Karma

Before I begin let me point out that the Karma I am talking about is my dog. She is a cute mostly Cairn Terrier that I rescued several years ago from a shelter. We have a love/hate relationship. Most of the time I love her. But she has her moments, like yesterday. My terrace has a private gated entrance, but there is nothing to separate my apartment entrance from that of the main house except a few bushes. When I am sitting outside, which is often, Karma will go through the bushes and escape the yard area through the driveway. When I am ready to go in, I call her. Usually she will quickly appear at the gate, on the outside. Try as I might, I cannot get her to go back the way she came. She can't seem to figure out how she got there. This has been going on for over a year. So I make the little walk to the gate to let her back in while remarking under my breath at how stupid she is. She really does appear to be stupid, like when she is at a dog park. All the other dogs are chasing the balls or sticks or whatever is being thrown. The pack takes off after the object and Karma takes off too. Only she is not chasing the object, she is chasing the other dogs. The casual observer would believe that she too is chasing whatever the other dogs are chasing. They soon realize their mistake when the object is caught and the dogs stop running. Immediately Karma tucks tail and runs with all her might as if she thinks that they will have seen her following them and will now chase her down and assault her. And this is just one of many examples of why anyone who knows and loves her believe that she is indeed stupid. So getting back to yesterday, she once again had escaped the yard and when I was ready to go in, she appeared outside of the gate. I knew that I would have to make the walk to the gate but I was only wearing socks. I went inside to retrieve my slippers and headed back outside. When I opened the door, there sat Karma on the stoop. It had only taken me a couple of seconds to get the shoes and yet there she was as if she hadn't even had to think about how to get back inside the yard. No doubt the fact that it was 23 degrees out had hastened her return. I could not believe that she had probably known all along how to get back inside. Stupid dog...or maybe stupid me! Hmmmm?