May 28, 2020

White Dog has made a game out of trying to help convince her brother to use the dog door to go OUT when he feels the urge. Tizenegy happily follows Steve to the kitchen door to go out and returns back inside through the dog door. But it means Steve must always notice when Tiz is getting fidgety which indicates he need to go.

Our big happy spirit uses the dog door to go OUT only at bedtime after treats when he gets a running start and Steve's cheering (Come on! ALL the way out!) to push him through and he returns in an instant for a reward treat and to head to bed. This method ONLY works at the specific time; we have tried other scenarios to no effect.

Of late, White Dog, who shares Tiz's office, has made a dramatic show of stretching when she stands and announcing that she is heading out. She personally invites her brother to come along and stands telegraphing the expectation that he WILL join her. If needed she moves closer and repeats her request more urgently. Tiz sighs and clambers upright then follows her down the hall into the bedroom and let's her step up and through the door. HE stops standing on the little ramp there to make it easier for the shorter and less agile to step over the threshold. White Dog pokes her head back through the door flap in encouragement but at this point Tizenegy usually turns around and heads back to his bed. Hopefully he does not stop in the hallway to leave a puddle.

In a stroke of genius this morning WD solicited the help of Zsofia who was lying on the bed watching me work. White Dog brought Tizenegy to the boundary between in and out before he froze as usual. Except THIS time, Zso was right on his tail pressing him to move on so SHE could exit. Tizenegy had no choice but to hop through to the outside.

I applauded the girls for their maneuver but wondered if they would be able to catch him unaware in the future. "Don't worry, momma," WD said, "we ALL have some ideas to try." I knew I didn't need to remind them, "No hurting or ridiculing."