# roll over shake and "dead"



## jacksonpuppers (Jul 13, 2009)

I wanted to know how anyone has taught their dogs to do this and how they teach them to. Thank you. I could not find any posts for it so i need help!!!! Thankz


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## jacksonpuppers (Jul 13, 2009)

He kinda knows dead but i would like him to learn stand also. THANKZ


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

Does your dog know how to lie down? If so, then take your treat and lure his nose ACROSS his front leg and AROUND his shoulder. Most people just bring the treat to the floor for a play dead and that causes him to get up or squirm to get the treat. When you lure him across and around, he'll likely follow (it will take a few times til he figures out what you want. Keep your treat close to his nose and keep at it). Once he gets on his side, then put the treat on the floor so his face is flat on the floor. THEN give him the treat. 

After a couple of tries, it will be one sweeping move. If he lifts his head, don't treat. His nose has to be flat on the floor. Once you have this, depending how advanced your dog's thinking and obedience skills are, you can start him off at a sit and give him the play dead command. You may need to lure him into the down and then through the play dead movement a few times so that he understands you want him to do it all together. A lot of people start off giving "Bam!" as the command, from the very beginning. This way, as you advance, you can then pair it with it the "gun" hand signal, which a lot of people find cute. 


To roll over, once your dog is in the play dead position, you just lure him to roll to the other side. Be sure you're working on carpet or a rug for this. Some GSDs have bony backs and have a hard time rolling at first, so if they're trying to roll to follow the lure but are having a hard time, you may need to push them along and over. One of my dogs -- a large male -- couldn't tweak his back quite right to get the rolling action, so he used to grab on to my hand and push off on that with his paws until he developed the ability to do it on his own. So you'll want to be flexible with your dog's physiology. 

Puppies can a lot more flexible of course,both in their bodies and how fast they grasp a new behavior. My 3 month old pup already knows play dead (we call it "take a nap" and roll over. I taught these in one evening, and after sleeping on it, he mastered them the next day.) 

One more thing, most dogs naturally roll one way or another better (that includes on the play dead too). If you're not getting anywhere trying to roll your dog to one side, try the other. Once you find one direction that works, stick with that for a while though. Let him learn that thoroughly before you change directions on him. 

With regard to shake, some often lift a paw (often it's a sign of deference), especially if they want something. If yours does, click and/or mark it with the word "shake" and reward. If yours doesn't you can hold a treat at his nose and lift it higher. At some point, one of his paws will usually go into the air. Touch the paw and mark it with the word "shake" and a reward. 

If neither of these work, you can just lift your dog's paw into the air with your hand, tell him "good shake" and reward. It's easier and often faster to teach shake when your dog is already naturally offering the behavior, but I had a dog that didn't offer her paw, and I was able to teach her to shake by just taking her paw and rewarding her for it. 


Have a great time! Tricks are great because they make learning fun!


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

Stand is pretty easy. When your dog is sitting, take a small piece of food that smells good, put it into your hand, holding it in your fist between your index finger and thumb, so that just a tiny piece sticks out. Put your hand (the food) right in front of his nose and lure him up and forward. In a true stand, your dog simply stands (taking one step forward. He doesn't take a bunch of steps.) As soon as he's fully standing up, open your hand and give him the treat.

Once he's mastered that, then you can do the same thing from a down position. 

The hand signal that I use for a stand, then, is a closed fist in front of my dog. I stop using a lure pretty quickly (though I still reward my puppies and young dogs with the other hand). But the hand signal is clear and not easily confused with other signals.


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## GSDSunshine (Sep 7, 2009)

Yay, something I know.

I first want to say I am definitely not an expert.
I taught my boyfriends sisters dog how to shake and how to play dead.

Shake is the easiest so I will start with that. You want to get your dog into a sit. Next, give him the command "shake" or "paw" and wait. As soon as one of his paws starts to lift up. Say yes and Treat him. You want to repeat this a few times. He should slowly be offering it a little more once he realizes what you want. I was able to teach this to a lab poodle mix in a day. My explanation wasn't the best I guess, but maybe some other could add more detail.

For playing dead:
1.You will be doing this in chunks. First you want your dog in a down. Once he is down give him a command/ hand signal/both. For me i mimicked a gun and I said bang bang. Then you wait for him to go from a proper down to his legs out to the side a bit. As soon as he does this, you say yes, and . Repeat the command again when he is placed in a down a few times. After he can consistently have his legs to the side, ask for more (so to speak).

2. Now instead of just the back legs out to the side, he has to be on his side. Repeat this for a few minutes. Its also good to take breaks in between all the chunks. Once he has this down, its on to the next step.

3. This time when you give him the command, and he goes on to his side, wait. He needs to put his head down on the ground. It might take a few tries. But again any movement in that direction gets treated. Repeat this a few times until you can get him to lay on his side with his head on the ground from a down. And at this point, you want to progress to having him start from a sit. Tell him to sit and then give him you dead dog command. He should eventually work it out in his head and figure it out.

4. Finally I would progress to a standing position. When you give your command he should be going into position so to speak. 

