Thursday, December 03, 2009

Who Pooped on the Rug This Morning?

Dang. Just when I thought we had it all under control.
A couple of days ago I decreed that Bartlett was finally housebroken. She had learned to find a way to tell us when she needed to relieve herself. (Wriggling, scratching, a sharp intelligent look if we asked if she wanted to go outside.)
We thought she was empty this morning and gave her a bit of unsupervised floor time.
I was way down at one end of the house (see, this isn't MY fault) and Cranky was doing something in the kitchen. He heard Bartlett barking at the door.
Bartlett doesn't know how to bark at the door! Whatever could it have meant? Nothing, right?
Shortly afterward, she came to tell me she had to pee. So I took her out, and *jackpot.* I even rewarded her with a treat. Jeez, peeing for cookies.
When we went back inside, Bartlett walked over to a suspicious brown lump on the rug near the door. A poop! In the house!
To her credit, two things: She tried to get somebody to open the door when it was necessary. And she made sure I found the fresh, quivering mass before somebody stepped in it.
What a good girl!

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooops! These little accidents do happen. A tiny word of caution on the cookies (from my bad experience), the cookies kind of ensure they want to go outside all the time... even if they don't need to ~

Anonymous said...

Ooops! These little accidents do happen. A tiny word of caution on the cookies (from my bad experience), the cookies kind of ensure they want to go outside all the time... even if they don't need to ~

Greg said...

Don't you love life's little surprises!

Mommy, I'm Home said...

Not to mention what a cute girl...

Ms Brown Mouse said...

I'd say this sort of thing never happens with cats, but that would be a LIE!

J-in-Wales said...

Ah bless her. She did her best.
Not her fault that her humans aren't fully trained yet!

Cali said...

Ah, for the want of a doggie door, she would be house trained.

Zoomie said...

Oh.my.heavens. Just look at that face. I'm in love.

cookiecrumb said...

Zia: Fantastic bit of advice. Just minutes before I read your comment, I had Bartlett outside for a wee-wee. When she accomplished it, she looked at me pleadingly for a cookie. No cookie for you! Thanks, Z.

Greg: I guess it could be worse. But... what's worse than an animal doing Number Two in your house? :D

Mommy: Well, thank goodness for that. Actually, she's cute-ugly, which is very endearing.

Mouse: For cats, it's sort of semantic, isn't it? "I pooped here because my tray needs changing." Like that.

J-in-Wales: Hi. Yes, she's striving to learn (and teach), and it's so satisfying. We love being her pupils.

Cali: Whoo! If we could put a doggie door in, we'd be gold. I'm not sure how it would work with these dual-pane sliding doors... Must investigate. Thank you!

Zoomie: She has an interesting esthetic quality, I will grant you. She's getting closer and closer to meeting company; hang in there.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but I don't think she did it.

I think what really happened was a stray dog got into the house when no one was looking, and left its mark.

She couldn't have.
Just look at those eyes... :-)

Zoomie said...

No hurry, this love will wait. I am amazed by the symmetry of her markings, right down to the little chin whiskers.

Chilebrown said...

Ahh, just blame it on Cranky!

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Cookie, mostly it's a punishment for lax litter tray cleanage but we also have a senile siamese who just "forgets" now and again.

Zoomie said...

The Cadillac?

cookiecrumb said...

Bewitch: Great excuse! I ought to have a dog tag made up for her: "I Didn't Do It"

Zoomie: Wait till you see her back! There's a slight hint of it in the photo -- she has twin angel wings right under her shoulder blades. As she matures, these markings are getting more prominent.

Chilebrown: No thanks! I've seen his poops. Wouldn't go near one with a bulldozer.

Mouse: Senile! Oh. Nature is too hard.

Zoomie: Yes, Tiger Woods's Cadillac. Crunch.

Chilebrown said...

I just saw an episode of 'Emeril Green'. The theme was gluten free. I do not know if you are a fan of the 'King of food TV'. Emeril has taken a lot of punches and it showes. He is shillin for Whole Foods, but I do not care. He is one of my food heroes, just like you. I was just wanted to let you know.

Unknown said...

Good Girl! She is trying to do the right thing.

cookiecrumb said...

Chilebrown: Oh, very cool. I have a love-hate relationship with Emeril. We all do. I will try to look up that show. (I like him enough to do that.)
Merci.

Lannae: Thanks for the positive thinking. I spent a morose evening last night; barely slept overnight because I wasn't sure she was waterproof (if you get my meaning). Today she is an absolute doll.

Nancy said...

The pup is so adorable. It's hard to scold them after they do naughty things because of sad puppy eyes like those!

cookiecrumb said...

Nancy: Agreed. And the wisdom among the professional trainers is that you shouldn't scold them after, anyway. They just wouldn't understand unless you catch them in the act.

magic wallet said...

umm...she is SOOOO cute :) how could you get mad at a face like that!!

seantimberlake said...

She IS a good girl! Reese is pretty good at letting us know when she needs to go out, but accidents do happen. Once in a while I think they're not accidents so much as laziness or unwillingness to go out on the cold or rain. Whaddayado.

cookiecrumb said...

Sean: Thank goodness we had a few months of dry weather to train her.
She IS a good dog! She can't wait to meet Reese.