Playing dead is a great dog trick. Once your dog has been able to learn these basic skills, teaching them to play dead won’t be so different or difficult. Try another answer... Not quite! Your pup will probably become reliable on the “shoot your dog dead” trick within two weeks of proper training. Give the chosen cue word and hand signal, then repeat steps. % of people told us that this article helped them. Teach your dog the ‘down’ command before teaching him how to play dead. Do not yell at your dog. You can use whichever verbal cue that you are comfortable with. Some tricks, like teaching your dog how to play dead, will take a little more time for him to master than other tricks. Offer verbal praise and a belly rub until he is comfortable in this position. Once you’ve practiced enough, you can have your dog play dead anywhere and in front of anyone. If it tries to keep rolling over, step away for a minute. Before he can learn this trick, he should be comfortable with the command to lie down. From this position, give the command of PLAY DEAD and gently push him over until he is lying on that side. While it's not as important as teaching your dog to obey commands like "sit" and "stay," it's not difficult to train most dogs to play dead. Steps to train your dog on playing dead. Utilize a visual prompt (hand sign) to charge your puppy to play dead. Once he is lying down, reward him with some positive reinforcement (eg, verbal praise, belly rub, treat). Try another answer... Nope! {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/5\/50\/Teach-Your-Dog-to-Play-Dead-on-Command-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Teach-Your-Dog-to-Play-Dead-on-Command-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/5\/50\/Teach-Your-Dog-to-Play-Dead-on-Command-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/aid88662-v4-728px-Teach-Your-Dog-to-Play-Dead-on-Command-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"