Uphill?

My morning began at 5:00, when I proceeded to press the snooze button in my sleep for twenty minutes, only fully waking up the third time I pressed it, at 5:20, before....going back to sleep for the next ten minutes. Exciting, right? I finally dragged myself out of bed at 5:30, pulled on some jeans, and got the dogs ready for their walk. Preston and I have been carrying Ness through the (incredibly long) hallway and down the (six flights of) stairs when we take her out, because although she's clearly learning that the apartment is not the place to take a leak, she doesn't quite seem to understand that the hallway does not equal outside, where she is showered with love and nuzzles and puppy treats when she pees. HOWEVER, she's getting kind of big. And I'm kind of not strong. Plus, balancing a squirming puppy with one hand and trying to control another 50 pound dog with the other is kind of tricky, I've found.

So this morning, my body still aching for sleep, I decided that maybe, just maybe, I would let her trot down the (very long) hallway and the (six flights of) stairs all by her big girl self. And she almost did an A+ job. I mean really. We were SO almost there.

However, all of a sudden, merely one flight of stairs from the door to the outside, I was in front of her, the leash was taut behind me, and sure enough, she was peeing on the staircase. NOOOOOOOOOO I shrieked, quickly picking her up midstream, because all of my big fancy books tell me that if you say NOOOOOOOOOO and look disapprovingly, the puppy will just magically hold the rest of the pee in. Well, they are lying.

Ness did not stop midstream, but continued to pee down my jeans and onto my clogs until we finally got outside, when she was ready to play, since all the pee was gone! Because it was on my jeans! And my shoes!

So that's how my day began. Here's hoping that that wasn't the peak.