Wacky Wednesday Running

Nothing is funnier at the end of the work day than coming home to a pent up little Jack who cannot stop himself from racing around the house burning pent up energy. Watching him is a great stress release for me and I LOL at the rowdiness of it. Sonny tears it up by running back and forth as fast as he can up the stairs, onto the bed doing a quick turn on the comforter jumping off and running back down again in a loop that he doesn't stop until he's exhausted. The sight and the sound of it are sooo funny and cute!

His bursting around the house is one of only a few ways he can stretch his legs when he can't get outside due to the weather. Another is "cat and mouse" ball; it's one of our funnest games. I throw the ball up the stairs and when he chases after it, I run the other way and try to hide before he makes it back down. He's usually much faster than I am, but every once in a while I manage to make it to another room or around a corner where he has to look for me. It's good exercise for both of us.

Life would be too calm, quiet and boring without this handsome fun little guy in the in our lives.

Sonny School Sunday - Who's teaching Who

Today was a challenging day with Sonny.  He's been kind of bored lately and I have been kind of tired and a bit lazy when it comes to continued training. He tries my patience on many different levels and I fear he's wearing me out. At the dog park today there were no other dogs for him to play with. I pulled out the ball to play our first game of catch outside, ever, and it turned into a game of catch, run back toward me, run past and drop the ball beyond, ignoring it completely.

There are really only a handful of things that cause me stress when it comes to Sonny and his training. Things he knows, but doesn't obey: 1. come, 2. no bite, 3. no jump, and 4. drop. Drop and come are generally used simultaneously after he grabs an object and runs completely ignoring "come" and "drop." It's frustrating beyond comprehension sometimes and it's all I can do not to lose my temper. It makes me question what the hell I have done and/or are doing wrong.

I have to remind myself that you can't reason with a dog, especially a Jack Russell Terrier who is strong willed and determined to try and go his way. In his way, he reminds me that with patience and tolerance we will get past these challenging times. Because there are times when he does pause long enough to let me know he's thinking about doing the right thing and there are times when he actually does, sort of.

I also keep reminding myself that we are closer to the end of the puppy months and maturity will set in. Until then, patience and tolerance. Patience and tolerance. Patience and tolerance.