I like to tell myself that Ella will eventually “outgrow” certain bad behaviors as she gets older - you know, naturally. As a mature pup, she just won’t jump on people anymore, won’t incessantly try to climb in my lap while I’m eating, won’t bark like a mad pup at 6am because she’s pissed I went to the bathroom and left her in bed…clearly these are all things that puppies just stop doing with age. Right?

All together now: “Yes, Tricia…absolutely…no need to do a thing…in fact, another thing she’ll surely just grow out of is pulling on the leash and chasing after squirrels…you just sit and relax and time will do the training for you”.

Thanks, everyone, for your validation and assurance. I needed that.

One thing I’m wondering though…when will she start to outgrow her obsession with toilet paper? I thought for a moment that, now that Ella has officially hit 6 months of age, it was time to bring the toilet paper down from the ceiling and try keeping it in its proper place - on the roll next to the toilet.

Apparently, on the roll next to the toilet is not YET the proper place for the toilet paper.

Add to that - behind the toilet on the floor is CERTAINLY not the proper place to store the extra rolls of toilet paper in a partially opened bag.

Let’s mark Ella’s progress together with regard to TP, shall we?

Here she is at 2 months: (ok true, this was with Bounty, not Cottonelle, but crack is crack)

And here at 3-and-a-half months:

And, oh, look how far she’s come at 6 months of age:

And in case you weren’t getting the lack of control I have over Ella’s addiction, here’s a clip to send the point home…

Maybe I’ll just ship her off to rehab if she’s not over it (”naturally”) in another month or so…this is New York…I’m sure there’s a toilet paper rehab for dogs somewhere in this city…