Trying to come up with ways to keep my dog mentally stimulated by learning new things and thought that I would like to teach my dog to roll-over on command; but I have never taught this before and not really sure how to do this. Anyone have any ideas as to how I would go about teaching this to my dog?

Thank you,

 Quote: peggybayer

Trying to come up with ways to keep my dog mentally stimulated by learning new things and thought that I would like to teach my dog to roll-over on command; but I have never taught this before and not really sure how to do this. Anyone have any ideas as to how I would go about teaching this to my dog?

Thank you,

Some dogs hate to have their legs handled for the physical cue (you helping them to roll over from a down and then marking and rewarding). So here are two methods from a kind of cutesy web page, but the instructions are pretty basic and correct (IMO):
http://www.bullwrinkle.com/training/rollover.htm

Also, have you tried "Say your prayers"? Bob Scott told me about that one when I was looking around for rainy-day "work" for the dogs.

 Quote: connie sutherland

Also, have you tried "Say your prayers"? Bob Scott told me about that one when I was looking around for rainy-day "work" for the dogs.

Connie, you keep raving about this one! (say your prayers) It sounds pretty cool. Do you have a link or thread we can reference?

 Quote: rick miller

 Quote: connie sutherland

Also, have you tried "Say your prayers"? Bob Scott told me about that one when I was looking around for rainy-day "work" for the dogs.

Connie, you keep raving about this one! (say your prayers) It sounds pretty cool. Do you have a link or thread we can reference?

Thanks Connie, and yeah, I'd like to know how to teach that one too

I was laid up from surgery from Sept '06 to Jan '07. I couldn't walk except with a walker & even then getting to the bathroom was the extent of my travels!!! At the time my dog was still a pup, he just turned 2 on 11/30/07 and he is a very high drive GSD. To say the least, both of us were pretty bored so I tried to think up different games & tricks to entertain both of us. I would take things he did naturally that I thought were cute & mark it verbally so I could get him to do it when I asked. One of my favorites is "Do you like __________? He always shook his head violently & sort of bucked around when he didn't like the smell of something like alcohol, smoke from cigs, any hot drink like coffee or tea (I think it was the vapors off the hot drink). So I would shove my hot tea cup under his nose & say "Do you like". The more demonstrative & wild his reaction, the better the praise & reward. So now it's a pretty fun trick & my friends get a kick out of it.

 Quote: Rick Miller

... (say your prayers) It sounds pretty cool. Do you have a link or thread we can reference?

I'll find either the email or a link to some instructions.

QUOTE:
This trick is aimed to get your dog to put his head between his paws with the command “say your prayers” and, just for fun, end the trick with the command “amen” . The way to begin the trick is to get the dog in the sit position and sit on a chair in front of the dog.

Position a treat on the chair in between your legs. Then gently lift the dogs paws onto the chair and then “leave” so that the dog does immediately eat the treat. Then (this may be more difficult) get the dog to put its head down between its paws. For beest results use a treat to entice your dog's head down.

Then give the command “amen” and let the dog have its treat. Some trainers suggest that this is best done on a table with the trainer behind the dog and coaching the dog with its paws on the table. END
from http://dogtrainingcompanion.blogspot.com/2007/04/train-your-dog-to-say-its-prayers.html

I taught the roll over with the food method in the link above with no conflict at all.

1) In the down, take a treat and lure the nose back and over the shoulder slowly by dragging the treat. It put the dog in a “dead dog” position.
2) From that position (I took the extra time to mark that and give it the name “on your side&rdquo I did the same luring movement over the shoulder until the pup was on it’s back. (Me being me I also marked that and named it “on your back&rdquo
3) Once there just continue it all the way over. Sometimes a gentle shove, usually they just follow it all the way. Just make sure that you always lure slowly.

I also taught the “say your prayers” pretty easily by luring and marking as well.

1) From the down I lured the nose slowly down ‘till the chin rested on the ground. Mark and treat while the chin is touching the ground.
2) Then I would just extend the time of the chin on the ground until the M/T. I then call it "head down."
3) Once the dog understands what I am asking I could lift the dogs leg up onto the _______ (bed, chair, couch) and ask for the head drop. Have the lure ready to remind them what you are asking.

Do of these tricks when the dog is calm and relaxed but not tired. For me this is in the evening after a meal. With the tummy a little full mine don’t get so excited about the treat. And I have found that when I have to manipulate the dog physically, a relaxed dog takes the franticness out of it. Until you want to add speed and flash, you don’t need them getting really excited and jumping around to play. But never try to teach a tired dog a new command.

I call all of my trick by the action. "Head Down" "On Your Side" "Roll Over" but I also give them cutsy names "Say Your Prayres" and "BANG!" for fun and kids. Never had an issue with them getting them both by also giving the same hand cue for both names.

It helps when I am chaining multiple individual trick into one. An example; roll over is "On Your Side" and "On Your Back" together with one more added. When all done I have three individual tricks in the time it takes to teach one!

Thank you all for the tips, I look forward to teaching these to Buddy.