Thy words are too precious to be cast away upon curs

My dog, Kiara, often pees in the house to get back at me when I leave her home alone. She's been doing this pretty much since I got her six years ago, although it is worse now, probably because of our recent move. She was abandoned twice before she was a year old, so she's got some issues. Notwithstanding the last six years of not being abandoned.

Since it doesn't get that cold here, I've taken to just bringing her along every time we leave the house, and leaving her in the car while we go in the store or whatever. She barks the entire time, but at least she doesn't pee in the car. So, in my current life as a stay-at-home mom, I don't go anywhere without my entourage: dog and toddler.

But before I started doing that, when we would come home to find the telltale puddle, I would of course yell at Kiara, believing it necessary to let her know this is not acceptable, however hopeless it seems. So that's the background.

The other day when Nugget was throwing a tantrum about something or other, I sat him down for a discussion about appropriate ways of showing anger, I said: we don't yell when we're angry. You see where this is going, right? He said, "Mommy yell at Kiara?" Busted.