Milo is making me insane, I swear! There are just two things really that get on my very last nerve.
First, I swear he hates pooping. He absolutely will NOT go until he's just about to have an ass-ident! So we make 235879345702874362 trips outside with no poop. But, those trips are like five minutes apart because I know his schedule and I know "the look". He's been this way ever since I got him. When you factor in his anxiety and us moving to a new place, it's even worse. Milo refuses to go where he can smell another dog has gone. It's like the other dog left a message that says, "Do not go here!" and he's saying, "Mom, I can't. They said so." It's been a struggle trying to get him to find his own zone.
Second, all I can say sometimes is..."Damn scent hounds!!!!!" Maisy is simply curious about what she smells, Milo is obsessed!! He tracks. He'd be a brilliant hunting dog because he won't lose that scent for anything. And if he doesn't get what he's smelling for, he just keeps tracking the same path over and over again. Well, we have squirrels everywhere here. And, we have trees everywhere. That means squirrel smell suddenly leaves the ground and goes to the tree and he loses the scent. I had to drag him back in a little while ago because instead of pooping, he was busy tracking. He has spent the last half hour hitting the bells on the door asking to go out again. I finally took him out the back door and was successful in getting him to poop. As soon as we came back inside, right to the front door and hitting the bells again.
This dog knows hitting the bells is to ask to go outside. HOORAY he gets it. Now, if I could just get him to do when he's SUPPOSED to do it and not just when he feels like it.
Sometimes I have to just repeat, "I love him, I love him, I love him..." over and over again in my head while telling him, "Milo! Knock it off before I eat your hot dog self!"