Quote: ‘No matter how rich, talented or intelligent you are, how you treat animals tells me all I need to know about you.’ – Anonymous

DOG ROLLING OVER

Welcome all, I do hope that you are all well and enjoying the bonding time with your dogs.

Last week we taught our dogs to roll over one way. Now we are going to teach them to roll over the opposite way.

Do not attempt this if you have not successfully completed the roll over one way – you will confuse your dog.

So, let us now see how to teach the dog to roll over in the opposite/other direction.

ALSO READ: ‘Sitting pretty is only for some dogs’

STEP 1
When you give the command ‘roll over’ and your dog is confidently rolling over one way, you are ready to move on to the other way/direction.

Repeat the process from Step 1 (in the first part of teaching the roll over).

However, you will probably find that your dog is much quicker to learn, as he already has an idea of what he has to do.

STEP 2
When your dog can confidently roll both ways, independently, try asking him for two rolls, one to the left and one to the right. (His left and his right).

Begin by asking for a roll over one way and do not reward, but, immediately ask for a roll over the other way.

Then you reward after the second roll over is complete.

He will now understand that he has to do one roll to the left and one roll to the right BEFORE he gets his reward.

You are now ‘chaining behaviours’ – you are chaining two roll overs together.

You can also teach you dog to do multiple rolls in one direction.

First begin with two rolls in the same direction, reward only after the second roll.

Now do three rolls in a row, after the third roll, reward, add more rolls as you wish.

NOTE: Please refer to previous article regarding good physical health before attempting these exercises.

If you have been following my articles from the beginning you will be aware of the fact that YOUR HANDS can guide him to roll whichever way you ask him to.

You are going to give the verbal command as well as a hand signal.

You must be standing in front of your dog when you do this exercise, he needs to see your hands!

You are facing him so his left is your right and his right is your left.

If you want him to roll to his left, make a circling motion with your right hand moving in a clockwise direction.

If you want him to roll to his right, make a circling motion with your left hand moving in an anti-clockwise direction.

In no time your dog will be rolling over to your hand signal without the verbal command.

This is one of my favourite tricks to teach, people love to watch your dog rolling over and over.

CHASING BUBBLES

This next game you are going to play with your dog, is a lot of fun.

But a warning to all the moms – this can get a bit messy so it’s best to put the kids and dogs in an area where you don’t mind a bit of soapy mess,

I would suggest this game is played in the garden as it could also become a bit hectic.

You will need: One bottle of play bubbles, these you can buy from any store that sells children’s toys.

Do not use dish detergent.

Teach your dog to chase bubbles:

Start by blowing one or two bubbles at a time, if your dog does not show interest, try pointing at the bubbles – and tell her to ‘catch the bubbles’.

If your dog still shows no enthusiasm, you run and catch the bubbles, she will then realise that the bubbles are meant to be chased, dogs mimic your actions (I will discuss this in a future article).

Most dogs love this game of chasing bubbles, especially dogs who have a high prey drive or are just very playful by nature.

A word of caution:

After playing ‘chase the bubbles’ make sure to wipe your dog’s face with a damp towel to remove any traces of the bubble mixture as it might be irritating to your dog’s eyes.

How many of you have noticed that your dogs love anything that either makes a squeaky noise, or a crunching sound?

Have you ever wondered why? Before domestication dogs had to hunt and kill other animals to survive.

When the prey was caught it made a squealing sound, this trait still exists in most of our domestic dogs to this day, and that is why they like the sound of a squeaky or crackling toy.

Make a quick and easy crackling sound toy for your dog:

Take an old sock – it will have to be quite a long sock. Get any empty 500ml plastic water bottle, remove the top of the bottle and discard immediately.

Put the bottle in the sock, tie the sock at the top to keep the bottle inside and squeeze the bottle so it makes a crackling sound and play tug with your dog – he will absolutely love this game.

Caution:

Always remove the top from the bottle as it may be accidentally swallowed by your dog and it could die.

Also never leave your dog with the sock and bottle unsupervised, when you are finished your game, take the toy and put it away in a cupboard where the dog can’t reach it.

Until next week take care, stay safe.

Yvonne Eland

ACDIPCBM (UK) Specialist in Canine Behaviour and Management.

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