Alternative to BANG

[godisgreattome]

I have a 3 1/2 month old puppy, that I am teaching new tricks, which he picks up pretty quickly. I am in the process of teaching him how to lay on his back with his paws in his face commonly known as the BANG/ G U N/ play dead. I’m curious if others have an alternative phrase/name/trick with the same results. The more I think about it I don’t really want my dog to pretend to be dead, or for me to mimic fire arms.

 

[christineleex3]

@godisgreattome Dogs don’t understand the concept of playing dead or firearms (beyond dogs used for gun hunting retrieval) it’s just a fun behavior for them and literally you can use whatever word and hand signal you want to if their original connotations make you uncomfortable. “Play possum”, “FLAT”, “Plank”, etc. would have a close connotation without being Bang, Gun, or Play Dead, but you could use “Banana” or any other multitude of random words and as long as you’re consistent your dog will not care.

 

[godisgreattome]

@christineleex3 Thank you this is really helpful!

 

[essence9115]

@godisgreattome Savasana

 

[meryberry]

@godisgreattome AVADA KADAVRA!

 

[godisgreattome]

@meryberry I love this! I’ve been using lay in the flowers lol

 

[executorofhope]

@meryberry This is incredible

 

[truthseeker63]

@godisgreattome Since someone else has commented something helpful I can add my ridiculous comment that one of my friends (with a boy dog) used to cue this trick by saying “show me your p*nis!”

 

[luvthaweb]

@godisgreattome Oh man, I’ve already trained “bang” but it’s lying on her side with her head down! I want to teach her to be on her back with her paws on her face, so cute!

 

[godisgreattome]

@luvthaweb On her side with her head down sounds so cute! My little guy just learned it instinctually? It’s funny how they each learn their own individual quirks.