It’s canine trick training time! I’ll cover how to instruct a canine to play dead.

“Bang!” or play dead is my canine Wally West’s second official trick, to be exact.

So far, we’ve dealt with basic obedience commands like “sit,” “down,” and “stay,” and he’s learned the “shake” trick. I’ve written about it here on ThatMutt before, so feel totally free to check it out if you missed it:

How to instruct your canine to shake

How to instruct a canine to play dead

The “bang!” or play dead trick essentially teaches your canine to fall onto his side and stay in that position, ideally in a somewhat dramatic way!

It’s a cute party trick, and because Wally didn’t know it yet, I gladly accepted the challenge of tackling it when Lindsay suggested I write about it.

It’s also a terrific way of keeping him engaged and entertained inside, especially now that the canine days of summer are upon us here in North Carolina.

Keeping training sessions short and fun!

I never spent much more than 5-10 minutes at a time on the “bang!” trick when teaching it, but had several training sessions throughout the day instead.

That way, Wally worked his brain muscles just enough to burn some mental energy and not get bored by too much repetition. I made sure to always end a training session on a positive note, even if it only implied to reward a “sit” or a “down.”

How to instruct a canine “Bang!”

Option 1: Train your canine to play dead through “shaping.” This implies breaking the trick down into five different steps and teaching the steps one by one, then creating a flowing movement carried out on command.

Option 2: Train your canine bang through “capturing.” This simply implies naming a behavior your canine already does. 

More on both of these training concepts below. 

How to instruct your canine “bang!” using “shaping”

Like I discussed above, I broke the “bang!/play dead” trick down into 5 individual steps:

sidde

ned

moving his head to the side

lying on his side

adding the gun hand signal & voice command combination

Knowing the “down” and “roll over” commands is valuable and will make teaching the trick easier, but it’s not a prerequisite. Wally already knew the “sit” and the “down” command, so that was a good start in the best direction for us.

If your canine needs a refresher on any of these, check out these training posts:

Teach your canine to sit until you say ok

Training a solid down-stay

How I taught my canine the rollover trick

So I started by asking Wally to “sit,” then I told him “down” from there. He then learned to relocation his head to his side, followed by lying down on his side. After each step, I rewarded him with a training treat.

Once he was on his side, I used a clicker (from the app below) and rewarded him with a treat.

I also added the voice command “bang!” along with the gun hand signal, i.e. my thumb held up and my index finger pointed at Wally.

Here is Wally doing the bang trick on Instagram:

Wally is very food motivated, so training treats were a valuable tool in teaching the “bang!” trick. I like to use tiny treats because Wally can very rapidly eat them without the training flow being interrupted.

Training treats I really like are the Grizzly Wild Salmon treats. I discovered them at one of my favorite local pet food retailers, but I can also find them on Amazon.

*If your canine isn’t food motivated, you could try luring him into the different positions with a favorite toy.

How to train your canine to play dead using “capturing”

Capturing a behavior in canine training implies just that – when your canine performs a certain behavior on his own, you reward him for doing it and give it a name.

Your canine will eventually start to make the connection between the name and the reward, and will carry out it on command. This is by far the easiest way of teaching any commands or tricks!

In Wally’s case, catching him lying down on his side wasn’t too hard because he loves lounging on his side, both outside in the sun as well as inside, typically after our walks.

I used this in my favor by adding the gun hand signal and saying “bang!” at the same time, along with gratifying him with a (training) treat.

Teaching your canine to play dead using a clicker

Besides using high value training treats for gratifying my pup Wally, I also used a new tool when teaching him to play dead. It’s a virtual clicker that’s integrated into the cAnine Training App Puppr. Jeg må sige, at jeg kunne godt lide den effekt, som Clicker -lyden havde på vores træningssessioner så meget, at jeg endelig får en Clicker selv! Du kan købe en faktisk Clicker fra den Mutt’s partner Mighty Paw, hvis du vil.

Jeg glædede mig også over den virtuelle træningsoplevelse via PuppR -appen, fordi den kan tilpasses så vidt det er i stand til at indtaste min hunds navn.

Det har en sjov måde at være i stand til at spore dine træningsfremskridt med forskellige badges, du får tildelt, når en kategori af tricks er blevet mestret.

De forskellige kategorier er grundlæggende, fjollede, fjollede 2.0. Charmerende, cirkus, cirkus 2.0, kunstner, nyttig og smidighed. Nogle er helt gratis, mens adgang til andre skal betales for.

Fordelene ved at undervise dine hunde tricks – hunde trick træning

Tricket “Bang!” Eller Play Dead er bestemt en sjov, som folk og børn har en tendens til at få et spark ud af, når de ser en hunde udføre det. Men trick -træning generelt er så meget meget mere end bare en crowd pleaser. Det hjælper dig med følgende:

Limning med din hund

At holde din hund mentalt engageret

Forebyggelse af kedsomhedsrelateret problemadfærd

Andre tricks til at instruere en hund

Sådan instruerer du din hund til at synge

Lær din hunde til at dreje eller hvirvle

Sådan instruerer du din hund til at tage en bue

Kender din hunde “bang!” kommando eller hvordan “spiller død”?

Fortæl os det i kommentarerne!

Barbara Rivers skriver ofte for den mutt. Hun er blogger, rå feeder og hundevandrer og vedligeholder bloggen K9s over kaffe.