So your dog knows how to sit, down, heel, stay, come. He knows all those commands that control his obedience but you want more. You want something that sets him/her apart from the rest. You want something to show friends and family when they come for a visit. You want to continue your dogs training because the both of you have fun, you bond, and it helps keep him/her healthy. You want a trick!
Many pet owners want to teach their dogs how to do tricks, and your dog will love it. There are many tricks you can teach your dog. However some tricks commonly taught to dogs are not recommended, such as the Give Paw trick. This is an easy trick to teach your pet and seems harmless enough, but this trick is giving your dog permission to paw at you and your company. This can be annoying to company and dangerous to children who many not be much bigger then your dog.
There are many other wonderful tricks you can teach your dog, tricks which will be much more entertaining for you and friends and a lot safer as well. One of my favorites is the Dead Dog trick. This trick is fairly easy to teach your dog, and you and your pet will have fun with it. When I train my dogs obedience I use pinch collars and no treats. Your dog should be obedient regardless of treats, they should listen because you are their master, they want to please you and, the praise they receive when they do what is asked.
To begin tricks for treats is OK. Your dog is doing something special not something you will require it to do well on a walk, or going to the bathroom like obedience. Although your dogs motivation to do the trick should be praise, a treat is a great bonus for them. Before we begin this trick you should be sure that your dog knows and obeys his obedience commands, such as sit, down, heel, stay, and come. These commands should be a combination of words and actions. Your dog having an action for a command and knowing it, is important to trick training.
So let's get started with our dead dog! Place your dog on it's lead attached to his/her pinch collar in a sit position. Then give your dog the stay command, and start by moving directly in front of your him/her. We will later increase this distance as our dog learns how to perform the dead dog trick. So standing in front our our dog, use the action for your down command(for me that is placing my left foot out in front of me) and at the same time point at your dog like you are shooting him/her and say bang(or the sound you prefer). This will accomplish 2 tasks; 1. Your dog will associate that sound (I use bang) with laying down. This is because of the down command you gave him/her through action (for me this was moving my left foot forward). 2. Your dog will be lying down which is the first part of the dead dog trick.
Next you will immediately say dead dog and bend down to rub your pets belly causing him/her to roll over onto their backs and appear to be dead. In the beginning this part will not work so well, because your dog will not really know what he is suppose to do. This is why we start by standing directly in front of our dog. This will give you the chance to keep rubbing your pets belly when you say dead dog. Your dog will eventually associate the words dead dog with belly rub, and when you say it will automatically roll onto their backs waiting for that belly rub.
This is where some dogs will shine, teaching them the trick up to this part is easy. The hard part is getting your dog to stay still for a longer period of time well on their backs waiting for the belly rub. You can try using the stay command while placing your hand on your pets belly, when you feel they have stayed long enough then reward them with belly rubs and lots of praise even a treat it you want!
The dead dog trick itself is easy but not all dogs will be able to stay still for long periods of time. With patience, practice, and praise any dog can do the trick in it's basic form. Everything else is just something extra to show off! So have fun and happy trick training.
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