My mudkip is an infant and the son of my swampert starter. He really loves me and when I walk around the house tries to follow me, I find this adorable but he likes taking baths and showers with me. As a mudkip I don’t have a problem with that but I don’t want him to continue the behavior into evolution. I would have no room! What do I do?

This may actually resolve itself over time, anonymous. You mention that your mudkip is a newborn, and if you were there for its hatching, then it’s very likely that your mudkip is simply expressing the usual level of affection a hatchling gives a human it perceives as one of its parents. As it gets older and more self-reliant—especially as it nears or achieves evolution—it may give you more and more space.

If it doesn’t, however, you can teach the average pokémon a large number of things via positive reinforcement, including how to give you privacy. If it tries to get in the shower with you, put it outside and give it a toy. For every session it stays outside, give it a treat as soon as you’re done in the bathroom. Eventually, it will begin to understand that staying outside is a good thing, so every time you enter the bathroom, it will wait for you, rather than follow you.

It may also be worth it to do something similar to encourage your mudkip to take baths on its own, especially after it reaches its marshtomp stage. While you should still invest in a pool for your mudkip and its evolutions, some people also like to teach their marshtomp to use the shower, especially if they don’t need to pay for water or worry about droughts. By doing this, not only is the marshtomp encouraged to groom itself, but it also learns where it should go if it needs water whenever you drain its pool for routine maintenance.