diff --git a/candle-core/src/lib.rs b/candle-core/src/lib.rs
index 2365a34d..9a2602f4 100644
--- a/candle-core/src/lib.rs
+++ b/candle-core/src/lib.rs
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ pub use device::{Device, DeviceLocation};
 pub use dtype::{DType, WithDType};
 pub use error::{Error, Result};
 pub use layout::Layout;
-pub use shape::Shape;
+pub use shape::{Shape, D};
 pub use storage::Storage;
 use strided_index::StridedIndex;
 pub use tensor::{Tensor, TensorId};
diff --git a/candle-core/src/shape.rs b/candle-core/src/shape.rs
index cc068004..1152dc3e 100644
--- a/candle-core/src/shape.rs
+++ b/candle-core/src/shape.rs
@@ -183,6 +183,45 @@ impl Shape {
     }
 }
 
+pub trait Dim {
+    fn to_index(&self, shape: &Shape, op: &'static str) -> Result<usize>;
+}
+
+impl Dim for usize {
+    fn to_index(&self, shape: &Shape, op: &'static str) -> Result<usize> {
+        let dim = *self;
+        if dim >= shape.dims().len() {
+            Err(Error::DimOutOfRange {
+                shape: shape.clone(),
+                dim,
+                op,
+            })?
+        } else {
+            Ok(dim)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+pub enum D {
+    Minus1,
+    Minus2,
+}
+
+impl Dim for D {
+    fn to_index(&self, shape: &Shape, op: &'static str) -> Result<usize> {
+        let rank = shape.rank();
+        match self {
+            Self::Minus1 if rank >= 1 => Ok(rank - 1),
+            Self::Minus2 if rank >= 2 => Ok(rank - 2),
+            _ => Err(Error::DimOutOfRange {
+                shape: shape.clone(),
+                dim: 42, // TODO: Have an adequate error
+                op,
+            }),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
diff --git a/candle-core/src/tensor.rs b/candle-core/src/tensor.rs
index 95f663f0..1eb92e6a 100644
--- a/candle-core/src/tensor.rs
+++ b/candle-core/src/tensor.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use crate::shape::Dim;
 use crate::{op::Op, storage::Storage, DType, Device, Error, Layout, Result, Shape};
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
@@ -362,9 +363,9 @@ impl Tensor {
 
     /// Returns a new tensor that is a narrowed version of the input, the dimension `dim`
     /// ranges from `start` to `start + len`.
-    pub fn narrow(&self, dim: usize, start: usize, len: usize) -> Result<Self> {
+    pub fn narrow<D: Dim>(&self, dim: D, start: usize, len: usize) -> Result<Self> {
         let dims = self.dims();
-        self.check_dim(dim, "narrow")?;
+        let dim = dim.to_index(self.shape(), "narrow")?;
         if start + len > dims[dim] {
             Err(Error::NarrowInvalidArgs {
                 shape: self.shape().clone(),
@@ -392,8 +393,8 @@ impl Tensor {
         }
     }
 
-    pub fn softmax(&self, dim: usize) -> Result<Self> {
-        self.check_dim(dim, "softmax")?;
+    pub fn softmax<D: Dim>(&self, dim: D) -> Result<Self> {
+        let dim = dim.to_index(self.shape(), "softmax")?;
         // TODO: unify the two branches.
         if self.device().is_cuda() {
             // We do not have a cuda kernel for divide_by_sum_over_dim so split
@@ -692,14 +693,22 @@ impl Tensor {
         self.sum(&dims)
     }
 
-    pub fn flatten(&self, start_dim: Option<usize>, end_dim: Option<usize>) -> Result<Tensor> {
+    fn flatten_<D1: Dim, D2: Dim>(
+        &self,
+        start_dim: Option<D1>,
+        end_dim: Option<D2>,
+    ) -> Result<Tensor> {
         if self.rank() == 0 {
             self.reshape(1)
         } else {
-            let start_dim = start_dim.unwrap_or(0);
-            let end_dim = end_dim.unwrap_or_else(|| self.rank() - 1);
-            self.check_dim(start_dim, "flatten")?;
-            self.check_dim(end_dim, "flatten")?;
+            let start_dim = match start_dim {
+                None => 0,
+                Some(dim) => dim.to_index(self.shape(), "flatten")?,
+            };
+            let end_dim = match end_dim {
+                None => self.rank() - 1,
+                Some(dim) => dim.to_index(self.shape(), "flatten")?,
+            };
             if start_dim < end_dim {
                 let dims = self.dims();
                 let mut dst_dims = dims[..start_dim].to_vec();
@@ -714,8 +723,20 @@ impl Tensor {
         }
     }
 
