We’ve been kept indoors because of the haze and Donna is very restive. She’s a laze-about dog at home, but she does need her daily walk or she gets restless, and then she gets rough when playing or worse, she gets curious and starts doing taste -tests that are not good for her tummy.
Our other cousin Mr B told us about his girlfriend’s amazing mongrel dog who could flop and play dead every time the human goes “Bang!” That sounds pretty cool, and it’s something fun to do besides trying to get Donna to ‘walk with me’, and the other obedience behaviours that we normally train in our tiny apartment.
So here goes…
As you can see, we are not very good at it yet. Donna tends to go into a down position and look at me. And then I keep thumping the floor before she remembers oh yes, fall to the side. And then she’s so happy anticipating the reward (yay! kibble!), her tail keeps wagging. Harlow, how can a dead dog be wagging it’s tail?? So it takes some time before she is totally still but she’s getting it, because then she gets the treat. Still, Good Job dead dog!! :D
Perhaps if we practise more, she start flopping faster.
Meanwhile, here are some Youtube dogs that are masters at this with their unique takes on the trick:
Linda Arthur Tejera
Oh, gosh, this made me laugh! Thanks! :)
weliveinaflat
The videos were funny right? :D Made me laugh myself!! Have a good weekend!
Sonel
Whahahahahah! I wonder what Donna is thinking when you do that? LOL! But I am glad she keeps you busy like that Mrs. P. It must be awful for you not to go on your daily walks. ;)
Loved the videos and the first one was absolutely hilarious! Thanks for sharing hon. :D *big hugs*
weliveinaflat
It depends on what mood I find her in I think. Flopping is at present not her favourite activity :P And if she were far away when the bang! comes, she will “considerately” run on in her “injured” state until she is before me and then she flops… so that she doesn’t trouble me too much to deliver the treat to her. So yes, I think she is as usual very much thinking about food. :P
Sonel
Yeah, luckily they don’t have our moods..hahahah. I would do the shooting for sure then. LOL!
Awwww, she is so totally adorable. That must be so much fun for both of you and well, the “food” is always a huge motivator..hehehehe
weliveinaflat
I think we just lucked out and found a generally good natured dog… or the humans are just too oblivious :P Either way, works for us :P
Sonel
LOL! Indeed. :D
Ariane
We can never get Chloe or Ally to learn how to play dead. Tried and failed. That, or we got lazy teaching them. Chloe can do a high five though, on her hind legs (when she’s in the mood for it – did I mention she think she’s queen of the house?). And Ally, you might laugh… Ally PRAYS. Or beg. Depends on how you see it. She moves her front paws in rapid motions every time we ask her to “求求” and it’s hilarious. No one taught her that, she just suddenly came to learn it all on her own.
So glad the haze has deteriorated! :)
weliveinaflat
I love it when dogs learn things on their own! We’re lazy here too :P Get Ally to do it for CNY and she should get some ang paos! :P Just tell all your relatives she is going “恭喜!恭喜!恭喜发财!” Muahahahaha! :P … meanwhile you can tell Ally to pray the haze away :D She will be a national hero if it works!
Yah I get the mood thing, sometimes Donna will just sit there in her down position and stare and refuse to “die” properly :P I taught her the playing dead in one afternoon, imperfectly of course as you can see :P But I also think we sort of build up to it. I’ve been treating her every time I see her lying on the side, going “good job dead dog”. At the same time, I’ve been trying to get her to rollover very unsuccessfully because all she managed is to lie on her side. So even if Bang! was unfamiliar to her, lying on her side to get treated is. The “dead dog” and the floor thumping cue works (except for my hurting hand lol) and then slowly, we just go Bang! with the hand gun and she know what to do.
I guess there will be some tricks a dog gets good at and some tricks a dog may never learn. Like rollover.
I want to see Chloe do high-five on hind legs! That sounds you need pretty good balance. :D