Bill, some Pokemon is raiding my garbage cans. Every. Single. Night. I once caught a glimpse of it, and it appeared to me like a canine Pokemon with four legs. How should I go about capturing this thing, and what should I do with it when the job is done?

Well, that depends. “Canine pokémon” is a bit of a broad category. It could be anything from a houndour to a zigzagoon (the latter of which can sometimes be mistaken for a canine in low-light settings). You could always hire a professional trainer to figure out what it is and catch it for you, but if you wish to take care of the issue yourself, I would recommend using a nocturnal pokémon or one otherwise suited for nighttime battling, such as hoothoot or houndour. Which one would work best depends entirely on the species of your visitor. Try to get a better look at it to figure out what type of pokémon you’re dealing with. When you’re ready to battle your visitor, approach it with stealth to avoid driving it away, then battle and catch it normally. You may wish to use a dusk ball, which works best in low-light environments.

Afterwards, what you do with it is up to you, but if you wish to release it, do so in a wooded area, not a park. If you live in an urban environment, this pokémon may adapt well to a home, though, so you might be able to keep it if you take it to a pokémon center for a check-up first.

Otherwise, there are pokémon-proof garbage can lids if you wish to avoid fighting this at all. Alternatively, consider composting edible refuse if you can, rather than simply throwing it out.