Armadillos and Dogs

[retiredhappy]

Okay, I'm walking the Labs, Sassy and Buddy, down by the river in the piles of dead leaves. All of a sudden they both take off in the same direction and I'm skidding along behind them like I'm waterskiing. Have I mentioned that together they outweigh me? I'm yelling, "sit, sit, sit". Finally they both look at me like they've never seen me before but do come to a sit and I skid to a halt on my butt. I reel them in and now get a chance to see what the hell we've been chasing. An armadillo! I wasn't aware they could move so fast. Probably helps to have two BIG dogs chasing after you. I make the dogs remain sitting while the dillo gets away and we all drag our tired butts back to the RV. Ah, the excitement of RVing.

[avalen]

omg, I'm sorry for laughing but that image in my mind is just hilarious, I certainly
hope you didn't get hurt though. I've never seen a real live armadillo, remember
seeing some dead ones on the road in Oklahoma when I was a kid but never a
live one. That would certainly be a thrill!

[bluepinecones]

That was a good one.
How fast does an armadillio move? For some reason I thought they were relatively slow. I've never seen one either.

[Bethers]

I saw my first and 2nd armadillo in TX my first year out. Haven't seen any since. That said, I had no idea they moved fast either - however, right now I have a mental picture that has me grinning from ear to ear Sure wish someone had been passing with a movie camera for this one. Glad you aren't hurt, but lol I'm still picturing this.

[Cedar518]

glad you weren't hurt in that sliding stop! I don't know anything about armadillos, but I did find one dead in the road just across Lake Champlain in western VT. There was no question it WAS an armadillo. But i didn't think they were this far north/east? Wondered if someone had a captured one that got away.

[retiredhappy]

Wasn't hurt. Didn't fall down, I sat down trying to be an anchor to the dogs.

[Nasoosie]

Glad no injuries in either you or the pups!

I have never seen an armidillo up this far, but, if Cedar saw one, it must mean they are learning to adapt to cold weather! (Unless, as she said, someone had one they let loose to die up here.) I know they are extremely OLD creatures, like dinosaur old, and so could, conceivably, adapt to just about anything!

Wish I could have seen you and pups 'interacting' with yours down there!

[dcricket]

OMG your little story certainly got me to chuckling. Gld you didn't get hurt. Yup...quite the visual. When I was stationed in Jacksonville, I use to see dillos (on the side of the road), so couldn't attest at to how fast they are. Oppossums are another one you don't think can move all that fast, but the can cover some ground and they have nasty sharp little teeth. Don't let their doscile looks fool ya either.

[WickedLady]

Been there, done that, but with a Kuvasz and a squirrel!
Marda

[OutandAbout]

I know the feeling of being pulled by large dogs. I had two rescue Dobermans years ago and had to be careful when walking them together. I would only do so when either rushed for time or too lazy to take them separately. Once they saw an animal, something clicked and off they went. They were so focused, it took what seemed like an eternity to get them calmed down. I returned with many bruises, scrapes and sometimes cuts. Those were not fun outings. On their own, they were fine and did listen. Glad all turned out OK.

Linda

[Liz]

And where was your camera???

[Getupngo]

Thanks for the funny story. Yeah, with a coupla big dogs ... once they catch you off balance it's be hard to plant feet & stop 'em. They must be well trained if you could stop them in pursuit with a "sit" command. Good job.

[retiredhappy]

Wish I could say they're well trained but "sit" is about the only command they do listen to. I don't think it was me yelling "sit" that stopped them, think it was more that I sat down and they were dragging me that slowed them down.

[rvgrammy1953]

OMG!!!! I'm still laughing....Sassy & Buddy probably were wondering why you weren't running along with them....Glad to hear you are fine....