I love Molly. She is a very important part of our family. While she is still better behaved than most dogs, she has started pushing her limits. When we tell her to come inside, she pauses, thinks, gives us a look and then she comes inside. When we tell her to sit, she takes three steps toward us and then she sits. Evan has started aggressively demanding a walk around our neighborhood just before bed each night. Molly loves to go along on the walks. She stays a few steps away from Evan while he peeks inside every drainage ditch, overturned trash can and hole. She circles around Evan as he treats every flower bed border as a walking challenge and she smells every flower that Evan threatens to pick. Amy stays a few inches from my side and talks. And talks some more.

Last night we went out on our late evening walk and Doug asked Molly to sit. She stepped toward him a few steps and then she sat. The more Molly didn’t sit immediately, the more frequently Doug interrupted our walk to ask her to sit. “Molly, sit.” Step, step, step, sit. “Andthishousehasflowersjustliketheonebackthereexcepttheyareadifferentcolorand…” “All done. Good dog.” Every few houses, we repeated the same scenario. “andtheyhadtositatthefilingcabinetcausetheywouldn’twaittheirturnand…” “Molly, sit.” Step, step, step, sit. We were halfway home before we realized that every time Doug told Molly to sit, Evan sat and waited for the “all done” cue. Maybe I should give up on potty training and let Doug housebreak Evan instead.