Teaching a Border Collie Roll Over Training

Border Collies are one of those most intelligent and smart dog breeds that enjoy mental challenges because they like their mind stimulated due to their natural ability to learn things quickly. Learning difficult tricks brings them an opportunity to engage in something they like and also help them to make the most of their never ending energy and their enthusiasm to please their owner.

Roll over is one of the most popular training trick that border collies enjoys a lot. It’s pretty much a basic trick that isn’t a difficult task for a Border Collie to perform. For fast and better results, make sure you use a high-value treat such as dog biscuits, hot-dogs, diced cheese, etc. It is important, especially when you first start teaching them this trick, because it helps you to get their full attention at small-small trick details.

Here’s a video to learn how you can train your dog for roll over trick:

Step by Step Trick Instructions

1. To start with, make sure you teach your dog on a soft surface such as carpet, rug or grass to make it easier for your Border Collie to roll over.

2. Start the lesson with down position. Lure your Border Collie by using a treat to make him in the down position and then reward him treat when his elbows are on the ground and his right hand side rear is in down position. Make sure you reward him as soon as he gets in down position, because they move around a lot and it is difficult to keep them in one position for too long. Keep repeating this step until your border collie learns to go in down position following your hand movement commands towards the ground.

3. Once you’re done with down position part of the trick, it’s time for your dog to learn the “Settle” position. Make your dog to get into the down position, but don’t reward him as yet and lure him to remain onto his side which is similar to “play dead” position. It can be a bit difficult phase for him to learn, but to make it easier I prefer placing the treat right in front his mouth and use it as a guide to make him move his head back over his shoulders. That will make him reach the treat and that will force him to shift onto his rear body and then all the way onto his side position. Reward him when he successfully does that and when his rear, shoulders and side are on one side and touching the ground.

It will be difficult to accomplish in few attempts but with consistent practice he will learn to shift sideways onto his side. Rewarding him at the right moment is the key to make him understand that what he is supposed to do to get his treat.

Important Tips For Effective Training:

Even though Border Collies pickup difficult tricks quickly but some dog may take more time, so as a trainer you’d want to remain patient. If your dog is not doing the roll over trick properly, it could be because of lack of obedience training, because this trick requires your dominance over your dog to successfully learn it.

The easiest way to teach is to first train him with “play dead” trick. The reason why it helps is because, if he knows how to do play dead, then it will be a lot easier for him to learn how to roll over.