I've read all about it: how dogs become jealous of the attention the baby gets. They start to misbehave in an attempt to recapture their master's attention. I suspected that Neon and Pasta would have an attitude problem, since so much of my time is spent on Colette. It's just that after the first couple of months I figured that I was wrong and that the dogs were going to be fine.

Until last week.

For about a week now they've been pooping in their cage at night. Every night. They haven't done that since they were puppies (five years ago). And it's not like there are any other signs of their unhappiness. They're all excited to see me in the morning, and not just because they're about to get out of their stinky cage. They don't even seem to care when I yell at them.

Last night I played with them for hours, hoping they'd feel better and get back to normal. It was fun, but it didn't work. This morning the cage was nastier than it's ever been.

So tonight Jean and I have talked about alternatives. The den has a doggie door, and I proposed leaving them loose in the den so they could go outside when the urge hits them. But if we let them have access to the back yard they'd bark all night long, ruining not only our night, but our neighbors' too. We have an extra cage out back and I could leave them in that, except they'd howl all night thinking I'd forgotten them. So we're putting them back into the inside cage where they always sleep, and I'm dreading what I'll find in the morning.

Stupid dogs. I love them to death, but days and nights like these are no fun at all.