Wednesday we had a hectic spell, with a friend visiting on the front porch, our cellphones ringing, and a neighbor named Avelino working for us on a project beside the house — a workshop for my husband.

Somehow in all this, LarryDog managed to get out in the yard. We normally keep him in when there is work going on, because the front gate is open. We are living at present in a small town in Mexico, and we are careful to keep the front gate closed at other times.

Somehow, nobody noticed our dog making his way down the yard and out into the street.

The neighbor took his leave and went to his home, a few blocks away. A while later, he happened to drive along our street, and there was LarryDog, wagging his tail and sniffing things. Avelino got out of his truck, and Larry let himself be coaxed back into our yard.

The first we knew that he’d been out was when Avelino brought him back. Whew!

I am always so careful, but these things happen!

And did LarryDog have dog tags with this address on them? Well, no. They have our Colorado address. But I’ll get some made this week… there’s a local place that does them while you wait, an animal shelter where we buy our pet food to help support their work.

Does your dog have current ID on him?

Ah, the adorable puppy jumping up… wanting to get as close to us as possible. “Hello, you little darling!” people often croon.

Thus setting the stage for problems with jumping up later, when it’s less adorable. Even if you have a small dog, it’s not always cute. Muddy paws on white slacks just before you go out? Been there, done that. )Our Basenji understood she wasn’t supposed to jump up in OUR minds, but she was the most independent minded dog I’ve ever had.)

Here are some tips to stop your dog from jumping up, on you or on guests who are arriving at your door.

1. Train him to sit or down, in circumstances where there’s no excitement. Use really tasty treats, like tiny cubes of cheese or really small bits of hot dog cut up. Then gradually make the circumstances more exciting and gradually keep getting him to sit or lie down. This might take a lot of repetition.

2. You and other people can ignore him when he jumps, and then the game is way less fun than even if you are telling him how awful he is!

3. I’ve had some success by putting my knee up just before my dog jumps. He can’t get to me that way.

Whatever you do, it may take a lot of repetition and it’s probably best to choose one strategy and just keep doing it over and over for a good long time.

Over and over and over. (Here I’m hoping that repetition will work with you too!)

I recently reviewed a set on online dog training videos created by a young Hollywood dog trainer named Dove Cresswell. When I watched them, it struck me again how very useful videos and DVDs are for learning dog training techniques. You can watch a segment over and over till you really get it. Much as I love books, I really see the advantages of watching a program!

Here’s the link to my review of the set of dog training videos featuring Dove Cresswell. On that page, a ways down, there are links to reviews I did of three of the short videos:

* Puppy House Training / Potty Training

* Dog Obedience Training

* Crate Training

I think these would be outstanding to use with children, but you don’t have to be a kid to appreciate clear, basic instruction. One neat feature is that once you’ve bought them you can view the videos from any computer (assuming you can remember your username and password), so you can be at a friend’s house and watch them together.