected ticks that introduced the Asian tick-borne meningoencephalitis virus.

[3][citation needed] Captive common raccoon dogs in Soviet state animal farms were recorded to carry paratyphoid, anthrax, and tuberculosis.

[3] Six species of fleas are known to be carried by them, including Chaetopsylla trichosa, C. globiceps, Paraceras melis, Ctenocephalides felis, C. canis and Pulex irritans.

[3] Common raccoon dogs are harmful to game bird populations, particularly in floodplains and the shorelines of estuaries, where they feed almost exclusively on eggs and chicks during the spring period.

Of the 56,000, 6,500 came from Belarus, 5,000 in Ukraine, 4,000 each for Latvia, Lithuania, and Krasnodar, 3,700 in Kalinin, 2,700 in Pskov, and 2,300 in Astrakhan, while 1,000–2,000 pelts each were produced in Vologod, Moscow, Leningrad, Novogrod, Smolensk, Yaroslavl, Azerbaijan, Estonia, and Dagestan.

On 22 December 2006, MSNBC reported Macy's had pulled from its shelves and its website two styles of Sean John hooded jackets, originally advertised as featuring faux fur, after an investigation concluded garments were actually made from common raccoon dog.

[49] On 24 April 2008, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) filed a false-advertising complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission alleging at least 20 retailers in the U.S. had been mislabeling common raccoon dog fur.

Neiman Marcus, DrJays.com, and Eminent (Revolve Clothing) reached settlements with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that do not incur financial penalties unless they mislabel the fur again.