good puppy!

I've been emphasizing to Lucy that I don't want her coming into the bathroom. I say "emphasize" because I didn't mean to teach her; it's just that every time she came in, I'd shoo her out and tell her to stay (this is mostly out of my own phobia of bathrooms; I try not to spend unnecessary time in bathrooms, so I don't want my dog to, either). Just now, I went to the bathroom to pee, and (okay, this part is embarrassing...) I left the door open because sometimes Lucy whines when she can't find me. And, there's no one else home. So anyway, I'm peeing, and Lucy likes to wait by the door for me, except this time, she had her new tennis ball with her, which accidentally dropped and rolled just inside the bathroom. I could tell Lucy was torn between following the rules and retrieving her beloved toy, because she looked at her ball, then at me, then back at her ball, but must have decided that she HAD to rescue her toy because she stealthily reached in and tried to paw it towards herself, but in her haste, pushed it in farther. So she dashed half way in but pushed it farther still, then got scared and dashed back out. Trying again, she dashed in, pushed it away, got scared, and ran back out... where she obediently stayed, staring at her ball.

Meanwhile, I'm laughing at her and praising her at the same time, and trying to pee as fast as I can so that I can give her back her ball, which she very happily received when I was done with my business. What a good puppy; I'm so impressed with her quick learning! (I guess it's redemption for the poop I found in the corner of the living room earlier today!)