So it's fall, which means (among other things) that the leaves are falling off the trees (at least where I live). Which Means they have to be raked, which isn't something I enjoy. But my life isn't primarily about my enjoyment, so that's not a problem. So out i go to rake, and it's really windy. Which isn't a problem either, the wind does most of the work anyways, I just need to get the leaves started in the right direction. The problem is our dog.
She has the incredible bright idea to jump up in the air and bite the leaves while I'm raking. Which wouldn't be a problem if she could avoid the rake. But she doesn't so just about every rake of the rake I'm hitting her in the face. Now whils I can't say I love this dog, nor can I say I want to cause it harm, so I can't be hitting it in the face. So as I saw it I had one of two options: I could change how I was raking, which would cause the job to take much longer then it was going to, or I could send the dog inside while I raked. I choose to send her inside.
Well she won't have any of that, she was clearly having too much to go in. And any commands I gave her were ignored. So I thwapped her with the rake directly. Can't say I'm proud of it, but it did work. She went from happy playful to cowering scared in two thwaps. Which I'm sure did a lot less damage then all thoses rakes in the face would have. At which point it was a simple job of grabbing her collar and taking her in. I finished up raking with no further difficulties.
Now what I'm wondering is if any of you peoples out there have any suggestions on how to get the dog to follow directions a little bit better. She's a yellow lab, about four years old.