Mary Allen
A bit tricky but very impressive is the “curl up in a blanket” trick, where your dog grabs the corner of a blanket and wraps himself in it. This trick looks great, but it’s not easy to learn.
Who is This Trick For?
Rolling up in a blanket can be practiced by any dog that has no health problems. Rolling on hard ground is not particularly beneficial for spinal disorders. But if your four-legged friend is fit and enjoys tricks, you can take your time and try this great trick. Before you start this exercise, you should ideally have already practiced the “hold” or “take” trick with your dog in order to build on it.
How to Start
As with any trick, when you roll up in a blanket, first find a quiet room where you can practice undisturbed. Little distraction is important for full concentration, as are a few treats for motivation and positive reinforcement. The clicker is recommended as an auxiliary tool for this trick, as it enables precise confirmation. If you have never practiced with this before, you begin conditioning.
Step 1
The clicker is great for reassuring your dog at the right moment, it can be a split second. With verbal praise, timing isn’t quite as easy. So you take the clicker, some treats, and your dog, sit in front of him and don’t expect anything from him at first. Get the clicker and feed behind your back first to avoid mistakes. You click once and then let the food hand move forward and give your dog a treat directly. You repeat this a few times. The only thing that matters here is that your four-legged friend understands what the clicking sound means, namely: click = treat.
Step 2
Basically, two signals are required for the trick, namely “Hold” and “Roll”. Ideally, you should have already practiced the “hold” trick with your dog. It is particularly important for the coverage that your dog can safely show other tricks while holding it without letting go of the object. This is where professionals are needed and, above all, a lot of patience. Start strengthening the hold signal accordingly. Give your four-legged friend a toy and say the signal. Then you keep delaying the moment of clicking and resolving until your dog does not immediately drop the object again, but is waiting for your release signal, such as “Okay” or “Free”. If that works, let him sit while you hold him, turn around or make little gestures. If that works, you’ve reached the right “difficulty level” to go one step further.
Step 3
Now you let your dog make room on a blanket. In this step, your dog will learn the role. You take a treat and move his head close to his body towards his back. Your dog will try to follow the treat and slide more and more onto his back himself. Help your dog by clicking and rewarding the correct behavior in small steps. He doesn’t have to be able to roll completely the first time! It will take some effort for your four-legged friend to roll over his back to reach the treat. Therefore, gradually work your way towards the target behavior. If he shows a roll, you click and praise him enthusiastically – jackpot! You repeat this until the whole thing works very confidently and you can introduce a word signal, such as “role”.
Step 4
In the last step, you combine the two tricks. You let your fur nose make room on the blanket again. Make sure you let him lie close to one side so that one shorter side is parallel to his body. Now show him the corner of the blanket closest to him and motion for him to hold it. It also works well if you tie a knot in it beforehand so that he can grab it better. Since just holding works great, after the “Hold” signal you try to claim the reel. If your dog does both at the same time, you click, you’re really happy about him and of course, you give him his treat reward.
Class! Now you can fine-tune the curling up in a blanket, for example, work on not letting your dog let go of the blanket at all until you tell him to – in case he does let go during the turn. And you can introduce your own signal for this trick once the process is in place. This could be “cover-up” or “good night”.