Karma & Chickens – Quincy, CA

Since we are going to be in Reno for a month before we go to Boots’ son/his family in Quincy, CA, we decided to drive up there for the day today. It’s a pretty drive of about 90 miles up into the high Sierra Mountains. They have a nice fenced yard for Karma to chase her ball in. There are also their dog (Sunny - beagle and German short hair mix), a neighbor’s dog (June Bug – Heinz 57 variety), 3 cats (Marley, Po, and Tigress) and now 7 chickens (none seem to be named) that all roam the space in harmony.

The adults wondered how Karma would react to the new comers – chickens. She had previously played keep the ball away from Sunny and attempted to introduce herself to the cats – unsuccessfully, we might add. She has been exposed to birds of various ilks in the campgrounds, dog parks and rest stops along the way. Mostly, she ignores them – having figured out that she can’t fly and they seem to do that whenever she would get anywhere close to them. Sometimes, she just leaps in their direction (always on the leash, so the birds are safe) and they take off.

Back to the chickens, who were everywhere Karma wanted to chase the ball. She barely registered that they were pecking in her vicinity. As long as she could chase her ball, that’s all she wanted to do. The chickens also ignored her. So, peace reigned until we lost her ball behind the chick enclosures and there was absolutely no way to get that ball back. Karma wanted to crawl over the chicken wire roof of the enclosure or go through the blackberry thorns to get to the other side and the ball.

We never travel with only one ball. In fact, we buy them by the dozen from WalMart. Now all we had to do was get dirt and dog smells on a ball for her to give up on the search for an unreachable ball and continue the chase with a "new" ball.