HOW TO: Teach your dog to roll over!

Bree Collins- Assistant Manager @ CCC

 

I love teaching tricks to my pooch! It’s lots of fun for both of us and it’s a great bonding activity, plus it’s awesome to have party tricks to show off how awesome my dog is when we have friends and family over! One of the first challenges we took on was “Roll Over!”

 

Brooke picked this one up quickly because she already knew how to sit and lie down on command. These skills are important to teach before attempting to learn this trick!

There are a few different components to it which we will break down into 4 steps below:

Step 1: Sit  
Start with your dog in a sitting position in front of you. Reward them for this action – training should be fun with lots of praise and lots of treats!

 

Step 2: Down.

Ask your pooch to lie down and once they are in the down position, reward for this behaviour too.

 

Step 3: Get the ball rolling

Or dog, I should say! With your dog in the down position, take a treat in one hand and use it to lure your pooch’s head around to the right. Reward your pooch for following the treat and then start again. Slowly increase how far your pooch turns each time. The goal is to lure your pooch into placing their shoulder flat on the ground.

 

Once your dog is able to place their shoulder flat on the ground, you can continue luring your dog into a full roll over by slowly dragging your hand over your dogs head while they are on their back. Your pooch should follow your hand with their nose and cause them to roll right over onto their other side!

Step 4: Finish the roll!

 

With all tricks, if your pooch is struggling, slow down your progression and take a step back. Make sure they have enough practice with each step before you moving along to the next step! If your pooch can’t quite seem to get the hang of it, ask us in reception and we can give you some tips and tricks!

 

Happy Training!