How to teach "drop it"

I'm having an issue with my 14 month old male tri-color. He knows the command "drop it", but it seems like just recently he's started getting into everything that he shouldn't. He'll get things out of the wastebaskets, recycling bin, laundry basket, shoes from the closet, etc and bring them to me so that I will say "drop it" and give him a treat. I think he just wants the treat!! These dogs are way too smart! I've tried just intermittently rewarding him with treats, but if he doesn't see a treat he often won't drop it. Any advice? Thanks.
Bev (owner of 4 cavaliers - a benheim, bl & tan, ruby, and tri)

Dylan used to do this with twigs from the garden. He's grown out of it for the most part. The treats did seem to be the reason for him doing it.

I'd just put things where your dog can't get to them.

Bandit was doing the same thing with his leash while it is on him. He'd grab it and look at me expectantly, wanting me to say drop it and then treat him for doing so. If someone has a good answer, let me know, because he is still doing it some, but not at much.

My little Oz does the same thing. I joke that it's his way of thinking that he's taking me for a walk instead of vice versa!

Have a look on here I think there might be some videos as well . Just have a good look through the site.

I had the same problem with Minnie moo, picking up used tissues in the park :yuk: I used the click and treat and it worked..........not all the time, but more often than not. Give it a go and let us know how you get on.

Clicker training is fantastic if you can do it. I have a wonderful video of Karlin doing clicker work with Jaspar but unfortunately, it's too big a file to load on youtube. If anyone knows how I can reduce the file size, I will (with Karlin's permission) happily post it.

I'll go out on a limb here and say that a very stern 'Drop it!' has always worked for me. No treat involved.

kc

This is one thing that I cannot get Prince to do, once he has something in his mouth there is no getting it out!!! I have tried everything (I think) I would love to know if anyone has any suggestions please. If I take out a treat, he has been known to swallow what ever it is thats in his mouth. He caught a bird a couple of weeks ago and actually growled at my O/H when he tried to get it from him!! As you can imagine I was not happy when I heard this at all, what can I do???

JeanKC said:

I'll go out on a limb here and say that a very stern 'Drop it!' has always worked for me. No treat involved.

kc

Click to expand...

That's what worked in the end for us.

Daisy thinks "drop it" for a treat is a great game, too. She will run upstairs, grab some little toy she is not supposed to have, then she will literally parade around right in front of me, making sure I see her with it. I say drop it and she sits with it in her mouth and stares at me. It's not until I go to the treat jar and open the lid that she spits it out like it's a hot potato. I have to admit it cracks me up, so I'm not good at discipline in this area.

Luckily, although she's always been a pretty devoted chewer, she has never to my knowledge swallowed anything non-edible other than tissues.

We train drop it with 2 toys exactly the same. When the dog brings the first two in his mouth, you wiggle and squeak the second toy and make it be the most fun toy ever. They will drop the first toy to get the second one and you give the cue Drop it as they do. Give them the second toy and you can then start this fun game over again. After doing this for a few days, the dog usually gets that he needs to drop the item on command to get the fun of the other toy.