Staying up a bit late when I should be asleep and looking forward to a weekend in Dallas for the Texas State Fair. Bella is curled up beside me, as usual, with her bottom on one of her toys. I don't understand what is it about dogs and jumping on the nearest comfy thing? Towel dropped on the ground=pug bed. Bath mat=pug bed. Scarf = pug bed. Fuzzy Bone= pug bed. 

It's a strange thing trying to figure out what goes on in those pug brains. My mom says Bella has me wrapped around her little paw. I don't think so, but sometimes I wonder if there is more to what my dog does than meets the eye.

The other day, I took Bella out for her morning potty break. She would not pee. She went number 2, and since she's one to squat a few times to... (GROSS OUT ALERT) "get it all out", I didn't look close enough to check to see if she pee'd shortly after.  So we walked around for about 15 more minutes waiting for Bella to go find a patch of grass to finish her business She was pulling and up to her old tricks the entire time. She wanted to bark at a dog, go to the far side of the small field that we live next to, the spoiledness in her just came out that morning.

I picked her up and went inside, only then did I realize her bottom was wet with urine. She had pee'd, I just missed it (so much for looking away to give her some pooping privacy).  She sat down as I took off her harness and waited diligently for her treat. I always give Bella  a treat when she comes back inside, just as a reminder that coming home is a good thing. Also, to reinforce that pottying outside gets her a treat. I hope that's how it is working. Well, I was so frustrated with this little girl that I told her to "GO TO THE ROOM!" to which she ran under the bed ("the room" used to be the bathroom, but guess who realized I never have the time to pull her out from underneath the bed when it's time for me to leave?). And I didn't give her a treat. Now, the treat is just a pinch of some doggy snacks. They are small training bits, so a pinch of them isn't much, but Bella still sits and begs for them with her big puggy eyes every time. I felt a bit guilty for not giving her a parting treat, but she made me angry. 

Then when I came home, I heard the sound I've come to know only as, The Poop Scream. When we lived in our last apartment, I knew that Bella pooped in the tub based on a relatively high pitched and choppy succession of yelps she'd belt out when she heard us get home. I don't know why exactly, she does it, but she does. Then I walked in to see a few small turds loving deposited on my bedroom carpet. Bella pooped, inside. I looked at her and she ran around the apartment, darting far from her "little gifts". I was mad, at first, then I thought about what a strange coincidence it all was. Bella isn't prone to accidents. She is a good girl and unless I'm being a bad momma by keeping her cooped up longer than she should be, she's not going to potty inside the home. It all came together when I remembered the missed treat. 

She had already pooped, but she didn't get her treat. Was it, dare I say, a revenge poop? I try to think of it realistically. Dogs get stressed when they think their owner is unhappy with them, so she was probably stressed when I didn't give her a treat before leaving? Stressed dogs sometimes use the restroom outside out of stress, not because they are mad, as some people assume. I had read about it before, and really had taken it as the truth. BUT...this is Bella we're talking about. The same Bella that puts her paws on the ottoman while sitting her butt on the couch, a dog that will show affection to those who ignore her and give those calling her name the cold shoulder and stare at them as she does it, the pug that sleeps with her head on a pillow when she feels like it and kick me when I get too close. It's Bella, the one and only Smella. Usually, when someone says their dog goes inside when they're "mad" I think they just don't understand dog behavior, but now, that I've seen it, I'm not so sure what to think.