Success

• Belle comes immediately when called about 75% of the time (up from 0% two weeks ago). Overall, she comes 100% of the time, but her dawdling is now very short.

• Belle can open the refrigerator using the handle hooky thingy we were given. She can also open the oven door some of the time, but she's working on getting that perfect. She especially likes pushing both shut after she opens them.

• Belle knows our yard boundaries perfectly now. No amount of distraction can tempt her to cross the invisible fence. I even watched her wait expectantly when her favorite neighbors walked by to see if they would cross the fence line to come and pet her. Wow! I was worried about that one - to her, those kids are to die for!

• Belle graduated from her kennel at night to her rug at the foot of my bed. When she hears me stir in the morning, she comes over and rests her head next to mine until I scritch her and get up. (The best part of this is Ole can no longer use her kennel as a launching pad to the top of our highboy and wardrobe. I don't know what was worse - when he made the leap and scattered everything on top, or when he missed and splatted everything on his way down.)

(Can you see those invisible bullets above?)