Close Call for Lulu

Lulu and I were travelling again.  We stopped to visit relatives in Valemount, BC and Edmonton, AB before visiting my parents in Saskatoon.  We then headed to Olds and Carstairs to visit a cousin and my uncle.  Then it was on to Rocky Mountain House to stay with Barry in the trailer.  The trailer is parked at his nephew's acreage where there is quite the menagerie - horses, cats, rabbits and dogs plus the many deer that wander by. 

Lulu did not like the cats and always sounded the alarm whenever she saw them, but they were as scared of her as she was of them.  They always gave her a wide berth.  The two small dogs were curious but nervous so did not come too close.  The large dog was another story.  He was usually slow moving because of hip problems so we were able to keep him away from Lulu.

We did have one very close call that still gives me shivers.  Barry was barbecuing hamburgers and Lulu was under the trailer as usual.  She liked it there as it was shady and there was lots of grass to eat.  I went into the trailer to bring out the cheese for the burgers when I heard Barry yell.  I ran out to find him chasing away the big dog.  Lulu had ventured out from under the trailer and the dog moved faster that we had seen before.  He grabbed Lulu and had her down with his paw.  When Barry yelled, he let her go and she stood up and shook out her feathers.  I ran over and picked her up and she was covered with dog drool.  I don't know who was more frightened, Lulu or me.  I cuddled her for awhile and then put her in the trailer.

I think the scare upset her egg-laying.  The whole trip before she was attacked, she laid an egg every two to three days.  That night she was sleeping up on the back of the couch and laid a shell-less egg.  She usually gets agitated when she is going to lay and paces until she sits in her nesting box, but that night she was standing there and the egg just seemed to fall out.  Since then she hasn't laid any and it has been almost a week.

After that incident, she was very nervous whenever she was outside and did not stray very far from my side.  She spent alot of her time in her kennel in the trailer that she usually ignores unless she is laying an egg.  She slept in it instead of on the back of the couch were she can see out the window.  She wasn't interested in looking out the window much at all.  When we left for home she seemed to relax in the car and when we arrived home, the first order of business was a long awaited dust bath in the garden.

I am thankful that she is fine.  I don't know what I would have done if she had been hurt or worse.  She must have had a guardian angel watching over her.