Go Left

I was sitting on the couch last night and saw Alvin madly circling and then squat and poop on the floor.  The back door was open and I was perplexed as to why he was going inside because he has become fully house trained and only goes potty in the house when it's rainy outside.  I ran outside and started calling him and he started to go outside, would begin to turn right, and then run back in the house.  I realized then what the problem was.  Normally the sprinklers turn on early in the morning but I had turned them on for an extra cycle.  There is only one small patch of grass very near the right side of the house.  I went out onto the patio where the sprinklers don't spray.  The problem was that Alvin was unable to turn left towards me and kept insisting on going right where the sprinklers were spraying.  He repeatedly tried to come out but had to retreat back inside because of the sprinklers.  I have never noticed it before but I suspect that his pattern when exiting the house is to go right and he was unable to deviate from his pattern, even when there is an entire patio that is sprinkler free.  I choose my battles and this wasn't one where I was going to spend time trying to "train" him into deviating from his autistic pattern and instead, I just won't have the sprinklers on during probable potty times.  If it's not the rain, it's the sprinklers.