ring my bell

We have created a monster. We're not sure which of us came up with the bright idea. I think it was after watching an episode of the Dog Whisperer. Zoe had been running to the door, jumping up and then after two seconds when we failed to show up to let her out, she'd decided to piddle on the floor. Good grief.

So we came up with the idea of "bell training" her. Essentially putting some bells on the front door that she could paw or nudge with her nose to let us know that she needed to go outside to go potty.

We were so proud of her when unassisted, she knocked the bells. Rick promptly got up off of the couch and went to let her out. And so for the last two weeks, she's been consistent about nosing the bells and then we let her out to do her business.

But this is where the monster part comes in. She's nudging those damn bells all the time now. And we can't get mad at her. Just yesterday, Rick was at work and I was at his place with the dogs. I had been running errands all day, and had just come home. I immediately let the dogs out and came back inside with my packages from the car. Not twenty minutes went by and I heard the clanking of the bells. I put my shoes on, and trucked it outside with Zoe. She squatted, did her business and we were back on our way in.

Then it couldn't have been more than 15 minutes later....jingle, jingle, jingle. Are you serious? What didn't make it out 15 minutes ago? Put the shoes back on, and we go outside.

Then Rick calls me when he's on his way home from work. Not once, but twice she jingled those bells. Uggh.

Well, on the brightside, I think we can safely say that she's pottytrained. We've also come to grips with the fact that Zoe now has us trained -- pushing buttons and ringing bells.