+    pub fn flatten<D1: Dim, D2: Dim>(&self, start_dim: D1, end_dim: D2) -> Result<Tensor> {
+        self.flatten_(Some(start_dim), Some(end_dim))
+    }
+
+    pub fn flatten_to<D: Dim>(&self, end_dim: D) -> Result<Tensor> {
+        self.flatten_(None::<usize>, Some(end_dim))
+    }
+
+    pub fn flatten_from<D: Dim>(&self, start_dim: D) -> Result<Tensor> {
+        self.flatten_(Some(start_dim), None::<usize>)
+    }
+
     pub fn flatten_all(&self) -> Result<Tensor> {
-        self.flatten(None, None)
+        self.flatten_(None::<usize>, None::<usize>)
     }
 
     pub fn get(&self, i: usize) -> Result<Tensor> {
@@ -743,9 +764,9 @@ impl Tensor {
 
     /// Returns a tensor that is a transposed version of the input, the given dimensions are
     /// swapped.
-    pub fn transpose(&self, dim1: usize, dim2: usize) -> Result<Tensor> {
-        self.check_dim(dim1, "transpose")?;
-        self.check_dim(dim2, "transpose")?;
+    pub fn transpose<D1: Dim, D2: Dim>(&self, dim1: D1, dim2: D2) -> Result<Tensor> {
+        let dim1 = dim1.to_index(self.shape(), "transpose")?;
+        let dim2 = dim2.to_index(self.shape(), "transpose")?;
         let op = if self.track_op() {
             Some(Op::Transpose(self.clone(), dim1, dim2))
         } else {
@@ -929,23 +950,23 @@ impl Tensor {
         }
     }
 
-    pub fn squeeze(&self, index: usize) -> Result<Self> {
+    pub fn squeeze<D: Dim>(&self, dim: D) -> Result<Self> {
         // The PyTorch semantics are to return the same tensor if the target dimension
         // does not have a size of 1.
         let dims = self.dims();
-        self.check_dim(index, "squeeze")?;
-        if dims[index] == 1 {
+        let dim = dim.to_index(self.shape(), "squeeze")?;
+        if dims[dim] == 1 {
             let mut dims = dims.to_vec();
-            dims.remove(index);
+            dims.remove(dim);
             self.reshape(dims)
         } else {
             Ok(self.clone())
         }
     }
 
-    pub fn unsqueeze(&self, index: usize) -> Result<Self> {
+    pub fn unsqueeze(&self, dim: usize) -> Result<Self> {
         let mut dims = self.dims().to_vec();
-        dims.insert(index, 1);
+        dims.insert(dim, 1);
         self.reshape(dims)
     }
 
diff --git a/candle-examples/examples/bert/main.rs b/candle-examples/examples/bert/main.rs
index 4396326d..11d01a6a 100644
--- a/candle-examples/examples/bert/main.rs
+++ b/candle-examples/examples/bert/main.rs
@@ -386,12 +386,12 @@ impl BertSelfAttention {
 
         let attention_scores = query_layer.matmul(&key_layer.t()?)?;
         let attention_scores = (attention_scores / (self.attention_head_size as f64).sqrt())?;
-        let attention_probs = attention_scores.softmax(attention_scores.rank() - 1)?;
+        let attention_probs = attention_scores.softmax(candle::D::Minus1)?;
         let attention_probs = self.dropout.forward(&attention_probs)?;
 
