Rock, Paper, Scissors

Puppy has been training over the past year.  She is a stubborn puppy.  She wants to be in charge.  She wants to be the boss.  She wants to do it her way.

Puppy is a Jack Russell.  Puppy is a TALL Jack Russell.  She is all leg and she loves to gleap.  When Puppy first came home, she would build up so much speed she would vault all the way OVER the sofa, then look around wondering what happened.

Puppy loves to greet her family and gleaps with joy as we come home.  This is a difficult trait to train out of any dog.  We have tried the knee thing, which has worked with every other Jack Russell we have ever owned.  Not Puppy.  When I bring my knee up to stop her, she takes that as an invitation to springboard over my shoulder. WHEEEE!

Last evening, I had enough.  As puppy started her gleap in the air, I held my fist out even with my chest.  Puppy’s head met squarely with my fist.  Now, let me just interject in here that I do not advocate beating dogs.  This was not my intention at all.  It was purely an accidental bonk.  Poor Puppy landed squarely on the floor with all legs spread out like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on a sheet of ice.  The eyes were spinning in her bobbling, swirling head.  She literally did not know what hit her. 

As she pulled her legs back underneath of her and built the turbo engines to gleap into the air once again, I shook my fist in the air above her and said, “Down!”

she sat…..

she looked and blink three times….

she laid down flat on the ground.

I won this round.  But when I explained this event to Tall Man, I had a sudden realization.  I will never be able to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with Puppy now.  When I throw Rock, she will instantly become Paper and I will lose.