Fake death is a relatively easy trick to teach your dog. In fact, dogs of all ages and sizes can learn this trick. For the “dead game,” a dog will learn to go into a lying down position and then lie face down on the ground, head down after being prompted. This gives the illusion that she has collapsed. Follow these steps to teach your dog how to play dead on cues:
Supplies needed to teach dogs to play dead games:
- Quiet place to train
- Small treats with high value
- Clicker if you are training clicker
How to teach a dog to fake death:
Step 1: Signal the dog to lie down or use a treat to lure the dog to lie down.
Step 2: Get your dog’s attention with a treat and place the treat right in front of him so you can use it as bait. Slowly use the treat to get the dog to turn its head over its shoulder. When your dog follows through with the reward, it will naturally begin to swing its hips and turn around.
Step 3: Your dog will follow the reward towards it, at which point you want to stop swinging your hand (to prevent your dog from rolling over). Then, use the reward to lure the dog to the ground.
Step 4: When your dog’s head follows the reward to the floor, click, praise, and treat your dog. Treat your dog while its head is on the ground as this is the final position for this trick.
Step 5: Repeat the lure of your dog from the lying down, side, and head down position several times. As your dog seamlessly follows the lure into place, you can begin to introduce a verbal cue of your choice, such as “die,” “splattering,” “bang bang.” or “zombie”. Start by using verbal cues during the lure and just before the dog’s head hits the ground. Then click, praise and treat.
Step 6: Finally, begin to gradually reduce physical attractiveness. To do this, lure your bare hands into position, then handle your dog. You can then slowly make the physical lure smaller and smaller the better your dog is, and reward your dog for clicking/praising/handling at the end of the behavior with your dog. lying on his side, head touching the ground. As you practice, you’ll be able to use your verbal cues to ask your dog to fake death as he lies down and eventually from a standing position.
Step 7: The final step to polishing the deadly game trick is to build up a duration when your dog is lying still, head down. To do this, add a very slow time — just a few seconds at a time — before releasing the dog by clicking/praising/handling.
After your dog confidently plays dead on cues in your home, you can start practicing this trick in more distracting environments. Build a level of distraction slowly to keep your dog successful and make sure to treat your dog every time he does the trick. With a little practice, your dog will soon be ready to play dead anywhere at any time!
