Teach Your Dog Drop-It Command
2023-02-07
What you’ll need: Quiet area Lots of soft tasty treats Toys
How to make it happen:
Start by training Drop-It on cue by first teaching your dog with nothing in their mouth.
Say your cue, “Drop It” and toss a few soft treats on the ground in front of your dog. Use soft treats so your dog cannot hear the treats hitting the ground.
Reach down to point out the treats you tossed down. This is an important step as it will get your dog use to you reaching down in front of them to retrieve an item they dropped. Also, make sure to focus on the order in which you say the cue then throw the food on the floor. Only give your cue before you toss treats on the floor, not at the same time.
Practice doing this not only standing in front of your dog but also vary your position. Practice while sitting down, standing with your back to your dog, sitting on the floor, while removing your coat, pushing a stroller, carrying boxes, taking out the trash, and so on. This is also good to practice with your dog already on their bed or in their crate.
As your dog eats the treats on the floor, you should also give lots calm praise and petting to get your pet use to you being around them in this scenario.
You are ready for the next step once you say the cue and your dog responds by looking at the floor before you even toss any treats down.
Next, start by training around an object. The first few objects you use should be things that your dog is not very interested by, or at least something your pet will not try to mouth. Your pet should have little to no interest in the object you are training around. Wait for your dog to look at the object. As soon as they do, say your cue, “Drop-It” and toss treats on the ground away from the object.
The next step is to start to practice with toys. The first couple of toys you use should be ones that are not too exciting for your pet. Continue these steps and gradually increase the difficulty of the toy by using ones that are more enticing to your dog.
Regardless of your dog’s behavior, continue to toss treats the second after you say the cue “Drop”. It is extremely important to build your dog’s association of saying the word drop and dropping whatever they have in their mouth at that moment.
Continue to point out the treats you drop to make it rewarding for your dog to find them. This will help you be able to take away the toy without much excitement. In the start of training, do not always take away the toy your dog dropped. You want to allow the dog to continue to play with the toys randomly so your dog does not begin to think “Drop-it” means you are taking their toys away.
If at any point during training your dog does not drop the item when asked, move away and toss lots of treats on the ground. Wait until your pet drops the item and say your cue as your dog drops the item and goes for the treats. Try to make the treats more fun than the object itself by tossing them around a bit. Totally ignore the object your dog had as to not make the toy or object equally or more rewarding than the treats. If this happens, you have most likely moved too far ahead too quickly. When you try again, go back a couple of steps to help further strengthen the association of drop it.
Plan compiled from Chirag Patel; Domesticated Manners
