Deer and Tarantulas - Oceano, CA

One of the best things about this park is that we are less than 20 yards from the entrance to the Pismo State Beach dunes. Once inside the gate Ruthi can let Karma lose and the game of “ball” begins. When there are a lot of visitors and dogs in the park, like today, Ruthi waits to let Karma off leash until they have reached the crown of the entrance area, so that they can see just what else is out there competing for the great up/down dunes to run in, fly a kite, slide on disks, chase a ball, etc. etc. etc. Ruthi and Karma don’t go very far into the park because for every “down” there is an “up” in very loose sand.

Ruthi throws the ball and Karma gives chase at top speed. She (Karma, not Ruthi) gets sand everywhere and especially on her cheeks, nose and all over her tongue. But, she never says “let’s go home, I’m tired.” When Karma has completed her 2 duties (pee/poop) and senses that Ruthi is done throwing, Karma begins scanning the dunes for another sucker to throw the ball for her. Today she was doing a duty and was about to turn towards a family that was coming up the dunes when a mule deer ran out of the foliage on the edge of the park. The deer saw Ruthi and Karma or more correctly saw Karma and immediately did a sliding 180ᵒ back to the bushes.

Luckily, Karma did not see the deer. Karma was off leash and has never been good at the “recall” command. She would have given chase and who knows when she would return. Ball or no ball the deer running away would have been too much for Karma to ignore. She did sense that something was up because all of the humans on the dunes were reacting with various comments and yells. But, alas, Karma decided that the family she had sighted was close enough to be a part of her “chase the ball” game. Karma regularly dropped the ball in front of the mother first, then the daughter, and then the son in turn until they had climbed the dunes. Ruthi was able to thank the family for entertaining Karma and get the dog leashed for the walk back to the RV.

As we were all talking and commenting on Karma’s “sharing” ability, another member of their party came up and commented that they had found a tarantula on the lower part of the dunes. Ruthi just Googled “tarantulas on California beaches” and found out that it’s rare for a daytime beach sighting. Good thing cause with Ruthi’s spider phobia, Karma’s walks on the dunes would be over. For at least a few days, Ruthi will be much more aware of the animal life possible in the sand.