Roll over

I never thought I would be able to teach my dogs to roll over. I was luring them the way everyone says to and it just wasn't working! Bonnie is still too insecure to expose her belly like that, and Nala was too impatient. I finally had my agility trainer try it and she showed me how to not only lure, but also sort of push Nala over.

So I tried it at home one day. Nala was all excited (I guess I don't train her enough, eh?) and bouncing all over. She was trying but she didn't know what I wanted. She kept scratching my arms by mistake as I would try to guide her, and Bonnie hanging around sticking her nose in both of our faces wasn't helping. I finally leashed Bonnie and had my husband hold her on the other side of the room.

I was making some progress but not much. I am not putting a command to it yet - just trying to get her to do it consistently with lures. So, finally I realized I had probably been working too long on it, so I ran her through the stuff she is good at and then quit (battered and scratched). Then I forgot about it.

This morning, I remembered. So, I grabbed a treat, put her in a down, and lured her over. She went right over! She did it every time! I am going to start putting a command to it next, and a hand signal. How fun!

It totally amazes me that a dog can seem to not be learning something and then you can not do it for weeks, and then when you try it again they seem to have learned it while you weren't looking!

 

Yes....teaching them tricks is a hoot. Roll over with Rusty was especially comical. He is definitely the smartest dog I've ever taught tricks too...he learns extremely fast. I think the only trouble sometimes is that he tries so hard to get exactly what I want him to do that he takes everything too precisely.....like with roll over-- I started with saying "roll over" and by pressing on his side, would get him in the position and roll him onto his back. So...at first he though the trick was "Okay! I stand here and let mom put her hand on me and tip me over! I can do that!" SO, we went with that for a few times. Then it got to where he would pretty much start the action as soon as I would reach to touch him, so I would just have to sort of guide him over. So THEN he seemed to think "Oh! Now I get what you want! You want me to flip onto my back with my belly up and my legs in the air, right?" And he would do that....lie down, roll onto his back....and lie there.....like a litle tipped over doggie statue!!..So then I had to work on getting the follow through. After a few more times of Rusty lying there on his back with his feet up waiting for the treat, I finally got him to complete the whole thing by flipping over and back on his feet. But, for some reason he still seems to think that part of the trick is pausing just a bit in the belly up, feet straight up position just long enough for dramatic effect, I guess :lol:

 

Bender knows how to roll over, we just rolled him over manually with the command and gave him a treat afterwards. He learnt pretty fast. He doesn't really like doing it though! A cool trick to teach your dog is to 'play dead' but instead of using the 'play dead' command, use 'BANG!' and pretend to shoot them and then they'll play dead. A good one to show off to your friends!
I want to teach Bender how to get stuff from the letter box. I once saw on telly a man that had taught his dog to go and open the fridge, get a beer, close the fridge and bring it to him on the couch!!!! Now that's the best trick I've seen so far!!!

 

I totally agree about how dogs seem to not be learning and then all of a sudden they get it- this happened with Cam when I was teaching her to shake hands. For weeks I would say, "shake Cameron" and pick up her paw and shake it, and then give her a treat. It was getting a little ridiculous by week 2 when I was basically just rewarding her for letting me pick up her paw and shake it, but then all of a sudden, one day I said "shake Cameron" and got ready to reach for her paw, and she did it on her own!!! I was so excited I jumped up and down- which I think gave her a bit of a mixed message, so we kind of took a back step, but in just a few more tries she did it all by herself and has ever since. It's like they probably actually figure the trick out way before they decide to show it to us, just to keep getting the treats

 

Thats awesome Jamiya!
Natalie knew how to roll over when she was younger but I have'nt had her do it for some long that I'd probably have to teach her again.

 

I think I taught Jasmine how to speak for a treat. Although she could just be barking at me cause I didnt give her the treat fast enough when she sat which is about the only thing she is 100% consistant on! Belle seems to run though all her tricks till it gets her the treat, I hope that one day she actually knows what I want. LOL

 

Luther drives me crazy! bc if I say Luther sit, He sits, shakes, lays down rollsover all in one. but some days he still needs coaxing into lay down, he likes it when I tap my foot on the floor for that one! But if someone (other than my bfs mom) says sit he waits patiently for the treat or next command. If my bfs mom is in the room, he is always walking on her hip, and if she has food, he gets it immediately, I used to think it was a language problem (she hardly speaks english) but now that I know more german, her bf understands me(who can only say hi and he says it when it should be bye!) and he tells her what I am saying. She just laughs and thinks it is cute!!! :0021: :roll: :x . makes me angry!!!
But my brother has some sort of german something dog (not a shephard or dacshund) and he taught him the normal stuff sit stay lay down, shake... but he also taught him the bang thing and he taught him this other trick hail, sorta like shake but the paw is straight extended, he thought it would be cute bc it is a german dog! not many people like that though. He also does the cover your eyes and ears thing

 

I want to teach BANG at some point, but it's going to be tricky with Little Miss Wiggly Butt. Hmmm. I wonder if I should try capturing it when she is tired. She sleeps lying flat on her side like she is dead...

I need to get in the habit of wearing the clicker so I can capture behaviors I want to shape into other things. Bonnie still has trouble because she is afraid to offer new behaviors. And Nala just offers "down" over and over again and then lies there and stares at me - because I have reinforced the idea that a dog that is lying down quietly just may get a treat thrown her way!