teach your dog to drop it

7/27/2019 Teach Your Dog to Drop It

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How to Teach Your Dog to Drop It

Why teach a dog to "drop it"? If you have a young puppy, you know the answer to this - it's becausethey frequently have something valuable or dangerous in their mouths! The goal is that when you

cue "drop it", your dog will open her mouth and allow you to retrieve the item. It is very important tomake sure your dog is making a good bargain with you for her prize (you give her a good treat) andthat you stay calm and don't chase her. If this is taught correctly, your dog will be happy to hear yousay "drop it". If your dog isn't happy to hear "drop it" for all items yet, then it is best to keep thoseitems out of reach until you have practiced with them. This exercise is also important because it can

prevent food guarding. If your dog knows that you do not "steal", she will not worry about youapproaching favorite items.

Get together a few items your dog might like to chew on, your clicker and some gootreats like cheese or turkey.

Have a piece of food ready in your other hand as you encourage your dog to chew oone of the objects. Once she/he has it in their mouth, put a piece of food close to her nosand say "drop it". Click when she/he opens her/his mouth and feed her the treat as you pic

Steps

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up the item with your other hand. Return the item to her.

Try to get her/him to pick up the object again so you can continue practicing, butbeware that once your dog knows there are treats involved she may want to keep hemouth free for eating! In this case, keep your treats handy throughout the day andwhenever you see her randomly pick up an object or toy you can practice. Aim for at least10 repetitions per day. Occasionally you will not be able to give her the object back (if she'found a forbidden object), but that's okay. Just be sure to give her an extra nice treat.

Repeat the process in #2 exactly, but this time you will be sneaky and won't actuallyhave the treat in the hand that you put close to her nose ("empty fingers"). She will

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most likely drop the object anyway and you can click and get the treat out of your pouch.Give her the equivalent of 3 treats the first time you use empty fingers and she drops theitem. After a few days of practicing, try it with a tasty item. Get a carrot or hard chew. Hold iin your hand and offer the other side of the item to your dog to chew on, but don't let go! Leher put her mouth on it and then cue "drop it". Give her the equivalent of 3 treats the firsttime she does this and offer her the object again. If your dog won't retake the item, just putaway and practice another time. Get 10 reps of this before going on to step 6.

Get your hard chew again and some really fresh yummy treats (meat or cheese). Thistime you will offer the object to your dog and let go and then right away cue "drop it". Whenshe does give her the equivalent of 10 of your extra yummy treats and then give her theitem to keep (this should make a very good impression!). If she doesn't release the item, trshowing her your treat first and if that doesn't work, just let her have it and try again laterwith a lower value food-related item. You will be able to build up to the highest value itemsonce your dog realizes it is worth her while to listen.

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6Practice the "drop it" with real-life objects around that she enjoys but are not allowesuch as: tissues, pens (begin with an empty one), wrappers, shoes. Then practice thisoutside!

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Always use acceptable chewing objects when practicing "drop it". You don't want to encourageyour dog to pick up and drop something you wouldn't otherwise want her getting a hold of.

If your dog already enjoys grabbing objects and getting ready for a game of chase, you shouldbegin by teaching her that you will not chase her. Just ignore her and then she will probablydrop the item on her own once she is bored of it. If your puppy likes to playthe game of chase

during your training sessions, attach a leash to her collar first so she cannot leave you.

Please spay and neuter your animals. There are so many homeless animals out there, why addto the overpopulation?

Another way to practice this is by putting a plate of tasty treats on the ground, then with yourpup on leash walk past the plate. As your pup starts to go for the food tell them "Drop It" - andreward them for not grabbing at the food on the plate. This is great practice for situations thathappen as you walk around parks and there are wrappers and trash that your pup will want tograb.

It's okay to show her a treat if she has a forbidden item that is higher in value than what shehas been training with. Be careful not to make a habit of this!

Practice "drop it" during tug and fetch games.

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Tips

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If your dog will not drop a dangerous item, even for a yummy treat (or if you don't have one atthe moment - shame on you!) place your fingers on the lips of her upper jaw where her caninesare and push in and pull up. This will open her mouth so you can retrieve the item. Make sureyou give her a big reward (even if you're frustrated) for allowing this invasive treatment andkeep that item out of reach in the future until you can use it for practice.

If you don't have cheese or meat, use bread or something else they might enjoy (but remember

not to use chocolate).

If you sense you might be inadvertently training your puppy to find objects to trade for a yummytreat, train him/her to do other things instead. That will provide him/her with mental stimulationhe/she needs and with the treats he/she desires. *If your puppy is frantic about guarding or

keeping food, take him/her to a veterinarian for a check-up. He/She might be food-obsessedbecause of worms, or other gastrointestinal disturbances. If he/she ever went hungryor ifhe/her mother did not have enough milk for the litter, he/she may seem to worrymore aboutfood. Be understanding of her needs, but provide guidance for this behavior.

Do not give your dog too many treats, this can cause it to become sick.

A few items your dog might like to chew on.

Dog training clicker.

Several treats such as cheese or turkey.

How to Train Your Dog to Hunt

How to Teach Your Dog TricksHow to Teach Your Dog to Enter and Exit a Kennel Calmly Using Clicker Training

How to Teach Your Dog to Crawl

How to Train a Puppy With a Clicker

How to Make Dogs Love You

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