One of the many awesome things about the senior house pooch Sumner is his understanding of the boundaries of the yard. He does not ever have to be leashed at home and honors fully the expectations about where he can and cannot go. But as a newcomer, his adopted sister Scarlett has a long way to go, not least of all because she is still a young and energetic and impulsive puppy. Ah, but she is making some progress, and as we head into April I can at last report a shift in my confidence about her capacity to abide by Sumner's excellent example. She's been allowed off-leash more and more and has done wonderfully. However, she's also not yet been really tested, whether by a darting squirrel or by the unexpected circumstance of a passerby with another pup. But that's going to be a necessary part of the training: the breaking of the perimeter rule, the strong rebuke, the shaming or the shunning, the sharp tone to sound the trouble warning bell. We'll just have to hope her dart or dash does not coincide with a speeding FedEx truck.
Also, her patient posting at the top of the stairs whenever she's waiting for someone to return to the third floor mancave is adorable.
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