There’s a cute variation on “roll over and play dead” that Miss T’s Benny is all over. The verbal description (until Miss T gets a video camera) goes like this: 1. Miss T cocks fingers like a circa 1986 stockbroker and says “bang”. 2. Benny rolls over and plays dead. 3. Everyone goes “awwww” and likes Benny EVEN MORE.

Bloody Bennny. I’ve tried arguing that this whole thing is just glorifying gun crime. But I must admit it’s the cutest. thing. ever.

Happily, Jack won’t be outdone by Benny’s cuteness forever. The internet, after all, is an amazing resource for amateur dog trainers - especially since the explosion in internet video.

www.about.com has a pretty good video and article on teaching a dog to roll over with a lure. I like the way she shows us how to work the hand signal into the training sequence.

Howstuffworks.com has a perky lady teaching her equally perky dog to do the same. She points out that not all dogs are into the rollover because it hurts their backs. Try teaching it on a soft surface like grass or carpet or, I don’t know, bubble wrap?

Youtube brings us Zak George, a young fella who does a nice line in positive training. This video is long but it’s worth a look. He also covers the all-important “play dead” part of the rollover. He stresses the importance of not physically rolling the dog over. (Rolling a dog onto its back is a scary form of discipline used in some circles. Not exactly a way to create the fun atmosphere you need for trick training.)
I’ll keep you posted on how the Jack vs Benny Cuteness War gooes.

A few months ago, my dog Jack’s collection of bitten-in-half leashes had me so nuts I was imagining what he’d write if he could type up a Prefurr post:

Sometimes, with people-training as with life, it’s better to take the path of least resistance.

Take the problem of being pulled around by the neck by a leash. Why get into a battle of wills with a Bossy Biped when you’re blessed with sharp pointy teeth?

Just gnaw through that sucker while the human’s not looking and embrace your sweet, sweet freedom. If you can’t get through it in a quick, subtle snap while the human’s fussing with the door keys, settle down to the task when you can find a private moment. Under the table at a café, for instance. Or while waiting at traffic lights as semi-trailers roar past.

Oh yeah. This biting through the leash thing was really starting to get to me. Jack bit through fabric leads like they were made of liquorice. He approached the task of gnawing through leather leashes with the zeal of a prisoner tunneling to freedom with a teaspoon. It was expensive. It was annoying. And worst of all – it was getting dangerous.

And all that aside, training him out of it was making walk-time No Fun. This leash biting habit formed at a time when Jack was doing everything “wrong” when it came to conforming to modern human life. Jack’s instincts were telling him to get up to all kinds of doggy shenanigans, and all he was hearing from me was “NO!” “STOP!” “BAD DOG!” and “SO HELP ME GOD IF YOU CHEW THAT LEASH ONE MORE TIME I’M GOING TO EXTRACT ALL YOUR TEETH!”

That’s where the path of least resistance comes in. Guess what Irish found at the local two dollar shop?

Sometimes, with dog-training as with life, it’s better to take the path of least resistance…

It’s puppy season again and new owners everywhere are falling in and out and back in love with their new best pals. My Jack is nearly through the puppy stage now, but memories of our little terror are still vivid in my mind. So here is Miss D’s definitive list of products that make the road to puppy ownership a little less, erm, slippery.

1. Puppy School

Puppy School is taking off all over the world. The idea is, a bunch of starry-eyed owners and their ridiculously cute new pets gather together in council halls and veterinary surgeries in the first week. You get to learn all about What You’re In For, and get the fun of watching every puppy grow even bigger and cuter over the weeks as their owners develop worry lines, nervous twitches, marital problems, etc.

Seriously though, puppy school is the single best thing we did for ourselves and our sanity. Ours had the cutest puppies in it, Bouncy the poodle, Ben the Boxer, Jazzy the Bitza. Jack was a fearful little pup and I’m sure that puppy school went a long way towards making him the happy little soul he is today. And as for myself, I hold onto a mantra that the trainer gave me: “Just think how calm he’ll be when he’s eight.”

2. Puppy pads

Puppy pads are to puppy owners what nappies are to mums and dads. They may not be cheap, or environmentally friendly, but geez, they make the job of toilet training easier. We bought the wickedly expensive ones at first and then graduated to the cheaper model, available at K-Mart. Jack took to them like a dream. The expensive ones, I must admit, turn liquid to an easy-to-pick-up gel, and have some kind of chemical attractant embedded within them so the pup doesn’t need much encouragement to use them. But the cheap ones do well too. We had all kinds of dramas getting Jack to go on newspaper. Puppy pads made it all much much easier.

3. Wizdog

As you might gather from the sidebar, I’m like a Wizdog Pusher or something. This simple little tray to hold newspaper for your dog is one of the smartest products I’ve seen for dogs. Once Jack was paper trained, moving him on to the Wizdog was easy. I loved that it held your standard newspaper and was so easy to clean.

