bathroom

Today I would like to talk about the subject of my animals always finding the need to use the bathroom wherever they feel it necessary. With three small dogs and one cat in a very small house, this does not leave much space for them to hide their little 'presents' for us to find. My husband and I raised two large Newfoundland dogs for years until their passing, when I decided that it was too difficult for me to lose such a large animal. When my second newfie, Jersey, died, I felt like a piece of me went along with her. I was completely heart broken.
  Years later my daughter begged me for a small breed dog and I finally gave in, telling her that the puppy would be her responsibility, thinking that I would not get too attached this time. Wrong! That little dog, which we named Rodeo, became the center of my life, just as my other animals had in the past. Since that time we have brought in two additional multi poos, bringing the number of canines in my home to three. The only thing that I didn't know about small breed dogs is that they never really seem to get the full understanding of outdoor bathroom through their heads. This is why many mornings, as I stumble through the house on my way to the coffee pot, eyes half open, I have stepped in more 'tootsie rolls', as Doug likes to call them, than I can remember. In fact I'm so used to this now that it does not even phase me. I just grab a piece of toilet paper, pick up the mess and move on with my morning.
  The one instance that sticks out in my head though is when my daughter's cat decided for a few days that the bathtub was his litter box. Now this made me laugh. My husband was on the toilet at the time, doing his own business, and all of a sudden we hear him roaring with laughter. He is a funny person but bathroom time is not a usual time when humor comes into play. I was almost afraid to ask what was going on in there, and he shouted out that while he was on the toilet, he suddently heard a huge noise coming from the bathtub and he pulled back the shower curtain to find that Leo the cat was taking a number two, right next to him in the tub! This brought impecible laughter to our house, but also a little bit of fear that he might attempt to pull this off on a regular basis.
  A few days later, when I was trying to enjoy a quiet cup of coffee in the living room, I look up to see Leo climbing in the pot of my palm tree sitting in the living room. I knew as soon as I saw him digging, that he had a plan in mind, and because of his recent bathtub incident, he was not to be trusted. I scooped him up and put him in the litter box. Now I sort of understand why my dogs walk by that plant and sniff the dirt all of the time and I also get why the palm tree is not doing as well as it had been a few months prior to the cat's arrival at our house.
  I'm hoping that Leo now understands the proper proceedure for his bathroom breaks, but I know that little dog ownership will be a continous trail for me with their droppings!