Cute Dog Trick; Roll Over

Tricks training is a great bonding activity to do with your dog.  It's so much fun! One of the easiest tricks you can teach your dog is to Roll Over.  It mimics one of a dog's most natural behaviors, rolling over!

Begin by putting your dog in a SIT position.  Give her a treat as soon as she sits.

Start with your dog is the SIT position

Next get your dog to lie DOWN.  Give her a treat as soon as she goes into the Down position.

Put your dog in a Down position before teching the Roll Over sequence

That should be easy enough, right?  Now we begin to teach the roll over movement by luring the dog to roll over.  

> Starting with your dog in the DOWN position, place a treat near her nose so she can smell it.  Slowly begin to lure your dog to roll over by moving the treat to her side, staying very close to the body.

With a treat close to your dog's nose and body, begin teaching the Roll Over sequence

> Continue luring your dog with the treat close to her nose and body.  Work towards getting her to roll onto her back.  

Keep the treat close to your dog's nose so she can smell it and "follow" the treat through the Roll Over movement

> Continue the lure, still keeping the treat close to her nose and body, until she rolls all the way over onto the opposite side.  As soon as she completes the movement, "Mark" the behavior and praise her enthusiastically!  You can Mark behavior by either using a training Clicker or with a word you use to mark training behavior.  I use the word "Yes!" in my training sessions.

Continue luring your dog through the Roll Over trick using a treat close to the dog's nose

> Once you've done this entire sequence several times and your dog is picking up on it, add the verbal cue "Roll Over", putting a name to the trick.

When you put it all together in one motion you have the completed Roll Over trick!  You may need to reinforce the ROLLING OVER movement several times.  If your dog appears confused, go back to luring her through the motion using a treat close to her nose and body. 

Phoebe learned to Roll Over very quickly.  Here's what the Roll Over trick will look like:

Once your dog masters roll over, you can perfect the trick by creating distance.  The ultimate goal is for you to be able to give the "Roll Over" command from 3 to 6 feet away.  
You dog will probably slip up a bit when you first try to give the Roll Over command from a distance, but that is totally normal.  Just move back in closer and try again until you can achieve distance when doing the trick.

Not every trick is right for every dog.  Although my dog Icy loves rolling over on her back in the grass, she did not like doing the Roll Over trick at all.  I think it might be because she has a very long back and it may not be comfortable for her to roll over on command so I just focus on other tricks with her.  Tricks should be fun for both you and your dog!  You don't want it to become an unpleasant chore.

If you discover that your dog isn't comfortable with a trick, no matter how easy it may seem to  you, move on to another trick.

*** REMEMBER ***

> Always use Positive Reinforcement methods when training, never yell at or hit your dog!  If you're getting frustrated that your dog isn't paying attention or isn't getting the trick, take a break.

> Keep training sessions short, about 15 - 20 minutes at a time. If you do much more than that your dog may get bored or frustrated.

> Be Patient, training takes time.  If you feel your dog just isn't getting it after awhile, the trick may not be a good fit for your dog!  Just like people, every dog is an individual, don't push him into something he's not comfortable with or that is too difficult for him - try a different trick!

> And most of all, Have FUN!  Tricks training should feel like play for both you and your dog.  It's also a great way to strengthen the bond you have with your dog.

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If you enjoyed this blog post, you may also like:

Where's My Dog, a show stopping dog trick!
The adorable Play Dead dog trick
Dog Training Doesn't End with Puppyhood, it's a lifelong endeavor.
More Dog Training and Behavior tips

Do you enjoy tricks training with your dog?  What's your favorite dog trick?  Leave us a comment & share, we LOVE hearing from you!

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Cute Dog Trick: Play Dead

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite dog tricks, Play Dead.  This is one of the first tricks I taught my Siberian Husky, Icy.  It's kind of a show stopper!

Like many dog tricks, this one builds on basic obedience commands or easy tricks that many dogs already know.  This trick takes Stay/Wait, Down and Roll over and expands them into a fun trick!

Here's how to teach your dog Bang! Play Dead:

* Put your dog into a Stay or Wait
* Then give the command to lie Down
* Once in a Down position use a treat lure to get your dog to roll, but not completely over, just onto their back.

Once your dog gets Down and Rolling onto his back together, start adding verbal cues.
 
Start by saying "Down, and Roll".  Once your dog can do both Down and Roll in one movement, change the verbal cue to "Bang, Down and Roll". 

Once your dog gets the movement with "Bang, Down, and Roll" drop the "Down and Roll" and just say "Bang".

Upon giving the "Bang" verbal cue you want your dog to Down, and then immediately Roll onto his back.

It may take a bunch of tries.  Revert back to using a treat lure and the "Down" and "Roll" verbal cues if needed to get your dog to perform the motions with only the "Bang" verbal command.

*** REMEMBER ***

> Always use only Positive Reinforcement methods when training, never yell at or hit your dog!  If you're getting frustrated that your dog isn't paying attention or getting the trick, take a break.

> Keep training sessions short, about 15 - 20 minutes or so at a time, if you do much more than that your dog may get bored or frustrated. 

> Be Patient, training takes time.  If you feel your dog just isn't getting it after awhile, the trick may not be a good fit for your dog!  Just like people, every dog is an individual, don't push him into something he's not comfortable with or that is too difficult for him - try a different trick!

> And most of all, Have FUN!  Tricks training should feel like play for your dog.  It's also a great way to strengthen the bond you have with your dog.

If you enjoyed this blog post, you may also like:

The Where's My Dog trick, another show stopping dog trick!

Dog Training Doesn't End with Puppyhood, it's a lifelong endeavor.

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The Cutest Dog Trick

Trick Training Is FUN Dog Training !

Not long ago I wrote a blog post about how dog training should be a lifelong activity for your dog, because training isn't just for puppies!  I included links to blog posts with tips on how to address some common behavior issues through training, like leash pulling and jumping up on people.

In my opinion, the most fun type of dog training is Tricks Training!  Here's a short video of my favorite dog trick with my Siberian Husky, Icy.  It's called WHERE'S MY DOG?? 

This trick always gets a lot of laughs.  I hope it makes you smile too!

This fun dog trick is taught using 2 treats, one in each hand:

* From a sit/stay and with your back to your dog a couple of feet away from her,

* Lure your dog towards the back of your legs with 1 hand, holding 1 of the treats in your hand behind your legs, (your back remains to the dog)

*As she approaches your legs switch hands to continue the lure with your other hand & treat, luring her all the way through your legs.  Mark the behavior (you continually face forward).  If she tries to go around you instead of going through your legs, do not treat but start again & continue the treat lure all the way through your legs.

* Once she has the entire movement down, add the verbal cue "Where's My Dog?" at the beginning of the trick while she's in the Sit/Stay position.  Phase out the two treat lure, treating only after she completes the entire sequence of the trick.  Have Fun!!

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What's YOUR favorite dog or cat trick?  Let us know in the comments, we love hearing from you!

Happy New Year; My Dogs' Resollutions

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We've said goodbye to 2014 and it's officially a brand new year, a fresh start filled with possibilities! I've been thinking about my New Years resolutions, which usually extend to my dogs as well.  One of the things I'd like to do with my dogs in 2015 is teach them at least 3 new tricks.  Here's a short video of one of my favorite tricks, which I do with Isis, "Where's My Dog?"  I learned this cute trick in a Tricks training class I took at PetSmart.  I hope it makes you smile, maybe even laugh!

One of my 2015 New Years resolutions is to learn some new tricks and spend more time doing tricks with both my dogs because: