The issue: A dog with springs for legs

The answer: A bait-and-switch using "sit"

As explained by veterinarian Sophia Yin, an animal behaviorist who produces the Web site askdryin.com

The trick to keeping a dog from jumping is to give him something better to do, says Yin. "Generally, when you have an animal that performs behaviors you don't like, the first thing to think of is, what behavior would your rather have?

"The behavior you want the animal to perform is something that's incompatible with the naughty behavior," she says. "Sitting is incompatible with jumping."

Your goal, then, is to train your dog to think of sitting as his "default position," Yin says. To do that, you'll want to make sitting seem like the most fun thing in his world.

Start by waiting for him to sit on his own (it shouldn't take long), then feed him a treat immediately — ideally within a half second. Reward that first sit lavishly with four or five treats, and continue to treat generously every time your dog sits, gradually cutting back to just one treat and stretching out the length of the sit before offering the reward.

To help him really nail the new skill, consider feeding him his full ration of dry food for the day — piece by piece — as a reward for sitting over and over and over again. "You want to practice a lot so it becomes a habit." Yin says. "If you give 200 rewards for sitting in one day, how fast is that going to come?"

Once sitting is second nature for your dog, turn it into a game by stepping back a few steps and rewarding him for trotting along and sitting when you stop. "It's run to me and sit, like red-light-green-light," Yin says. "They're learning that 'sit' is fun, even when they're excited."

At this point you should be able to end your dog's jumping with a quick course of specialized anti-jump training. What you'll want to do now is to get him excited enough to start jumping — then completely ignore him until he sits and immediately reward the sit. Then repeat. Yin demonstrates on her online video "Stellah Learns to Earn" on the movies page of her Web site. 

Be sure not to reward your dog inadvertently by lavishing him with either love or disapproval when he jumps up to greet you, since dogs will see either type of reaction as a reward, Yin says. "What they want is attention."

The issue: A bark with no mute switch

The answer: The all-purpose "no"

As explained by Officer Paul Bryant Jr. of the Philadelphia Police Department canine unit.

"People think we have this vast vocabulary for police dogs," Bryant says, but they're wrong. "We keep it very, very simple."

The dogs learn an all-purpose "no" command that means "stop that undesired behavior," covering everything from barking or chewing to running off into the street. And like Dr. Yin, the Philly P.D. encourages its dogs to do something more socially acceptable, like heeling or sitting.

"I agree with her 150 percent. Whether it's a police dog or a family pet, it works," Bryant says. "You just channel all that energy into something else: 'no, sit,' 'no, come,' 'no, down,' 'no, heel.' The first one stops the undesired behavior. The second one channels that energy."

To train for "no," the police start by walking a new canine recruit on a 6-foot leash attached to a standard training collar. If the dog pulls away or crosses in front of his human partner, the officer says "no" and gives a quick leash correction. Then he says "heel" and rewards the dog with a friendly pat on the head for doing the right thing.

" 'No' is like 'Whoa, I'd better stop what I'm doing!" Bryant says. After countless repetitions ("I can't give you a number," he says. "Just do it over and over and over."), it will eventually stop a dog in his tracks regardless of what mischief he's up to.

The key, Bryant says, is to keep at it. For the first four to six weeks of their 14-week training, police dogs practice basic obedience skills for two to three hours a day.

It's also important to be consistent, Bryant says. So when you're training a dog to sit, for example, " 'Sit' is 'sit' Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday," he says. "I want that butt on the ground."

The canine unit rewards its dogs with praise and play instead of treats. Police officers are taught to use a "mommy voice" falsetto to give praise. In basic play sessions, they use rolled-up burlap for games of tug-of-war, adding special toys that individual dogs cherish to teach advanced skills like tracking for scents.

"We've had police dogs using squeak toys. But, hey, whatever works," Bryant says. "We had one dog learn to track by using a finger puppet, and he was a big aggressive dog."

The issue: A night-owl cat

The answer: The BBC World Service and other graveyard-shift fun

As explained by veterinary behaviorist Ilana Reisner, director of the behavior clinic at the University of Pennsylvania's Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital.

Reisner says it's common for house cats to wake up their owners at night. "That's why I avoided having a cat for years."

The underlying problem is that cats crave company — "they're exquisitely social," Reisner says — and if you go off to work all day they'll schedule their you-time at night.

"They nap all day and by the time it's night they're up," she says. Especially if the house is quiet, they'll do whatever it takes to get company, whether it's swatting jewelry off your bedroom dresser or just perching and making cat eyes at you until you sense their presence. "They want someone to be awake."

Luckily, many will accept you-substitutes.

"One of my favorite things to do is have an automatic feeder that opens at night with an especially delightful treat," Reisner says. After feeding, a cat will typically busy himself licking and grooming, often drifting off contentedly afterward.

You might also leave the radio and a light on in the kitchen, or another room far from your bedroom. There's no research on whether a music or talk format works better, and Reisner suspects that whatever's on by day will probably work overnight — "in my house, NPR."

Late-night amusements like these can solve the problem "almost immediately," she says, although the night wakings may recur later (in which case try something new to distract your cat while you sleep).

It can also help to tire out your cat in the evening with some vigorous predator play using a pole toy that dangles an object at the end of a string.

"Swing that around, and get the cat really riled up and jumping, then put that away and give the cat something else to pounce on," Reisner advises. "You want to give them a little catnip mouse or something at the end, so they think that they've caught it." *