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My dog confuses lay down with roll over. How can I teach her?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 5 months and 17 days old | 50 lbs

I need advice. Any time I try to teach Sara lay she ALWAYS rolls on her side and she doesn't understand transitioning to lay from sit. How do I stop this? My dads dog permanently confused rollover for lay down because of a similar issue. Sara knows sit (vocal we are working on hand signals for distance work) and working on stay/come(vocal and hands) and she's not very treat oriented. More praise oriented but if she won't do it I can't praise.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Jessica Desrosiers

Veterinary Technician

Published on July 18th, 2018

A good way to teach dogs interested in standing again or rolling over when laying down is to practice the "army crawl" this involves luring her under your legs (if she's small enough) or a chair to force her to lay down without being able to flop over or stand back up again. You can also place the chair against a wall to sort of "box her in" as well. If she isn't interested in treats, you may want to see if she likes people food such as boiled chicken, hotdog or even a little cheese as a "jackpot" or super high value reward, which can then be given when she finally does what you want to really ensure she knows she did the right thing.

If she isn't treat-driven, praising her on her progress or using a toy/petting her can be rewards as well. You can gradually work her up to the right action by praising her when she is close to it, then stopping the praise and "waiting" for her to figure out a different action that is more similar (looking up how to "shape" a behavior can give you a more detailed explanation about this.)

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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