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How to Teach a Dog to Rollover

Teaching your dog to roll over may be easier than you think. Whether you want to teach the roll over to a ma-ture dog or to a new puppy yourself or pay for obedi-ence training at an dog obedience school, training a dog to roll over can start them off to proper dog behav-iour.

Training dogs how to roll over is not only one of those dog tricks that will teach your dog to obey, but it re-enforces you as the dog trainer and makes you the pack leader in the relationship and helps stop dog ag-gression.

This is important in dog obedience whether you are trying to stop puppy biting or full grown german shep-herd training, so start slowly.

Step One: The first thing to do in training your dog to roll over is to train your dog to lie down on his or her

belly using one of the common dog commands… the ‘down’command.

What is taught in dog school or in popular dog training books is to put your hand in front of their face and point down and move your hand down to the ground saying “down” at the same time. Your dog should follow your hand to the ground. This com-mand is the starting point to many dog tricks and must be mastered before you go on.

Step Two: With your dog lying on their stomach, hold a treat in your hand (later you won’t need a treat. (See: Positive Training or Food Rewards) and move it over and around your dogs face and at the same time say ‘roll over’. In the first few sessions, you may also have to gently help your dog to roll over with a push.

Step Three: Now get your dog to the belly position again. The best way to do this is to use a treat and move it over his head until he has rolled all the way over onto his belly again.

Teach a dog to roll over with these three steps for 5 minutes and practice twice daily teaching your dog how to follow your specific command of “roll over”. When training puppies to police dogs, don’t over do it. Dogs have a tendency to get bored and you may get frustrated. But stick with it. Pretty soon all your will have to say is the com-mand….roll over.

How to Teach a Dog to Roll Over – Make It Fun!

The most efficient way of teaching a dog to roll over is to make the process fun for the dog. Motivate your dog to obey your command. You must become the top dog. Use praises and cuddles or “maybe” a treat as a reward for practicing. In your efforts of how to teach a dog to roll over, don’t make it a chore and bore your dog. Remember, dogs have a short attention span.

Rolling over can come naturally to dogs. It is common for dogs to lie on their back and roll over during play time. However, the roll over can be a difficult trick to teach, espe-cially if your dog is dominant. Also, different dogs have different capacities. Do not ex-pect your dog to perform the roll over trick only after a few sessions. They may need

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repetition. Even an exceptionally intelligent dog that obeys the command and learns a trick in one session can show re-sistance in performing other tricks. It might take a lot of prac-tice on your dog’s part and a lot of patience on your part, to learn how to teach a dog to roll over.

Learning How to Teach a Dog to Roll Over

When you are learning how to teach a dog to roll over you must understand the physical and behavioral reasons (Click here: Dog Behavior) behind your dog’s resistance in learning a trick. Some dogs might be scared of the loss of balance in lying on their back and resist doing ‘roll overs’. You can avoid this if you take him to a soft surface like a carpeted or a grass area.

Some dogs’ need your help putting them on their back. Move your hand with the treat with a roll over movement forcing your dog to look around over their shoulder towards their back. Al-ways end the sessions on a positive note and reward every ef-fort with praises. Use your dogs name and say ‘good dog’ to

encourage them when you are teaching your dog to roll over.

Dog Obedience Classes Are Not Necessary

For the slow learner teaching a dog to roll over is better with one command at a time. Use the ‘down’ command (move your hand with the treat down to the ground-the dog will follow) to get your dog to lie on their belly. Next, use the ‘roll over’ com-mand to urge him to get to one side and relax and follow this with the ‘over’ command and get him to stay on his back. You may rub his belly while using the over command. Remem-ber… use the last ‘roll over’ command to get him to roll on the opposite side and eventually take the upright position again. You can use a treat (or maybe just a pat and praise) or snap your fingers and literally urge your dog to roll over to the other side and complete the roll over. With these four commands you will learn how to teach a dog to roll over and it gets easier and easier with practice.

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