How did your dog learn the 'drop it' command?

Hello! I have a 74 pound boxer/lab mutt and she is very strong. We've rescued her since she was young and she is great! We have a dog trainer whom we do private lessons with for and hour and a half a week since she was 4 months old. She is great with everything, because we have worked very hard to make sure she is. Our trainer has signed her up to do a CGC test at the end of the month! We are very proud of her!



She still hasn't gotten the idea of ';drop it';. Our trainer is excellent, has been amazing, she has been written up in many newspapers and was even voted Boston's best dog trainer for the past 3 years. However we can't seem to get my dog to learn ';drop it.';



My dog thinks when she has something and we try to get it out it's a game and she runs away trying to play chase with us over it. We can stick our hands in her mouth and have her release it because she has no aggression issues and allows anyone to do that, however we would like to get to the stage of saying drop it or giving a command and then having her drop the toy/frisbee/ball/pair of socks!





Our trainer uses the 'click and treat' method for everything. We have phased off the clicker and treats for everything else.



Our trainer suggested having a fist full of food and louring her away from whats in her mouth and as soon as she drops it to click and treat and then immediately return the thing that was in her mouth to her so that she builds trust in knowing she will get whatever it is in her mouth back.



Anyone have any better or new ideas on how to do this? How did your dog learn this?



We know this is a very importand command for her to learn because she could possibly have a dangerous item in her mouth at the park (chicken bone) or something that we would need her to drop for her safety!



Thanks!How did your dog learn the 'drop it' command?
To teach drop it get a smelly treat. Let your dog have whatever it is (a toy, pair of socks, etc.). Approach your dog showing her that you have a smelly treat and put the treat right in front of her nose, put your hand on the item in her mouth and say drop it, and as soon as she lets go she gets the yummy, smelly treat. (I like using Benny Bulleys as treats because they smell from a distance and dogs love them.) If you can't approach your dog at all when something is in her mouth because she runs, then you will need to have her on a leash at first so that you can get close enough to show her you have something better than what she has.



The idea is you are going to give her something of higher value if she gives you the lower value thing that she has. After you have traded a few times, then start standing up, not putting your hand on the object and keeping the treat at a bit of a distance from your dog's nose and saying drop it. She should pick up the verbal command quickly and start dropping what she has for what you have. Then you can add distance to it and I'd keep using the treats until it is fairly consistent.



Once she is dropping objects consistently start taking the object (if it is a toy) and rewarding her by throwing the toy again. When she drops it on command give a treat or throw it again, alternating between treat and toy so she doesn't start playing the chase me game again. Since you have been able to phase your dog off the clicker and treat for everything else you definitely will be able to with the drop it command as well.



If your dog doesn't know the leave it command already, it is another very useful command. Once you have your dog drop something like a chicken bone you want to tell them leave it, meaning you can never have that object so don't even try. I use this if things fall on the floor in my house as well. Bottles of medicine have fallen before with pills spilling and I can say 'leave it' and my dog will stop and look at me waiting because he knows he can't have it, but if he stops and looks at me he may get something better.



Good luck!How did your dog learn the 'drop it' command?
I taught my 9 month sheepdog by going AHH AHH kinda like a clicker noise but with your mouth and tapping their nose. If they run away I say come here and make her lay down for like 5 min withot her toy
Your trainer is an idiot which is typical of most trainers today who use the methods you described.

Either A) learn to exchange the item in her mouth for another toy at first, or, B) simply put a prong collar on her and give her a memorable enough correction while commanding her to ';leave it'; when you want her to drop something, or, C) learn how to use the Electric collar and train her to leave it with that.
I teach mine kinda the same.



I do use something that my puppy is not too excited about, like one of his toys...lol. I put it on the ground...say ';get it'; and then consequently tell him to ';drop it';. I use treats, but I have never tried the clicker. Maybe if you train her with something that doesnt really hold her interest it will be easier.
I trained by giving him a toy and trading the toy for the treat while saying ';drop it';.



You need to repeat this several times and practice it daily!
My ACD is a terrible tease with a toy. We used ';Game over.';

And you have to mean it. Walk away, put all the toys away, go on to other things.

After a few times with that, she realized that if she did not bring us the toy and drop it, she was not going to get any more play time out of us.



We have since evolved that into if she does not drop the toy directly at our feet it is game over. I can now point at my toes and have the toy dropped right there. If she tries to hedge and drop it out a few feet, I point at my toes again, she barks at me, then puts it at my feet.

Any time she feels that she is going to do it her way and it's game over.



She doesn't challenge us any more.



People ask us all the time how we get her to do that.