You know already how smart Toby the Puppy is, so I won’t belabor that point.

However, our brainy pooch is presenting a bit of a challenge for us.

You see, we just purchased a couple of doors for our home in Princeton, Texas. The front of the house now has a storm door; the rear of our new digs has a combination glass-and-screen door — with a pet entrance!

It’s the pet entrance that is presenting our challenge.

Toby hasn’t yet grasped the concept of how it works. All he has to do is push on it with his nose, or nudge it with one of his front feet for him to walk through it.

He hasn’t gotten it. At least not yet.

It’s been less than a week since we had the doors installed. The way I figured it, though, he was going to get it quickly. As in immediately! Oops, silly me. Toby is making some progress, but he hasn’t yet figured out how this pet door works.

His first attempt was fraught with flinching and resistance. He isn’t resisting it now. He barely blinks as we push him through the pet door. The puppy, though, just isn’t ready to take the initiative.

I consider it to be a sort of canine leap of faith.

I am far from discouraged over Toby the Puppy’s ability to get it.

He will. As I have noted many times already, I consider him to be one of the smartest pooches in history.