As is often the case, Short-tail enters Karls house through the other open door.

While checking his bedroom for lost seeds on the floor it does not take long for both Chippies to confront each other somewhere inside. Instantly a chase throughout Karls house takes place. Short-tail does not tolerate any intruders. The story repeats itself many times. It happened once that a lower ranking Chippy also entered the bedroom and then it hid under Karls bed. He wanted to get it out but it stayed there. This was trouble, for Karl wanted to leave and shut the door and if he did this Chippy would be trapped inside. Now Short-tail arrived on the scene. She could handle the intruder in no time flat. Within seconds the stray Chippy was back outside with Short-tail chasing it for some distance. Karl always has to be very careful that no Chippy is trapped inside his house when he leaves. Once he went away for almost a week, it was in the early days of his relation with Short-tail, and when Karl returned, Karl found earth was scratched from flowerpots. Finally

Karl found her in his spare bed snuggled in the pillowcase with some loose feathers next to her. She was quite dehydrated and skinny but easily found her way out through the open door to return to her own home, soon to recover from her accidental imprisonment and this incident did not diminish their friendship.