[Dailydrool] Cleo needs advice

[Pamela McQuade via Dailydrool]

Dear Droolers: 
This is Cleo, the Dashing Basset foster. I am so cute, as you know if 
you've been on my foster mama's FB page. I love to do the Basset 500, 
especially in the morning, after I've gotten out of the crate. I adore 
humans, and I even get along with the cat, as long as he doesn't smack 
me with his claws. I think I am the perfect hound.



I had a mama, but she got sick and couldn't take care of me and my 
siblings, so I came to live here while Tri-State found me a home. I miss 
my fenced-in yard, but there are compensations here. I get homemade 
treats and really good food. I even got the mama to change foods 
recently, to help my yucky ears.



Mama is the trainer around here. Two clueless boy hounds also live in MY 
house, and they obviously needed a girl to show them how to live. So I 
took on the task. The mama did not like the way I did that (evidently 
biting their ears was a no-no), so she started training me how to be 
nice. I didn't much like the way she did that, but I finally decided I'd 
better give in, before I found myself out in the cold on a hot night.



Well, as you can imagine, after going to all that trouble, I decided 
that I had already found my home. I started letting the mama know about 
that. (Since she spends the most time with me, I figured she was the 
first one to tell.) Didn't take long for her to get the message.



But there was a problem. The male human here seems to want perfect 
outdoor pottying. I get it "right" occasionally, but with all the other 
things I was learning, mama couldn't focus on this too. She says I would 
have gotten confused or bummed out or something. Not that she didn't 
take me out often, I just made sure we were on different schedules.



So guess who is having more "lessons"? Mama says that if I can improve 
on this really fast, she may be able to get the papa to agree to adopt 
me.



I do not understand why it matters where I peep and poop. Can someone 
tell me? The mama says she is sure that once I relax a bit, I may be 
able to get her message; but I am terribly confused. Why does this 
matter so much to humans? Is it worth doing it her way to be able to 
stay here? Why doesn't every basset home have a fenced yard? And why 
would she say that it doesn't matter if they did fence in the yard, 
since the neighbors' cats would still poop in it? What does all of this 
mean?



I heard the mama say she wanted to make me some homemade jerky treats 
today. I sure love them! If I went elsewhere, would I get them? I didn't 
get them in my last home.



It's not that the male human is awful. I love to cuddle with him on the 
couch, and the mama says I've been making up to him something fierce. 
But it has not worked. He hasn't budged.



Am I missing something? How do I get to make him let me stay?

Cleo, who so badly wants to be a permanent Dashing Basset