My Foster Dog Took a Selfie. Of His Bum.

Yes, you read that right. My former foster dog, Bentley - a tiny Yorkshire terrier - took a photo of his own bum. Even better, he did it almost two months ago without my knowledge, and I only just discovered it yesterday. He’s been adopted for weeks, and now I find this mystery photo sitting in my files.

Want to see this selfie (annotated for your convenience)?

This 12-pound dog jumped onto my office chair, climbed onto my desk, and walked all over on my keyboard and mouse, accidentally opening the camera and snapping a photo. I nearly cried laughing when I found it yesterday. I texted my brother and all my friends to share the ridiculousness. Then I checked the timestamp on the file: September 17th, 5:52 p.m.

Ohhh… That rang a bell. On September 17th, I was doing last minute prep for my 7pm Peaceful Walks workshop (which many of you attended!), juggling slides and Zoom audio checks. Then, I got a text from the dog rescue, saying that a potential adopter for Bentley wanted to talk. Glancing at the clock, I ran downstairs to find my husband for a phone call with Bentley’s future adopter.

In my rush, I forgot to put the baby gate up to my home office. Even worse, I’d left a half-eaten pudding cup on my desk. So, while I was downstairs chatting away, Bentley seized the opportunity - pudding theft, caught on camera, butt edition.

In dog training, we talk about “management”: setting up the environment to prevent mischief while our dog is still learning good habits - baby gates, closed trash cans, food out of reach, etc. And yet, there I was, a professional dog trainer, forgetting my own rule.

I found the empty pudding cup, and Bentley was fine (a call to the vet confirmed), but the experience reminded me how easy it is to miss a step when life gets busy. You better believe I'll be vigilant with that baby gate around food, for future foster dogs.