Dog takes the easy way May not enter water at an angle, takes a shortcut, avoids cover, etc
a deception for profit to yourself defeat someone in an expectation through trickery or deceit deprive somebody of something by deceit; "The con-man beat me out of $50"; "This salesman ripped us off!"; "we were cheated by their clever-sounding scheme"; "They chiseled me out of my money"
If you say that someone cheats death, you mean they only just avoid being killed. He cheated death when he was rescued from the roof of his blazing cottage