Stupid Pet Tricks

It's raining today which is quite a welcome change. I love long, lazy rainy days. My dog Checkers, on the other hand, isn't so crazy about rain. When we get up in the morning of course she needs to go out. So we go to the back door, the one that leads into the backyard which is HER territory; she takes one look at the sodden deck, the soggy grass and locks her little Bulldog legs. Uh uh. I'm not going out there. Are you crazy? She looks up at me with huge round eyes in stubborn determination.

I'm all Come on puppy! Let's go! Nope. Locked legs.

So I learned this trick long ago. If it's raining out the back door, there's nothing to say that it's raining out the FRONT door. I grab the leash and give the old You wanna go for a walk?! and she's all crazy and hyper and Of course I do! I snap on the leash, pop up the umbrella, and off we go. It takes her to about the end of the driveway to catch on that she's been duped. It works every time.