Friday, February 11, 2011

Rain

Benjamin

Yesterday morning, when I got up to feed the dogs, I could hear the rain beating down on the roof. I knew in about 5 minutes, after the pugs finished scarfing down their breakfast, they weren't going to be happy campers.

The morning routine is that after they finish eating, the pugs let themselves out through the doggie door and go potty in the yard. They promptly return to bed after that.

As I stumbled around still bleary eyed, I heard Benjamin go out through the doggie door. Less than one second later, he came right back in. He stood there looking around, weighing his options. Could he hold it and go right back to bed? Probably not, because just knowing that it is raining outside makes Benny have to go potty. Would I allow him to pee through the screen from the cover of the lanai? That was a risky move because he knows how I feel about the boys peeing on the screens.

So, I told him we would do our summer thunderstorm potty trick. I would take him out front and he could go potty on some flowers by the front door while remaining under cover. Except that it is not summer and the flowers that the pugs normally potty on have all but shriveled up and died because of the cold winter weather.

Knowing what he is supposed to do, but not having the flowers he likes to pee on, Benjamin is pacing. Finally he gets up the courage to sprint out to one of the flowers, go potty real quick and sprint back. I open the door and he runs as fast as he can back to bed.

Seeing the ordeal that Benjamin just had, Luna decides that she can hold it and promptly goes back to bed. I know she can, so I let her go back to bed without going potty.

Henry, on the other hand, proceeds out the doggie door, business as usual. He may or may not even notice that it is raining. Either way, it doesn't matter, because he doesn't care. He is his usual dawdling self. He eventually, comes back in, very wet from his time in the yard and hops back into bed. I encourage him to lay next to Ben.