Sometimes you just gotta laugh
All I ever wanted from training my dogs was to keep them from running away from me.
I got a little carried away with the obedience and performance classes, but deep down I've always been completely satisfied with them because I don't have dogs who bolt out of the house and down the street at the first opportunity they get.
So you can imagine my frustration last night when Jillie, my 1 1/2 year old 4-pounder who thinks she's "all that," refused to come in from the backyard at 1:30 a.m. when it was snowing and in the 20s and she was barking at the neighbor dog.
I glared into her beady eyes. "Jillie, COME!"
Nothing but that cold, icy stare.
Again, louder, 'JILLIE COME NOW!"
She didn't even look at me.
This was it, I told myself. Insubordination I could not stand for.
Without even taking time to put on my shoes, I raced outside barefoot in the freshly falling snow to show her who was boss. I planned to scoop her up and bring her in the house.
But the SECOND I took a step outside, she took off like a rabbit on speed. She did a quick about-face and sprinted toward the back of the yard, then took a hard left on a trail she alone had blazed through the foot and a half of snow in the yard.
I've never seen her move so fast. She followed one trail to its end at a fence and made a hard right to another trail I didn't even know about. That one led to the back fence, where she took another hard right and followed that fence behind a shed.
Suddenly, the anger that had been welling up in me turned to mush. I couldn't help but laugh. She was the Roadrunner and I was clueless Wile E. Coyote, and my chances of catching her and teaching her a lesson were nil.
Maybe the most telling part of the whole encounter was the SECOND I started laughing and admitted defeat, she made a beeline right for me and allowed me to scoop her up.
I took no consolation in her return. It was HER decision to come to me. And my continued laughter proved it to her.
I got a little carried away with the obedience and performance classes, but deep down I've always been completely satisfied with them because I don't have dogs who bolt out of the house and down the street at the first opportunity they get.
So you can imagine my frustration last night when Jillie, my 1 1/2 year old 4-pounder who thinks she's "all that," refused to come in from the backyard at 1:30 a.m. when it was snowing and in the 20s and she was barking at the neighbor dog.
I glared into her beady eyes. "Jillie, COME!"
Nothing but that cold, icy stare.
Again, louder, 'JILLIE COME NOW!"
She didn't even look at me.
This was it, I told myself. Insubordination I could not stand for.
Without even taking time to put on my shoes, I raced outside barefoot in the freshly falling snow to show her who was boss. I planned to scoop her up and bring her in the house.
But the SECOND I took a step outside, she took off like a rabbit on speed. She did a quick about-face and sprinted toward the back of the yard, then took a hard left on a trail she alone had blazed through the foot and a half of snow in the yard.
I've never seen her move so fast. She followed one trail to its end at a fence and made a hard right to another trail I didn't even know about. That one led to the back fence, where she took another hard right and followed that fence behind a shed.
Suddenly, the anger that had been welling up in me turned to mush. I couldn't help but laugh. She was the Roadrunner and I was clueless Wile E. Coyote, and my chances of catching her and teaching her a lesson were nil.
Maybe the most telling part of the whole encounter was the SECOND I started laughing and admitted defeat, she made a beeline right for me and allowed me to scoop her up.
I took no consolation in her return. It was HER decision to come to me. And my continued laughter proved it to her.
Comments 3
Total Comments 3
Comments
Ahhhh...have been snookered by my Sassafras the same way many times! It is sooo comforting knowing I am not the only one with this problem! LOL! One thing I have learned WELL is never take chances! I am PARANOID about this tho so I have a gate in front of EVERY door. | |
Posted 02-09-2011 at 08:24 PM by jlafred |
Ha, misery loves company! Come to think of it, I seem to remember Eddie doing similar things in his adolescence. I'm just glad this escape was in the fenced yard! | |
Posted 02-10-2011 at 05:36 AM by alaskayorkie |
Wow! Another scary moment! (just finished reading the blog about Eddie) Your two are certainly putting you through your paces aren't they? To this day, almost a year now since we brought her home, I WILL NOT allow Jenna outdoors without a lead on. We were told that she has a tendency to run off by the rescue lady, and I have also lost dogs when I don't heed warnings like that. My eyesight has also gotten so bad that, even during the 'supermoon', I couldn't properly see while walking Jenna at night, so I have to be sure she isn't going anywhere that I don't also go. I've taken a small clipping strap that usually goes on a Hello Kitty hangbag to attach around her lead and strap it to my jacket cuff. I'm so afraid she'd run off if I fell and I'd never catch her...God forbid! No fences in our yards unfortunately. The moose would only knock them down. | |
Posted 03-23-2011 at 01:16 AM by Jenna AK |