Drop and Leave commands

[Roxibear]

As some may remember Roxi had an issue with picking up anything from the ground. At 6 1/2months now she still does this occasionally but nowhere near as frequent. My problem now is that I can't get her to drop an item on command, she usually go's all carry on on me. I can get her to leave, even food, and then instruct her to get it. If I can get a grip of an item and say leave she will release it. You may appreciate, however, that some items I don't want to get a grip of. I really need to get her to drop, I was thinking along the lines of giving her treats for doing so, ie a swap thing. Would this be along the right lines.

[samanthac]

Teaching the Pet to Drop Objects on Command...from Handbook of Behaviour Problems of the Dog and Cat by W Hunthausen, G Landsberg & L Ackerman

Drop it – First step

The first step involves luring the pet to drop the toy and teaching a cue word. As the pet approaches with the toy, place a piece of food between your forefinger and thumb. When the pet reaches you, move your hand and the food toward the pet’s mouth with a bit of a flourish. Hold the food in front of the mouth without saying anything. When the pet opens its mouth to take the food, the toy will fall out. As this happens, say the cue words, “Drop it,” and pick up the toy with the other hand as you allow the pet to take the food. Repeat until you notice that the pet is starting to drop the toy as your hand just begins the downward movement toward it.

Use a small piece of food that is more interesting than the toy, but not so interesting that the pet will forget the toy and only focus on the food. Each time the pet takes the food from your hand, say “Good dog.” If the pet is not interested in food, you can use a second toy in place of food to lure it to drop the fetched toy.

Drop it – Second step

The next step is to turn the cue words into a command. Instead of putting the food in front of the pet’s mouth and waiting until it opens to say “Drop it,” you will say “Drop it” as you begin to swing your hand down toward the pet. Pick up the toy, give the food and say “Good dog.” Repeat this at least twelve times before advancing to the next step.

Drop it – Third step

The last step involves gradually phasing out the food. Hold your hand like you have food in it, swing it down toward the pet and say “Drop it.” When the pet drops it, say “Good dog” and give it loads of praise. As you continue to practice, alternate between a food reward and praise, but vary the ratio of praise rewards to food rewards so the pet doesn’t know exactly which reward it will get each time it drops the toy. As the training progresses, you should be using more praise and less food.

Drop it – Other items

Once the pet learns the “Drop it” command during play, it can be used whenever it has anything in its mouth. The transition from dropping toys during fetch to dropping more desirable items, like rawhide or food wrappers, should be made very gradually. Rank the pet’s toys from the most desirable to least desirable. When you notice that the pet has the least desirable toy in its mouth, ask it to drop it using a command and hand signal. Praise it or give a small food reward, then ask it to sit and return the toy. When you find that it drops that toy readily, move to the next toy in the rank, and so forth. Be sure to always use an upbeat tone of voice and make the training fun. Practice is very important. The pet needs to drop something on command at least several times each day if you expect to be able to get to the point where it will drop special items like food wrappers and dead birds on command.

[Roxibear]

Originally Posted by samanthac

Teaching the Pet to Drop Objects on Command...from Handbook of Behaviour Problems of the Dog and Cat by W Hunthausen, G Landsberg & L Ackerman

Drop it – First step

The first step involves luring the pet to drop the toy and teaching a cue word. As the pet approaches with the toy, place a piece of food between your forefinger and thumb. When the pet reaches you, move your hand and the food toward the pet’s mouth with a bit of a flourish. Hold the food in front of the mouth without saying anything. When the pet opens its mouth to take the food, the toy will fall out. As this happens, say the cue words, “Drop it,” and pick up the toy with the other hand as you allow the pet to take the food. Repeat until you notice that the pet is starting to drop the toy as your hand just begins the downward movement toward it.

Use a small piece of food that is more interesting than the toy, but not so interesting that the pet will forget the toy and only focus on the food. Each time the pet takes the food from your hand, say “Good dog.” If the pet is not interested in food, you can use a second toy in place of food to lure it to drop the fetched toy.

Drop it – Second step

The next step is to turn the cue words into a command. Instead of putting the food in front of the pet’s mouth and waiting until it opens to say “Drop it,” you will say “Drop it” as you begin to swing your hand down toward the pet. Pick up the toy, give the food and say “Good dog.” Repeat this at least twelve times before advancing to the next step.

Drop it – Third step

The last step involves gradually phasing out the food. Hold your hand like you have food in it, swing it down toward the pet and say “Drop it.” When the pet drops it, say “Good dog” and give it loads of praise. As you continue to practice, alternate between a food reward and praise, but vary the ratio of praise rewards to food rewards so the pet doesn’t know exactly which reward it will get each time it drops the toy. As the training progresses, you should be using more praise and less food.