Keep in mind, this trick would be better if taught in a few days. Trying to cram all the steps in one day is a bit much. I think anyways. Good luck


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## jacksonpuppers (Jul 13, 2009)

thank you sooo much.. i will try that


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## jacksonpuppers (Jul 13, 2009)

I think i will try a little tomarow..thank you all so much


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

On the rollover, I wasn't perfectly clear, lure at his nose and the rest of his body should follow...After following your lures for the play dead, he should have a clearer idea of what you want, but it may take a few tries (and a few gentle pushes of his shoulders by you) til he understands that he needs to move more than just his head.


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## Sigurd's Mom (May 12, 2009)

When I taught Sigurd "shake", it took me about 2 days. I would say "shake" and grab his paw, and then say "Good boy!!" and treat, and then after a day he got the hang of it, he'd automatically give me his paw when I said "shake". So when he would lift his paw after the command, I'd get even more excited and "Oh you're such a good boy!!" and give him a bigger treat.







It was really rewarding that he learned so quick!

I think it's his favourite trick... when he wants something he will sit, look at me, and keep shaking... it's adorable.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Halo has a really good "gimme paw" command. I shaped it by putting her in a sit and then using a treat to lure her slightly off balance so she'd raise the opposite paw slightly, then I marked it and delivered the treat. (You don't want them to try and get up, just lean a bit to the side). Next step, I added the command, and I'd grab the raised paw for a second before marking and releasing it. It still wasn't perfect though, the paw was just a couple of inches off the floor, but I found that giving the command and using one hand to push a little at her shoulder to tip her off balance helped give her the idea, because in order to raise her paw up high enough to shake she had to learn to shift her balance onto the other leg. At the same time as I was tipping her, I held out my other hand for the raised paw. That seemed to be the "aha!" moment, and she started leaning to one side and raising the other paw high enough to put in it my hand when I gave the command. 

Now I can either say "gimme paw" or just hold out my hand, and she'll slap a paw into it. Very cute!


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I've taught Nikon all three, well I call them rollover, pound, and bang (I point my hand like a gun and he flops over dead).

Pound...he just kinda did so I marked it and named it. I put a treat in my fist and one of the first things he tried to get it was pawing at it, so I marked that and opened my hand for the treat.

Rollover....first I taught him down/platz, then I lured his head around with a treat and marked as soon as he flipped far enough onto his back where he'd have to rollover to get back up. Gradually I weaned off the lure.

Bang...I just taught this last week, again luring his head into position and marking. I started with him near a wall, to prevent him from trying the rollover to get the treat. Now that he knows the difference I don't need the wall.


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## jacksonpuppers (Jul 13, 2009)

Ok thnk you all so much..i will try it and hopefully he dill learn


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

> Originally Posted By: LiesjePound...he just kinda did so I marked it and named it. I put a treat in my fist and one of the first things he tried to get it was pawing at it, so I marked that and opened my hand for the treat.


That was one of the other methods I'd heard about to teach shake, but I had already taught my dogs that if there's food (or a toy) in my hand they're to ignore it and look at me instead. I don't want them to think it's okay to start pawing at my hands for stuff they want after I spent all that time teaching them NOT to!!! Halo actually did try pawing at my hand a couple of times when we were working on it, but I didn't reward it.


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## jacksonpuppers (Jul 13, 2009)

Ok i will try doing that...i have been trtying the oll over and he is doing well


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## FuzzyWuzzy (Sep 10, 2009)

Hooray for you! Learning is learning even when it is tricks. Keeping those GSD minds active is good stuff


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## Smith3 (May 12, 2008)

Also, you might want to teach differnet words for rolling left and rolling right. We have also associated "shake" for the right paw and "paw" for her left paw for shaking.


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

I do too. I use Shake and Left Paw. It's a great party trick. When I'm in front of others, I tell my dog to shake,. He offers promptly his right paw. And I tell him "oh, Celo! I wanted your LEFT paw!" (which he immediately offers) 

Kids love this (actually, so do adults). Kids always ask if he knows his right from his left.







It's a nice ice breaker in public and makes the big male GSD look not quite so scary.


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## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

Okay, we're working on play dead or "bang" and slowly getting it. She's more interested in wanting to chew on my "gun" hand!! But we're getting it!


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

I didn't teach Halo two different words, but she'll give me whatever paw is closest to my hand so I just reach for the paw I want and she slaps it into my hand. I discovered last weekend that although I taught her to "gimme paw" from a sit, she will also do it when she's in a down. She doesn't lift her paw up as high since it's hard to do with elbows on the floor, but I was surprised that she'd get it at all!


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## Strana1 (Feb 9, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: 3K9MomI do too. I use Shake and Left Paw. It's a great party trick. When I'm in front of others, I tell my dog to shake,. He offers promptly his right paw. And I tell him "oh, Celo! I wanted your LEFT paw!" (which he immediately offers)
> 
> Kids love this (actually, so do adults). Kids always ask if he knows his right from his left.
> 
> ...


I use "High 5" for the right and then "other 5" for the left. "gimme 10" is both, Saber kinda sits up on his hanches.


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