My Quirky Dog

So I call our dog, Quincy, Houdini, after the great magician. Over the last five years that we have had him, I've watched Quincy break out of his kennel, unzip my diaper bag and steal fruit snacks, remove his really tightly buckled zapper collar a zillion times -- the dog has skills.

He also has an attitude.

Since Quincy pees on the grass and kills it, we've asked him to do his business in the back corner where there is just crab grass. So we open the door, tell him to go all the way back to the back, and hopefully he'll do what he needs to do without killing any more sod.

But lately he has decided that he is too good for the back corner.

And so he'll head out toward the back corner and watch and wait to see if he can fake you out, and then once you're done watching, he pees wherever he wants. Over here, over there, but never where he is supposed to.

I do not get this. I am restricted to peeing in three places in my house, and I am okay with these restrictions. I do not balk against the system and try out the dining room. So what is up with my crazy dog??