Drop it – Other items

Once the pet learns the “Drop it” command during play, it can be used whenever it has anything in its mouth. The transition from dropping toys during fetch to dropping more desirable items, like rawhide or food wrappers, should be made very gradually. Rank the pet’s toys from the most desirable to least desirable. When you notice that the pet has the least desirable toy in its mouth, ask it to drop it using a command and hand signal. Praise it or give a small food reward, then ask it to sit and return the toy. When you find that it drops that toy readily, move to the next toy in the rank, and so forth. Be sure to always use an upbeat tone of voice and make the training fun. Practice is very important. The pet needs to drop something on command at least several times each day if you expect to be able to get to the point where it will drop special items like food wrappers and dead birds on command.

Thanks, I will start work on this right away.

[Judi W]

Actually, I don't put a lot of importance on the drop it, as I like my dogs to willingly bring me anything they find and release it to hand. They do. I do give importance to "leave it" which means "it" never goes into the mouth in the first place.

The outline for teaching the dop it is excellent and set out to work beautifully. I can't think of a better method.

[samanthac]

Here is a teaching method for the leave it command...

With the dog sitting, hold a treat in your closed hand, and put your hand near her. When they try to go for the treat, say "leave it" in a pleasant tone of voice (no yelling or scolding). Keep your hand still -- do not pull your hand away from the dog. Initially, you may need to repeat the "leave it" several times. As soon as they pull their nose back, say "good dog - take it" while opening your hand and giving them the treat. You should go toward the dog with the treat, rather than letting them lunge to grab it out of your hand.

When your dog is reliable at leaving the treat in your hand, try the exercise with the treat on the ground. Cover the treat with your foot is she tries to take it before you give the "take it" command.

ALWAYS praise your dog when they leave it. You need to be more attractive than whatever you are asking them to leave.

[HerculesMomma]

Ahhhhhh, I love you guys! Two of my most needed areas to work on (in addition to walk nice on a leash) and you guys always give such good guidelines!

Really, thanks for posting the info. The instructor told us a little something different for "leave it" in class, which didn't make much sense to me so this will help. Drop it is also a hard one for me to practice with Hercules. He at least knows the command now, but will only do it when he knows there's treats. We need to work on phase III :D Thanks again!

[debbiej]

can raise my hand and ask a question here? Hilda has gotten very good at "drop it", She will drop anything BUT only if she knows there is a treat involved. I haven't started working on "leave it", except to "ah ah" if she goes to pick up something, and usually she won't follow through. But if she has something she shouldn't, she always holds on till she knows I have a treat. If I go in the kitchen to the treat jar, she drops the item and runs in with me. So I don't get to "reinforce the drop it" by trading. In frustration I used a squirt with a spray bottle the other day, and she dropped what she had. Is the squirt with the bottle a bad idea? (I would rather her just "drop it" without having to go get a treat or a bottle!)

[Lookie]

I taught Harley to "leave it", by putting the food item on her paw (she knows the NO command) so I tell her "No, leave it" and then "take it"....it worked awesome, and really, she is so quick it only took a few times. Now I can say "leave it" with anything, and she does.

[Skye]

Oooh ooh ooh I have a question too! I think Ive reinforced the "STAY" command before Tank eats his food too much. He SITS and STAYS perfectly, but when I say "OKAY" and point to the food he just looks at me. Either he's not hungry (pushaw!) or he doesnt know that "OKAY" is a positive. If I walk out of his sight he will start to eat. The same thing happens when I put a treat on my knee and ask him to STAY, he just wont go for it on command until I leave it for a few minutes. Have I been too harsh while teaching him to STAY?

Also on the water bottle thing, Ive found it works so well, especially in stopping them from jumping on me (now I just need to pick up the water gun and they stop what they're doing), but they really seem to hate it. Can a water bottle be inappropriate in dog training?

[lblax]

Originally Posted by Skye

Also on the water bottle thing, Ive found it works so well, especially in stopping them from jumping on me (now I just need to pick up the water gun and they stop what they're doing), but they really seem to hate it. Can a water bottle be inappropriate in dog training?

yes its a crutch

[Jango]

I was told by my trainer that "Okay" was not the best choice for a release word from commands. He explained that it is such a common word that if used, your dog may get up from a command before you have released him. Ex: you place your dog in a sit/stay to meet someone new, you answer the door, person comes in, "Hi how are you?" you respond "Okay" without thinking and your new guest gets a suprise introduction from your dog. Comments?

[samanthac]

Originally Posted by Jango

I was told by my trainer that "Okay" was not the best choice for a release word from commands. He explained that it is such a common word that if used, your dog may get up from a command before you have released him. Ex: you place your dog in a sit/stay to meet someone new, you answer the door, person comes in, "Hi how are you?" you respond "Okay" without thinking and your new guest gets a suprise introduction from your dog. Comments?

I agree fully. Use an uncommon word such as 'free' that is not used in everyday conversation.