Lucky Kills Another Armadillo

Lucky at about 3 months of age, 18 lbs.
At this age, she could jump a 2 foot fence.
She now weighs 55 lbs. and can jump
a 5' fence.

Lucky, whatever breed mix she is, is great at killing armadillos.  Maybe that's what part of her was bred for because she has enormous jaws, and is a natural at it.  Fooh Fooh has never killed one.  Lucky has killed 5 in a year, the first when she was only 8 months old.  Her new nickname is "Armadiller Killer".

At 4 a.m. last night, all the dogs leaped up from a dead sleep and began barking furiously.  I figured one of them must have started barking desparate to go potty, and the rest joined the chorus. That happens.  So I dragged myself up out of bed and let them all out in the front yard.  Within seconds Lucky had leaped over our 4 foot white picket fence and disappeared into the darkness.  The other dogs were at full alert, barking their heads off behind the gate.  None of them can jump the fence, thank god.  I stumbled over by the porch railing and could see her chasing something too and fro and the hulk of a critter trying to escape.  Then I heard "crack, snap, crack", exactly the way potato chips sound when you are crunching them, and I knew Lucky was cracking the shell of another armadillo.  The poor thing didn't stand a chance.

After 20 minutes, the commotion died down, Lucky jumped back over the fence into the yard (she's an amazing jumper), and lapped up about 2 cups of water.  Then we all went back to bed.  The next morning, there was that poor armadillo, on its back with 4 feet straight up in the air, dead as a door knob.  My stomach flipped.  I couldn't get near it.  By afternoon I knew I had to get the carcas picked up, so with John out of town for another week I called my good neighbor, Thom, and he came over and used my pitchfork to scoop it up into a kitchen trash bag.  It went in head first, and the damn thing was so big, it's tail still stuck out of the bag.  Thom said its guts were hanging out of its stomach, looking like "red beans and rice".  Yuck!!  Probably what done the poor thing in, although I doubt an armadillo can survive for long with a crunched up shell.

I didn't let Lucky lick my face the next morning, but forgot about it by evening.  She loves to lick my face.  It kind of scares me that she can crunch up an armadillo shell with her powerful jaws, but plays with 7 lb. Maxie all day and never hurts him.  She is an amazing creature.

She performs a great service to this household by ridding us of the armadillos, too.  They ramble under the house at night, knocking the pipes around, which makes an awful racket.  Whole families live under our house. They also do lots of damage to our vegetable garden, digging up the young seedlings and wrecking the rows.

So, there's more value to dogs than just doing agility!  And more agility in Lucky than she exhibits in class.  That puzzles me.  Why is she so lethargic in class, but so energetic at home?

What is Lucky's breed?  I have no doubt some breed must have been designed to dispatch armadillos because I know armadillos have been a major nuisance.  How can I find out?  At least now I have the right questions to ask.

If anyone reading this post might shed some light on Lucky's breed, please contact me at msfry@pmnotary.com