Friday, May 30, 2014

Teach Your Dog to Play Dead

Rocco says, I'm ready to start zooming again!
It's been an unusually quiet week at To Dog With Love this week.

Why, you might ask?

Last week, we finally pulled the trigger and scheduled Rocco's neuter surgery. Rocco had his surgery last Friday and he's recovering quickly, as expected.

The hardest thing has been keeping Rocco quiet and still. The first few days were easy, but by the middle of this week, Rocco was ready to rock and roll.

The vet, however, said 10-14 days without running, jumping or long walks. Oh no!

When I can't watch him, he's in his crate wearing a cone.  Otherwise I've had to keep him on a leash so he doesn't take off zooming!

Rocco looks like a little flower in his cone, doesn't he? heehee!

So by Wednesday of this week, we needed to find something we could do that didn't require running, jumping or zooming. So we pulled out our tricks book and decided that "play dead" looked like a reasonably calm activity!

Here's where we're at on day two of teaching "Bang! Play Dead".



Here's how we taught it:

  • Sit on the floor in front of your dog. Put your dog in a down, facing you.
  • Lure him with a treat over his shoulder (we used the same technique to teach roll over)
  • When he rolls from his side to his back, steady him and give him a belly rub! 
  • Use a "finger gun" as a hand signal and say "Bang!" as you roll him into position
We spent about five minutes in our first session on Wednesday, using the technique above. Then we tried it again on Wednesday evening, this time with me standing up and pointing the finger gun, and saying "Bang!".  Rocco caught on quickly as you can see above!

Next, we'll work on getting him to hold the position a little longer. Does your dog know how to play dead? What trick do you think we should we try next?



The fun and games continue every Friday with FitDog Friday, the weekly Blog Hop brought to you by To Dog With LoveSlimDoggy and Peggy's Pet Place to promote a healthy active lifestyle for pets (and their people, too!). Join in every Friday by linking up your FitDog story or visiting the blogs in the Hop.

33 comments:

  1. How about beg? Or roll over? We're currently working on a retrieve and unrolling a yoga mat.

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    1. Oh, I like the idea of unrolling a yoga mat! I'd like to teach him to roll himself up in a blanket too. Rocco already knows roll over. So now I need to teach him to hold something (the blanket) in his mouth.

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  2. Way to go Rocco. Clever you.
    Have a fabulous Friday.
    Best wishes Molly

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  3. That sounds like a fun trick! We may need to try that. Keeping still for 10-14 days is tough with an energetic dog. Bailie was a nightmare as she was all go, go, go. I didn't get spayed until I was four and did not want to do anything at all for almost a week. I am a drama queen and enjoyed lying around being pampered. The time will be up soon and Rocco will be back to mischief!

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    1. heehee! Rocco knows how to lay on the drama too. Today is seven days and he's more than ready to go zoom!
      Diane and Rocco

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  4. Great trick. Not playing for that long is tough. Stay strong Rocco.

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  5. I hope Rocco continues to recover well. My girl knows "bang." It is a pretty cute trick.

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    1. Thank you! I don't know why we didn't teach it before. I like his legs waving up in the air… even cuter in person!

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  6. Soon Rocco will be zooming again. Yes, Rocco looks cute like a little flower :-) Fun trick to learn. Happy Friday!

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  7. Great trick and thanks for sharing the video. We just know the basics around the house, so I can't suggest any good tricks. Hope you have a speedy recovery.

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  8. Both of mmy boys can play dead. Pierre is also a quick dead, spring back to life performer. Bentley falls over and proceeds to slowly die until a belly scratch revives him. How about teaching spin around?

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    1. Good thinking on the spin around! We already have that but thought we'd perfect the rear cross spin. That's where if you start with your dog on your left, you spin him to the outside (counterclockwise) with your right hand. It's foundation agility training for teaching a rear cross! Then, you repeat on the right side. I think a slow die would be hilarious! Sounds like Bentley has that figured out!

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  9. That is so cute! My pyrs would never be so inclined. You'd tell them to play dead and they'd ask "why?". Gotta love their independent nature ;)

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    1. hehe! Rocco will do anything, especially for a tasty treat!

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  10. Oh Rocco I am so sorry to see you wearing the Cone of Shame! But I know its for the best and I hope you are your active self again. Please listen to your mom its for the best! Love Dolly

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    1. Thanks for the words of encouragement, Dolly!
      Your pal,
      Rocco

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  11. I think that's the hardest part of the spay/neuter surgeries....keeping them quiet for that long. I don't think we've ever made it the full time they advised!
    We're working on roll over with Luke right now, so maybe once he's got that down, we'll try play dead too. We never really taught the girls any tricks like that, so I think it would be fun!

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    1. Good luck with roll over! I love that trick. It looks so cute!

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  12. Hi Y'all!

    Oh I know roll over but my Human has some kind of a hang up about the playing dead trick.

    Roll over wins me lots of points with the vets! Especially since, being 100 lbs, they have to get onto the floor with me. When they try to peer underneath and my Human says let him roll over and I do! It's like WOW!

    Y'all come by now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

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    1. I bet that's impressive when you roll over! We had a hang up with playing dead too, but when Rocco flopped on his back with all his feet in the air it was so cute, it wasn't really like pretend shooting him at all! Have a fun weekend!
      Diane and Rocco

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  13. Oh my gosh, I know Rocco's look with coned-dog-in-crate! (Mort had surgery recently too). I think we might have to work on this trick too, but not sure if it might hit too close to home with the number of emergencies this guy has had ;)

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    1. I resisted the whole bang thing for a while, but it was so fun to see him waving his paws on his back that now I'm glad I taught it! His vet enjoyed it too!
      Diane and Rocco

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  14. That is a fabulous trick. Glad Rocco is healing up nicely after his surgery.

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  15. Very smart! It's so hard to explain to dogs that they need to take it easy. He appears to be taking the cone in stride though. Good boy!

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  16. Oh no, not the cone of shame! It is so hard to keep dog's quiet, especially when they start feeling better. Looks like Rocco is recovering well :-)

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