Potty Habits

Today, we returned to doggie park as Ellen and Lucy are on vacation. The first thing Guinness did when he jumped out of the car was to sniff around a tree, then he lifted his leg and went potty. You may think that is totally normal, but it is not! Guinness does not lift his leg! That was a first. I am not sure that I approve as that behavior can kill plants and squirt places where I may not want it squirted. It made me think about our dogs’ potty habits and how they formed:

Our first dog was Blackberry, a female Cockapoo. Several years later, Andy, a male boxer, joined the family. Apparently, Blackberry taught him to squat to go potty. He never lifted his leg. A few months after Andy died, Hershey came to live with us. He too copied 13 year old Blackberry. Now we have Guinness. We wanted Hershey to train Guinness to be as good a dog as he was, but he didn’t live long enough to conquer Guinness’s vices. One of the few things that Guinness learned from Hershey was to squat.

Guinness has another annoying habit: he still eats his own poo plus his friends’ fresh droppings (sometimes they don’t even get a chance to drop!). When Frank, the dog bone man, and Mattie arrived at the opposite side of the park, Guinness ran to greet them and claim his daily treat. He also did his constitutional duty far from me so that I was unable to rescue it into a bag before it disappeared. As the two humans and two dogs were walking behind the trees, I said, “I hope Guinness doesn’t see that pile of poop and eat it.” Immediately, Guinness turned, found the poop and was going to have a snack, but I beat him complaining, “Do I have to pick up after other dogs?” Ugh! His comprehension skills are greater than I imagined!