         let context_layer = attention_probs.matmul(&value_layer)?;
         let context_layer = context_layer.transpose(1, 2)?.contiguous()?;
-        let context_layer = context_layer.flatten(Some(context_layer.rank() - 2), None)?;
+        let context_layer = context_layer.flatten_from(candle::D::Minus2)?;
         Ok(context_layer)
     }
 }
diff --git a/candle-examples/examples/llama/main.rs b/candle-examples/examples/llama/main.rs
index 73db15e0..d254eeed 100644
--- a/candle-examples/examples/llama/main.rs
+++ b/candle-examples/examples/llama/main.rs
@@ -283,19 +283,18 @@ impl CausalSelfAttention {
         dims.push(v / 2);
         dims.push(2);
         let x = x.reshape(dims)?;
-        let rank = x.rank();
-        let re_x = x.narrow(rank - 1, 0, 1)?;
-        let im_x = x.narrow(rank - 1, 1, 1)?;
+        let re_x = x.narrow(candle::D::Minus1, 0, 1)?;
+        let im_x = x.narrow(candle::D::Minus1, 1, 1)?;
         let re_f = freqs_cis
-            .narrow(rank - 1, 0, 1)?
+            .narrow(candle::D::Minus1, 0, 1)?
             .broadcast_as(re_x.shape())?;
         let im_f = freqs_cis
-            .narrow(rank - 1, 1, 1)?
+            .narrow(candle::D::Minus1, 1, 1)?
             .broadcast_as(im_x.shape())?;
         let re = ((&re_x * &re_f)? - (&im_x * &im_f)?)?;
         let im = ((&re_x * &im_f)? + (&im_x * &re_f)?)?;
-        let rope = Tensor::cat(&[&re, &im], rank - 1)?;
-        let rope = rope.flatten(Some(rope.rank() - 2), None)?;
+        let rope = Tensor::cat(&[&re, &im], re.rank() - 1)?;
+        let rope = rope.flatten_from(candle::D::Minus2)?;
         Ok(rope)
     }
 
@@ -339,7 +338,7 @@ impl CausalSelfAttention {
         let att = (q.matmul(&k.t()?)? / (*k_shape.dims().last().unwrap() as f64).sqrt())?;
         let mask = self.cache.mask(t)?.broadcast_as(att.shape())?;
         let att = masked_fill(&att, &mask, f32::NEG_INFINITY)?;
-        let att = att.softmax(att.rank() - 1)?;
+        let att = att.softmax(candle::D::Minus1)?;
         // Convert to contiguous as matmul doesn't support strided vs for now.
         let y = att.matmul(&v.contiguous()?)?;
         let y = y.transpose(0, 1)?.reshape(&[t, c])?;
@@ -537,7 +536,7 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
 
         let next_token = if let Some(temperature) = args.temperature {
             println!("Sampling with temperature {temperature:?}");
-            let prs = (&logits / temperature)?.softmax(logits.rank() - 1)?;
+            let prs = (&logits / temperature)?.softmax(candle::D::Minus1)?;
             let logits_v: Vec<f32> = prs.to_vec1()?;
             let distr = rand::distributions::WeightedIndex::new(&logits_v)?;
 
diff --git a/candle-examples/examples/whisper/main.rs b/candle-examples/examples/whisper/main.rs
index 6ea3e536..fad3e91c 100644
--- a/candle-examples/examples/whisper/main.rs
+++ b/candle-examples/examples/whisper/main.rs
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ impl Decode {
             };
             tokens.push(next_token);
             let prob = logits
-                .softmax(logits.rank() - 1)?
+                .softmax(candle::D::Minus1)?
                 .get(next_token as usize)?
                 .to_scalar::<f32>()? as f64;
             if next_token == EOT_TOKEN || tokens.len() > model.config.n_text_ctx {
diff --git a/candle-examples/examples/whisper/model.rs b/candle-examples/examples/whisper/model.rs
index bf322c51..a1973f27 100644
--- a/candle-examples/examples/whisper/model.rs
+++ b/candle-examples/examples/whisper/model.rs
@@ -342,8 +342,8 @@ impl MultiHeadAttention {
             let mask = mask.narrow(0, 0, n_ctx)?.narrow(1, 0, n_ctx)?;
             qk = qk.broadcast_add(&mask)?
         }
-        let w = qk.softmax(qk.rank() - 1)?;
-        let wv = w.matmul(&v)?.transpose(1, 2)?.flatten(Some(2), None)?;
+        let w = qk.softmax(candle::D::Minus1)?;
+        let wv = w.matmul(&v)?.transpose(1, 2)?.flatten_from(2)?;
         Ok(wv)
     }
 }