One of the classic dog tricks along with “shake” and “play dead,” “roll over” is a fun trick that also uses muscles your dog may not otherwise, so it’s a good workout too.
Although it’s one of the oldest tricks, a lot of people are unsure how to train it, especially if you have a dog that does not naturally roll over.
Trust
Rolling over is a very vulnerable position and therefore requires some trust on the part of the dog. If you have a dog that has handling or people issues, they are going to have a harder time learning this trick. Before you start with roll over, work on building up trust. If your dog lets you touch him all over and trusts you enough to lie down in your presence and relax, he will probably roll over.
If he doesn’t work on that first. My youngest (now 1.5 years) is just learning roll over because at first there was no way he was going to lay flat on his side — too vulnerable. After working on handling and other things, I decided to try it again. Just this think he learned “chill” (lay flat on your side) and will be learning roll over next week!
Teach Roll Over
For most people, luring is the easiest way to get a roll over. Luring is when you take a piece of food, place it close to your dog’s nose and then move it so the nose (and dog) follows.
Start with your dog in a down position. Take a treat and lure your dog’s nose down and to one side.
TIP: If your dog does a “lazy sit” where he is rolled on one hip, it will be easier to have him roll over in that direction.
This is where you are going to have to do some experimenting. Some dogs, will just naturally lie flat at this point. Others, especially dogs with trust issues, will not. And, you may have to adjust where you put your lure – each dog is different. For some dogs, just going down and back is enough to get them to flop on their side. For others, you may have put your lure on the other side and move up and back (away from your dog so the treat goes over his head and he ends up flopping on his side to try and follow the treat.)
Once you have your dog is on his side, two things may happen. Some dogs naturally start to roll over, if that is something they do own their own. Or your dog may just lay there.
If your dog does not roll over on his own, you are going to have to continue luring. Put the treat by his nose again and start moving your hand over your dog’s head in the direction of the roll over.
Note: some dog’s, if they are overweight, or lack muscle, may actually struggle to get over. If this happens you can either gently help your dog, or your dog might have to lose some weight/gain muscle before you can finish the trick. Check with your vet on whether you should continue the training.
Losing the Lure
The first two or three times are the hardest. After that, remove the treat and just use your hand to “lure” (signal) your dog to roll over.
Once your dog is following your hand lure only, you can start fading your hand away from his body, so you don’t have to be right up close to get the behavior. to do this by gradually adding distance between your dog’s head and your hand while signaling the trick.
Then, you just have to decide if you want your dog to have it on a hand signal only or if you want to add a verbal cue.
To add the verbal cue, just say “roll over” (or whatever cue you want) right before you give the hand signal to roll over. Watch for your dog to start rolling over after you say the verbal but before you give the hand signals. That’s when you know he has learned the verbal and you can stop using the hand signal.
