Bang!

I've never taught my dogs tricks, I'm not sure why. But in our dog obedience class last week we were given an assignment to teach our dogs one trick for this week's class.

Our friend recently taught his Chihuahua to play dead when you point your finger and go "Bang!" He said Toby picked it up pretty quickly, so at the risk of failing and having to contemplate life with a dog less intelligent than a Taco Bell dog, I decided to try to teach this trick to Winnie.

First thing this morning, before breakfast even so she'd be extra hungry for treats, I spent about ten minutes repeatedly putting her in a sit, saying "Bang!" and then guiding her into a down with the treat in my hand, then gently rolling her on to her side and giving her the treat. Probably a dozen times doing that and then I left it alone for several hours.

Later in the afternoon we were doing some other training in the yard and I finished up with a few more of the play dead exercises. At this point she was already beginning to anticipate being rolled over on her side, and she would lie down and list to one side. I knew we were close!

So I brought her inside and in two more attempts with Sandy witnessing, sure enough Winnie rolled over on her side all by herself!

Whether she'll do it in class or not is a different story. Maybe I should bring my laptop in and just play it for the class...