When we took the dogs out for their evening stroll down to Fouche Gap Road on Thursday, Zeke had his alert stance. He was staring intently down the road, but I couldn’t see anything. I tried to snap him out of it, but couldn’t. We were in front of a neighbor’s yard, and as we approached the woods at the edge of their yard, I saw what Zeke was interested in.
These two young armadillos were rooting around at the edge of the road. They looked about half the weight of an adult armadillo. Zeke went crazy, barking and lunging at them. It was all I could do to keep him from breaking away. At one point I was able to take out my phone and snap the picture. And then he went berserk again.
The armadillos were completely unconcerned with us or with the commotion Zeke was making. They scuttled back and forth at the edge of the road and even approached Zeke. That was a mistake.
Zeke pulled so hard that his collar came unsnapped and he was immediately upon on of the young armadillos.
I have mentioned that my dog Jesse, who I had back in the 1970’s and early ‘80’s, was hell on possums. If she ever got away from me and attacked a possum, I just had to let her go and hope she finished it quickly, because otherwise it would suffer grievous injuries and die slowly later. This was a similar case.
I finally managed to get Zeke back under control, but by that time it was too late for the armadillo.
I thought that the armadillos’ behavior was quite odd. They seemed to have no fear, no flight instinct at all. It makes me wonder how many predators they have if they show no more sense of self preservation than they did.
Zeke, on the other hand, has a good measure of predatory instinct. He was not interested in investigating the armadillo, he got right down to business. This is the kind of behavior that opens a window into the origins of the domestic dog. It was pure, wolfish, killer instinct.
I’m not a fan of armadillos, but I didn’t want to see this.
That’s the behavior I’ve also seen in young armadillos (of which there are usually four). They’re interesting to watch, but I’m not wild about them either.
Zeke’s reaction is what it is.
Wayne — I thought I remembered your mentioning that young armadillos acted like that. As to Zeke, well, yes, he’s a dog, and I can’t get mad at him for acting like one.
I think my Flike would be terrified of the dillos. He’s terrified of the love birds we have at home. Queequeg, on the other hand, would probably tear into the dillos that would easily be his size or bigger.
Pablo — Maybe he would play with them. They were acting almost like puppies or kittens.