Jenn

I'm having some troubles teaching Fin to drop it.
He will not for the life of him let go of anything.
I try to have something he wants in another hand but nothing apart from what is in his mouth interest him enough to let go!
I've tried food, toys, everything.

And tonight it got eww.
He found a dead (smelly) mouse and I was like hmm why is he over there so much so I wondered over and he hurried it in his mouth trying to chew.
I instantly could smell it my god it was hideous.
I tried to pry it out his mouth as he never minds me touching anywhere in or around his mouth.. N my hands were trying to pick this dead mouse out his mouth.. But he was hurrying trying to swallow it
Oh it was grose.
Now he as swallowed it and I feel disguisting so god knows what his tummy is feeling. Should I be worried? I don't want him catching anything from a stinkin mouse!

And obviously if anyone had any ideas on teaching how to drop it etc I would really appreciate it.


Apart from that his an Angel!
(With bad breath..)

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My4BadDogs

I can't help with the drop it thing as it sounds like you've tried everything I would suggest.

But I would like to say you need to watch him careful now that he as eaten that mouse. I'm not sure if you knew it was a natural death or if someone used de-con to kill it. If the mouse was poisoned, then your dog just ate poison. If it was me I'd call the vet to see about getting him to throw it up or anything I should watch for in regards to signs of poisoning.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.


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Shed Happens, Just Brush it Off

kpal4978

Our trainer said to do leave it for situations when he already has it in his mouth too...

We did leave it with Mo (20 weeks) by putting a treat of equal value in each hand, then put one hand behind your back, and one offered out to the dog in a fist. Let the dog try to get it, and the second he gives up and looks away, tell him leave it, and give him the treat from the hand behind your back. Mariano got this step in like 3 tries.

The next step, you drop the treat on the ground in fron of the dog (the one that would have been in the hand you offered him last time) and then cover it with your hand. Again, wait until he stops trying to get the treat and looks away, to mark the command leave it, and give him the treat from behind your back.

Mariano is actually pretty good with this... the only thing that he is REALLY bad about is deer poop. But otherwise, if I see him thinking about something he shouldnt have, I say leave it, and he huffs and walks away.

Mayanca

There are some toy games that might help. Does your pup like to play tug? You need two identical toys that the pup loves. Hold one in each hand..Offer one to the pup, holding one end yourself, and play with him for a minute, then show him the other toy and tap it on the floor rapidly to make it look alive, while trying to hold the one in his mouth quiet. Hopefully his interest will switch to the live toy...play on that side a minute while the other toy is left "dead"...then make the dead toy alive again and the live one dead. This takes awhile but ends up with the dog learning to switch (leave) the dead toy for the live one. Eventually, then you can do more extensive games, where you throw the first toy just a bit away from you and then liven up the other one, and the pup hopefully returns to the more interesting toy. After lots of practice the toy can be thrown a distance away and pup will retrieve and then see the second toy come to life..at the point where pup is thinking about the live toy and is close to you, you can start saying "give" while reaching for the now dead toy with one hand and keeping the now live toy bouncing in your other hand. These games have worked amazingly well for us...there are others, but this one is really important to give the dog the idea of both fetching, retrieving, and releasing. I also have found that my dogs quickly learn the idea of trading. If Goldie gets one of my socks, for instance, I say "trade me" and get a high value treat...never chase her, but lure her with something very yummy, sometimes combined with running away from her. The dead mouse would be difficult but maybe with the toy games, and trading, she would get the idea.

boomerjunier

The way I taught Spok to drop it was the following:
Everything in the house belongs to me. Everything that was good came from my hands. I did a lot of handfeeding when he was young and made him work for his food.

Whenever he was chewing on a rawhide, every minute or so I would go up to him and take the rawhide in my hand and gently but firmly pull it towards me. No sound, no jerking, nothing. He would continue chewing it but the moment he let go I would say "drop it" and then I would give it back to him after a few seconds. The faster he droped it when I took it, the sooner he would get it back.

I taught him a default leave it using clicker training methods as well.

Any other object he had, I would use the same method as the rawhide and hold on to it until he let go, then I would say drop it and reward him with something else.

I can say that Spok has such a reliable drop it that if he is chewing something and I ask him to drop it (not using any different tone of voice) he will spit every last piece out of his mouth.