4. Positive Dog Training

The book that Jack eventually chewed to bits. It is a great introduction to the philosophy of positive training. If you’ve been tempted to scold or hit your dog, or resort to vinegar and water-type remedies, have a read of this for a different perspective. It’s a great introduction to the technique and taught me so much about managing Jack without losing my temper. The result is a happy, trusting dog who does what I ask and comes when he’s called – I’m amazed.

5. Puppy Kong

Oh the Kong the Kong! (Sing it with me now.) The kong is another of those Greatest Dog Inventions Ever, and I’ll never be convinced otherwise. It’s pretty simple really. If you’ve got an indoor dog, you need a Kong.

6. Everlasting Treat Ball

If you’re feeding your puppy in a bowl, you’re missing out on a really fun opportunity to keep him happy and out of your hair. We moved Jack onto the everlasting treat ball when he was about six months old, and have never looked back. Six month old dogs are, if you’ll pardon my French, a pain in the tits. The combination of everlasting treat ball plus plastic funnel plus kibble keeps Jack out of our hair for hours. He loves it, we love it, everyone’s happy. I’ve worked “Where’s your ball” into Jack’s training routine, so he can help us find it when, once again, we lose the bloody thing.

7. Crate
Crates are controversial in Australia – most people’s instinct tell them that a dog in a cage = bad news. But I suspect that as society becomes more urbanised, we’ll embrace the idea. I bought a crate for Jack when we moved back to the inner city. We couldn’t let him sleep outside because he was barking all night at every little noise. But our new house was too small to have him sleep inside, either. A covered crate with a fancy-pants dog bed in it was the perfect solution. Jack sleeps in there all the time, and at night we close the latch and he doesn’t seem to mind. He took to it the day we bought it with nary a squeak of complaint. Get a folding one so you can fit it in the car. And make sure your dog can stand with his head held hight, and turn around comfortably, or else the RSPCA will get all grumpy with ya.

8. Car strap
Jack’s car harness is one of those gadgets that makes me glad to be living in the twenty-first century. Admittedly there’s a bit of wrestling involved in getting him into the harness and snapped onto the seatbelt, but it’s getting easier with time. And the payoff is great – Jack can’t jump around the car, and in an accident, he’d have a similar level of seatbelt protection to the rest of the family.

9. Stain remover - BioZet

Anything you can do to make clean up quick and easy will go a long way to reducing the stress of toilet training on yourself. For us, biozet was an easy and affordable answer to cleaning fabric, floorboards and carpet. It’s got enzymy thingies in it that break down the chemicals that puppies leave behind when they pee. That way, you don’t get repeat offenses once you’ve cleaned it up.

10. Aloveen Shampoo
This isn’t the only ph balanced moisturising shampoo on the market, and by no means the cheapest. But it was a godsend for us when Jack had an itchy skin complaint. We had the vet’s blessing to use this stuff up to three times a week. It smells nice and doesn’t dry a dog’s skin like many shampoos do.

The word “mouthy” is dogpeople talk for “nips fingers and toes ALL THE BLOODY TIME.” Our wee Jack was EXTREMELY mouthy as a puppy – to the point where I was leery of having him mix with children. He never bit hard, but like a human infant – everything went straight into the gob.

The conventional advice for puppies that bite all the time is to yell “ouch!” and withdraw all attention for ten seconds when they bite. Remind them reproachfully “gentle” and then resume play until they “mouth” you again. Repeat about a gazillion times.

This approach works because it mimics what happens in puppyland. You only have to watch puppies at play for a few minutes to see the principle in action – if you bite, there’s a yip and everything stops. Then after a bit, play resumes. This is how puppies learn to be gentle.

But there’s another school of thought on this subject. The theory goes that if puppies aren’t socialised with other dogs enough, they’ll never learn “bite inhibition”. And this means that the first time you step on poochy’s tail and he lashes out in pain, you could end up with a serious bite because he never learned that biting hard hurts.

This article, The Bite Stops Here, is written by positive dog training guru,  Ian Dunbar. Have a read and make up your own mind. I found that Jack’s “mouthiness” magically disappeared around the six month mark – although he still loved to lick. Three weeks of consistently crying “Ouch!” And withdrawing all attention worked a treat. He just wags up a storm now, because he knows that’s what gets him the pats.

Dooce has just published the Best Post Ever, as she does, about her family’s rejuvenated relationship with Chuck. We all know dogs need daily walking, but Lordy, it’s hard to do it every single day of your life. And I can just imagine how much harder it gets when you throw young kids and busy jobs and health issues into the mix.

But still, it’s worth remembering the ratio between dog behaviour problems and daily walks. Pretty much anything “bad” that dogs do – barking, digging, anxiety, aggression, escaping and even moping around and ignoring you all day – will disappear if the pooch is walked more frequently.

Around here our motto is: “A tired puppy is a good puppy”. And it’s true that working off excess energy is good for Jack. But the benefits don’t stop there. As Miss T says, it’s good for dogs to play together and get back in touch with their “dogginess”. But I think the most important thing about the daily walk is what it does to the bond between you. Dogs really do seem to understand that you put aside this time in your life just for them – and they really will pay you back with lots more love and loyalty.