One of the greatest things to teach a dog

When I used to volunteer at the Humane Society's training school, we used to have occasional problems on someone's first night where the dog just wouldn't pay attention.

The funny thing was that people took that very personally, to the point that they were embarrassed that their dog - which was there for training - actually needed training. I imagine this is much like having a child that starts cussing a blue streak in a church or fast food restaurant.

The first level of troubleshooting was to check and see what kinds of treats they were packing. Most of the time, it was some tasteless pile of dry dog food or Cheerios, which we were assured, little Fido just looooooved at home.

Here are the two problems with that:

1.) At the introduction meeting, owners were told with varying degrees of hand holding that with other dogs in the room, you needed something good - like chicken, roast beef or hot dogs -
that would grab and keep the dog's attention. One trainer summed it up best by saying, "You need treats that are more interesting than the next dog's butt."

2.) Dogs use their tongues as toilet paper - don't trust their taste as an accurate judge of anything.

Here's where I'm going with this - when I'd have a little heart to heart with stubborn owners, I'd tell them about the two new behaviors I'd worked on my dog with over the summer. The first was that instead of peeing all over the yard and killing the grass, I wanted him to go under one specific tree each time and pee there. The second was to lay down and wait for me to give him the go ahead to eat after I'd filled his food and water dishes each night.

Guess which one he picked up faster?

Regardless of if you have an old dog or a new puppy, it's incredibly easy to get your dog in line with this program because it's directly related to when they get fed. It's all but idiot-proof, depending on how much of an idiot you are.

Here's how it works* - tell you dog to lie down (most dogs have a sit and a down, so we'll assume that baseline) and pick up the bowls to put them on the counter. If they jump up, stop working. Wait a few seconds and if they don't lie down again on their own, tell them (once) to lie down again. If they don't, wait another couple of seconds and repeat.

It kind of works like that gym class game, "Red light, green light," where the kids had to stop every time the kid who was it turned around. Every time your dog moves, it's red light time.

That's basically all you need. Get prepped to feed them, pour in the water and the chow and make sure that as long as they're down that you keep moving. If they get up, stop. It's really that simple if you stay consistent.

I'm recommending keeping the dishes up so that there's no mad dash and a reward if they decide to go over our head because they're sure it's dinnertime. When you go to set the full bowls down, the same rules are in play - if they get up, stand up and try again.

Within a few days, I was able to do the whole process with the bowls on the floor and then just called my dog over when it was time to eat. The whole thing should take less than two weeks (and probably much less) to work into your routine.

Considering all your dog wants in the entire world when he sees his bowls being filled is to get at the full bowls, make it work for you. It's really nice to not feel like you're being mugged every night at 7 p.m.

* If you get bit, don't blame me - you know your dog. Use some discretion if your dog has issues with his food.

(Image for Siberian, Minn.)