Your hose troubles sound like what we went thru with Blue, the Coonhound we just had to put to sleep. He would be outside with us, 300 feet away. Turn the hose on and he would make a beeline for the doggy door.
Ha! Yup, they got smart about it too. Whenever they saw me going towards the spicket they would get all tense and wary. Then once I turned the water on they were gone!
