Chicken in a Biscuit

        

        Let me tell you about Biscuit. He is the cutest puppy ever…and I’m not just saying that. He is a mix of 47% chihuahua and 40% Siberian husky (combined with other things like wolf, chow chow, toy poodle and German Shepard). Yes, you read that correctly…we all hope that the mother was the husky. He was a rescue from New Mexico, so we will never know his origins. 

Biscuit is a princess of a dog…he loves his fluffy pillows, sits so daintily with his arms crossed, and will show you just how he wants to be petted when he wants it. It’s really hard to say no to him with those adorable blue husky eyes. 

But there is a dark side to Biscuit's cuteness, and that is his deep love of hunting other living creatures and making them unalive. I hate to even admit that this adorable creature is such a brutal killer, but here he is. I cannot allow Biscuit to be around the chickens when they are roaming the property. But the story of our previous run-ins with the chickens are for another day…

I do my best to keep Biscuit inside when the chickens are roaming free…but sometimes things happen that are beyond my control and that's just how that goes. One of the things that happens now and again is that a dog will open a door! I was meditating under the copper pyramid this one beautiful day and walked back into the living room to feel a chill in the air. I knew that darn door was open and started to panic. 

I walked out to the area where the chickens like to roam during the day and everything looked calm. A twinge of hope came over me…hope that Biscuit finally realized that I love these chickens and they are friends, not toys.  I walked the vast property a bit, calling out his name, but I saw no trace of my boy.

I returned home, realizing that he would come back when he was ready.  Moonrider suddenly started to get anxious and asked to go outside…I quickly realized what this could mean and I ran outside in a panic without stopping to grab my boots, my coat, or even my scarf. I look across the gravel driveway at the chicken coop where Biscuit is attacking a chicken.  I could see feathers flying everywhere and glided over to him, yelling at him to drop it or stop it or something. I do not remember feeling any of the sharp rocks on my feet as I flew over…it felt as though I was teleported over or hovered just above the ground to get there. To be honest, it felt superhuman.

I got to the scuffle and I see Biscuit has a mouth full of feathers and seems incredibly stunted by this.  He wants the prize, but the feathers are a great defense against being attacked.  He didn’t even run off when he saw me coming…and this makes me wonder if he wanted to be caught? Maybe he’s like an addict, and doesn’t know how to stop even though he is knowingly hurting the people (or chickens) around him. Does a dog think deeply about how his actions affect others, or is it just all systems go when those killer instincts kick in? Is he starting to self-reflect and starting to realize he could make a change to be a more conscious being, hence the waiting around to be caught? Or was he just thrown off his game by the mouth full of feathers?

I caught Biscuit surprisingly easily and looked over at the chicken who looked to be dead just in front of the coop door. As I got closer, I poked it with my boot and she perked right up and ran into the coop. She was playing dead! That’s about the smartest thing I’ve seen a chicken do!

So I am now realizing that the dogs can open the door from not only the outside, but also the inside. So the front door needs to be locked at all times. The coordination of 5 dogs, 13 chickens and many doors is quite the experience, and one that I’m incredibly grateful to have.

With Gratitude…Lynda