When I got my eight-year-old son, Quinn, to brush his teeth using a command we?d just learned in puppy class, I made a life-changing discovery: Puppy training doesn?t just work on puppies.
It was late evening (that is, way past bedtime), and Quinn was drumming his toothbrush against the mouthwash bottle with one hand while flying his Lego spaceship around the sink with the other. I was exasperated, and we were both exhausted?it was time for this guy to be in bed. I took a deep breath. ?Watch me,? I said, as I mimicked holding a treat between my eyes. Quinn stopped moving. ?Watch me,? I repeated, as I popped a toothbrush in my mouth. He laughed a bit, but he looked me in the eyes. Then he put his brush in his mouth and followed along as I did a slow-motion re-enactment of a thorough brushing.
It wasn?t my intention to use our dog trainer?s very first lesson on my child. ?You need your dog?s attention so that you can teach her,? she had told our class just an hour earlier. I had no treat for my son and we both knew we were play-acting, but he paused long enough to breathe and focus on me. When he rinsed his mouth afterwards, I jokingly patted his head. ?Good boy!? I said. He yipped and giggled.
Puppy school has done so much more than help our bitey, barky and jumpy puppy, Mabel, become a more respectable member of our family; the experience has been a great parenting refresher, too. Unknowingly, I?d already been using many of the dog trainer?s techniqu...