Jake and Varmints

Our golden retriever Jake is conscientious about keeping varmints away from our house. He drives away rabbits, some of the legions of squirrels nearby and, presumably, the many raccoons and opossums that would course through our yard. He hates black vultures also and keeps them barely at bey, but they are persistent and are a challenge because they don't cower readily. Like them, some varmints bear continued attention. He apparently doesn't deal with snakes, but that has been an important contributor to his longevity.

Armadillos present a problem. They burrow under our back deck and, clunky and clumsy as they may be, should Jake catch one, they are hard to get one's teeth into, and they flee under the fence. Their armored integument makes them resistant to Jake, whose teeth rarely come into play; he's a big impressive dog and intimidation is his game, and why don't they get it?


Some instruction book we read how to avoid screwing up your dog's life cautioned that one must keep his dog mentally stimulated. Thank you, armadillos; whatever else you may have accomplished, you have kept Jake meaningfully employed.