Side Effects and Regression

Chibi had reached the point where she would ring the bell at the back door to go pee and poop (only). She had grown past the age where she would use the bell to go outside and just endlessly sniff around the side yard. Since Sumo has started getting better and using the outside for his bathroom, her "go out and sniff endlessly" behavior has returned. I guess it's to be expected, but still counting the days until she grows beyond it again.

Sumo has also discovered the joy of "leaf sniffing and chewing". Chibi did this right from the get go, but he didn't start until a couple days ago. His trips outside USED to be either, pee/poop and bolt back inside, or just bolt back inside ("i dont need to pee/poop dad, lemme back inside!") Now his trips outside include the mandatory, sniff every dead leaf on the ground, pick it up, chew it, spit it out, repeat.

As a side note, Sumo did a little better yesterday. Only one accident. I saw it coming, tried to get to him in time, but didnt quite get there to take him outside. He still doesnt show consistent behavior to go "to the door" like Chibi did, but at least we're getting better at monitoring his patterns and timings. He does have a "fake out" move that is hard to sort out. He acts like he's about to lay down, then sometimes he just stops about 1/8" off the ground and pees...the other times, he just keeps going and lays down. THAT move is the tricky one to figure out. When we try to take him outside when he's actually "laying down", we get the "WTF!?!?!" look from him.

Also starting to notice the dogs are getting more acclimated to each other. They don't HAVE to mess with the other one every waking second of the day or when the other one begins to rest. They play, they argue, they rest (and leave each other alone).

Sumo has also figured out how to "pull" the baby gate door open, so we have to semi latch it. And thanks to Sumo, I noticed that Chibi has no idea that once her pen door is closed (and not latched), she can push it back open. I can put her in the pen, just push the door to the closed position, and she wont try to open it again. (unlike Sumo who knows how to open/close doors in both directions)

i do have a favorite new picture: