Thinking Allowed: Puppy training

Alas, we have not bought a puppy. Not that we ever intended to, although after watching some rescue dogs train I think I would enjoy having one of those as a pet. The puppy I am referring to is Zadie. With her puppy dog eyes and loyal cuddles she far exceeds any expectations we would ever have of a real puppy. Tova even seems to be training her to drink from a bowl on the floor like a puppy. And like all cute puppies there is always an element of potty training involved. I have been a little lazy in my potty training efforts. With Tova all it took was a week of bribery with chocolate chips and we were done. Zadie seemed to be keen on the chocolate, madly in love with her potty (when we leave town the only reason she wants to go home is because she misses the potty) but also perplexed as to what all the fuss is about when she can currently pee in her diaper wherever whenever she pleases. And I haven't really pushed the whole process because the thought of extra washing of clothes and floors and carseats is exhausting.

Last week Zadie announced out of the blue that she was done with diapers and was only going to wear underwear. Oh. Good thing Zadie made the decision for me. And so she did. And it has gone surprisingly smoothly. I still have to convince her to wear a diaper for long car rides and naps but those diapers generally don't get wet. It is like the chocolate bribe just clicked. She is now she is making up for lost time. I have spent the last week both awed by her and also exhausted by her frequent demands to go to the potty. I think to myself, can she really need to pee 10 minutes later. But then she does and is overjoyed. Jumping up and down. Running back and forth naked. Eating chocolate. Running and jumping some more and then back to the potty. Really who needs a pet anyway with this much house trained cuteness.