Older and wiser

Thanks to my Dad for forwarding on this joke from a friend of his: A wealthy old Gentleman decides to go on a hunting safari in Africa, taking his faithful, elderly Jack Russell along for the company. One day the old Jack Russell starts chasing rabbits and before long, discovers that he's lost. Wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having him for lunch. The old Jack Russell thinks "Oh oh!", and noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on them with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the old Jack Russell exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here." Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. "Phew! says the leopard, "That was close!  That old Jack Russell nearly had me!" Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So off he goes, but the old Jack Russell sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The monkey catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard. The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!" Now, the old Jack Russell sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now?" But instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old Jack Russell says..."Where's that monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!" Moral of this story....Don't mess with the old dogs...age and skill will always overcome youth and treachery! This moral is becoming increasingly important to me...Olly