Teaching Pup To Play Dead

[mrs tornsocks]

I could not see another thread on this so forgive me if repeated.

We are trying to teach 14 wk old pup to play dead. he's SUCH a clever fellow (yes, biased) - he sits, drops, rollover, stays (on sit or dropped), barks on command. He's going pretty well with the serious/important stuff like walking on the lead, increasing distractions and distances on his basic stuff as well.

At the moment we want to teach him to play dead but he's confusing it with roll over. Any tips ? When he lies down on one side but DOESN't rollover he gets praise, should we just keep working on this ? He also ocassionally gets confused with 'speak' and will bark instead of going down on one side.

Our signal for play dead is finger /hand held like a pistol and a verbal 'bang'.

And .. this could be a ridiculous question for a 14 week old lab but how do we get him to lie still to make the 'play dead' trick authentic ?

Edited July 6, 2009 by mrs tornsocks

[pcarr]

i love this trick, but think we need to master a few basics yet, but my kids want our puppy to learn this one, was hoping for some hints

[MrsD]

When he lies down on one side but DOESN't rollover he gets praise,

How are you teaching him all the other tricks you have taught & what are you using as your reward?

I would be using a clicker & clicking either the lying flat or trying to catch him at precisely the point when he is on his back with the clicker (even if you have to block him from completing the rollover) . Pick either/or depending on which response you want.

[koalathebear]

Sorry for hijacking this old thread but I didn't want to start a new one. We've been teaching Elbie how to play dead. At first we had to lure him through it but he'll now flop onto his side but we can't make him do the "limpness" that some dogs do to make it convincing

This is what we have so far.

Play Dead Attempt #1: This is the version we call the "twitching death throes" (and instant miraculous resurrection) death .... Video

.

Play Dead Attempt #2: This is the version we call the "hesitant slightly delayed afterthought death". Video

.

Play Dead Attempt #3: This is "instant death". Video

.

You can see that even with #3, he looks more funny than dead. Any tips would be most welcome. He is six months old and can do rollover, spin, are you shy, shake hands, high five, back, touch, jump, peekaboo etc.

Edited August 9, 2010 by koalathebear

[aussielover]

KTB= 1 and 3 both look pretty good to me...

Is this trick meant to be on the back with all 4 legs in the air- or lying on the side?

[Gayle.]

We taught Benson to play dead by teaching him to roll over, then once he had that down pat, we'd get him to roll over but we'd stop him when he was on his side by holding him and say "Bang" at the same time and giving him a treat. That soon morphed into "Bang" being the cue to lie down on his side.

He doesn't die for long........around 0.5 sec if we're lucky cos he pops his head up for a treat.

[koalathebear]

KTB= 1 and 3 both look pretty good to me...

Is this trick meant to be on the back with all 4 legs in the air- or lying on the side?

Thanks. Elbie does both now. Originally he only did the dead cockroach one (paws in the air) which is quite funny to watch but he will now also plonk onto his side and try to look dead.

[Paul Bright]

Here are some great links on how you can teach your puppy to play dead. The important thing to remember is to praise and reward when your puppy gets the right action. Also, be patient! Your puppy will learn :D

http://hubpages.com/hub/Train-Your-Dog-to-Play-Dead

http://www.ehow.com/how_2063026_teach-dog-play-dead.html

http://www.5min.com/Video/Play-Dead-Dog-Trick-97357378

Good luck!!!

[giraffez]

He doesn't die for long........around 0.5 sec if we're lucky cos he pops his head up for a treat.

hahah

i have the same problem, he know roll over but cannot stay still halfway!

[koalathebear]

OH has managed to teach Elbie a 'lengthy' dead. See

.

[gila]

lol what a cutie. Maybe the stiffness is Elbie pretending that rigor mortis has set in. You might have to explain to him that it doesn't happen quite that quickly

Spence has somehow figured out that dead dogs don't breathe, so if he's panting when I shoot him he will actually close his mouth and stop panting when he's 'dead'. Although if I don't bring him to life quick enough he will roll his eye to look at me

[koalathebear]

We now have a double dead with our two - although they don't fall over at the same time

Video is

.

[jackie_a1]

Hiya,

I've taught Boss not to play dead but to die on command. So the whole BANG *dog drops to floor dies* routine.

I taught Boss with clicker training, not sure if you're familiar with it. But basically after teaching Boss reward association with the clicker this is how I did it, (it took me roughly a week and a half but depends on the dog).

I taught Boss sit first. Click.

Once his sit was good taught him drop click.

Once he had drop down pat began luring him to roll over on and expose his belly click.

Then when he had this all down solidly I added a cue. IMPORTANT DO NOT ADD A CUE UNTILL THE DOG UNDERSTANDS EXACTLY WHAT IT IS YOU WANT HIM/HER TO DO.

The cue was bang. Boss soon realised what I wanted him to do he dies straight away and rolls on his tummy.

Of course it may take some dogs longer or quicker depending on their learning ability and breed.

I have video but I'm not sure how to get it off my phone onto my computer. Hope that helped a bit. It's not exactly playing dead but it is dying.

[AmaCam+Digby]

Taught this to Digby this week... I think he is sort of getting it!

[rastus_froggy]

Very cute He is doing it very well!