Forest, the Ungrateful Puppy

Nick and I spent a couple thousand bucks building a fence in the backyard for our little puppy (which is crazy right? that money would have been much happier spent at a bar). We envisioned Forest romping around the backyard, pooping wherever and whenever he wanted. We imagined freedom, if only for a few minutes a day. We love Forest, but he's technically still a puppy with daily spurts of ADHD craziness that can get wearisome. We discussed how wonderful it would be if Forest could exert that energy outside, away from wood floors and Squeaky Hippo. So we saved our money, researched fences, called for estimates, paid for a land survey and finally hired a company to build a fence in our backyard. We were convinced Forest would LOVE it.

Instead, we have a very confused puppy.

This looks like a puppy who wants to go outside, right? Maybe roll around in the grass or take a dump. I mean, this is a puppy who's got options.

But no. Forest only wants to go outside if we're going outside. If I don't accompany him, Forest will just sit by the door, looking all pathetic.

The first time this happened, I figured it was just withdrawal. Nick or I have always escorted Forest outside, so either our puppy was lonely or thought he was going to get in trouble. But the emotional tether this puppy has to us must be constructed out of steel.

Side rant: We live in a split-level house so the kitchen is on the second floor and leads out onto the back porch with a staircase down to the lawn. Our house is kinda on a hill, so the porch is pretty high up. It actually has one set of stairs, then a landing, then another set of stairs to the lawn. When we first bought the house, the porch didn't have any stairs. How stupid is that? We had to pay extra money to build stairs so we could access the backyard from our back porch! Total scam :(

So if I relent and walk out onto the porch, Forest will venture to the top of the stairs and then wait. If I walk to the top of the stairs and he's feeling adventurous, he might go down to the landing by himself, but most of the time Forest won't stray more than a few feet from me. I literally have to guide him down both sets of stairs and stand on the grass before he'll play in the backyard. This is totally NOT what we had in mind when we paid extensive amounts of moolah for a fence.

Action shot of Forest butting his nose against the screen door trying to get inside. This is equivalent to a high-tech force field for him.

I've tried shutting the back door and ignoring him, but he'll just whimper and scratch at the glass. One time I left Forest out there for 20 minutes and hid in another room, but he still just moped around the door. Anybody have any ideas on how to acclimate Forest to his new freedom? Or did we wait too long to build a fence and are forever stuck with a clingy puppy?

Forest, the Ungrateful Puppy