Helene, raccoons will dig out underground wasps' nests, but smaller holes are more likely either possum or skunk. Raccoons are pretty much everywhere in the USA and southern Canada, so it's no surprise you saw one.

W/r/t dogs - just to clarify, when I said evenly matched, what I meant was that if they were in a situation where neither one could get away, I wouldn't lay odds on which one might survive. I didn't mean to suggest I was sure the dog would win! I live in the country, so if there's one thing we have more of than raccoons, it's loose dogs, and I've seen plenty of aftermaths of fights with raccoons, some dogs with cuts deep enough that they needed care so they wouldn't get infected, plenty of raccoons turned into stinky chew toys, but I've never, ever heard of a raccoon killing a dog. They're just not motivated to fight to the death if they can escape.