The pooch has figured out that there are good things on kitchen countertops. She hasn’t been much for standing up and looking around since she moved in, but this afternoon I found her standing next to a cupboard, neck outstretched and nose sniffing a mile a minute.

I’m not sure whether this is good or bad news.

The other thing she’s done after a couple of accidents is (fingers crossed) understand that she needs to leave her little blessings outdoors. That’s great. I gently move her outside first thing in the morning, she does her job, and she comes back in. Today, though, she left it in a place she hadn’t been before, which meant I didn’t see it, which meant she had to stay out about twenty minutes longer than she wanted. I told her I’d get her some little flags so she could plant one near her output, but she expressed little interest in them. She’s getting a little better about the back yard, though; she’ll wander around under the mango tree and along the hedge for a little while before coming back to the door, which is more than she did last week.