Sit, please

When our dog Walt was a puppy, we trained him to sit each time he was about to walk out the door. It didn't last, but the result was that sitting is often how he lets us know he wants to go out (or come back in) -- he sits facing the door and waits silently for someone to notice him. When we're occupied with Isaac, it can take a while. Sometimes Walt decides it isn't worth the wait and goes back to the couch. Otherwise, after about five minutes he'll tap the door with his paw or whine quietly.

When we began using baby gates in our house, we decided to have the same rule -- if Walt wants to go through a closed gate, he's supposed to sit. He doesn't always sit on his own, however. Sometimes he stands on the other side of the gate, staring at me, as many minutes pass, and I'm not sure if he really wants to come through or if he's just checking out the scene. I don't want to be his doggie butler unnecessarily, so I often ask him, "Walt, if you want to come in, what are you supposed to do?" I ask him obliquely because I don't want to just command him to sit -- then he will, and the question of whether he actually wanted to come through the gate remains unanswered. If he didn't actually want to, then I'm just going to have to open the gate again in 30 seconds to let him back to the other side. As I said, doggie butler.

So a few days ago I asked Walt, "If you want to come in, what do you do?" He sat. And at the same time, Isaac said, "Please!"

Of course. Isaac just learned please this week, and when I prompt him to say it, I've been asking him a very similar-sounding question: "If you want xyz, what do you say?" So I told Isaac that he was right, and I also explained that Walt says please by sitting.

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Please sounds like peees, with a drawn-out E and a barely audible S. It's often prefaced by the word more, which sounds like mo. "Mo peee! Mo peee!" has become a common refrain around our house, because Isaac loves to say it. And why not? He still thinks it's a great game, a truly magic word, as it makes Mama very excited and usually garners him rich rewards -- like raisins, milk, and tickles. But he'll soon learn that it doesn't always work, as there are a few things that it hasn't delivered -- like the pepper grinder, peanut butter on toast, and an extra dose of that delicious cherry-flavored Tylenol.