Meet Rita

Rita is my resident savant. Rita is one of those dogs that's too smart to be trained easily. She has to consider everything you tell her and decide for herself if it makes sense, and, of course, if it's in her best interest. Rita is very skilled at opening doors and finding ways into the house when she doesn't want to be outside anymore.

Every morning I take all 11 dogs for a walk around the property. Yes, it is absolute chaos for the first few minutes. The whole purpose of these walks is to exercise them and make them tired. I throw sticks for them to chase almost the whole time. They run a lot on our walks and usually come home tired. When we get home I put them all in the yard to relax while I clean the house. Well, Rita doesn't like to be outside a lot, she likes to be close to me most of the time. For some reason she really doesn't want to be outside after our walks. Lately when we come back to the house, while I am busy opening the gate and herding all the other dogs into the yard, Rita goes into the garage. She then opens the door to the house and comes inside. Her sister Margo has figured out what she is doing and sometimes follows her in to the house. Margo likes to be outside more than Rita does so she doesn't follow her in all the time. I've given up on trying to prevent this, I just let her be!