I’m practicing having [Ruby] sit when people approach while we’re out walking. A couple of weeks ago a runner was coming up a hill as we were going down. I had her sit and then I stepped on her leash so I could do open bar hands-free. After he passed, I made the mistake of removing my foot from the leash before I grabbed the handle. Well, in that very moment she got a terrible case of the zoomies and went bouncing down the hill like a popcorn kernel. Of course, my immediate reaction was to start running after her shouting “Ruby! Ruby!”. I don’t need to tell you how (in)effective that was. I had to think fast and the only thing I could think to do was 123. So, I started counting. “One…two…,” and as I took a breath in to say three, she whipped around with a big goofy smile and came galloping towards me, “I know this game! I know this game!” I would probably still be chasing her through the neighborhood if it weren’t for that game. 🙂
