Teaching the all important and DROP IT!

Leave it

We began teaching Chip when he started eating his poop. "Leave it" demands an immediate response from him that he seldom ignores.
 
Ok taking a deep breathe and trying not to resent the condescending posts I'm hearing. I'm not stupid, and yes, I've raised a few dogs myself .

So, sorry, but actually I usually CAN get Indy to drop something particularly yummy that he has in his mouth. It's a combination of "look", "recall" and "off" or "leave it". I use both ( that's my only inconsistency).

First is....pay attention to me. Second is come to me when I call you. Third and fourth is stay and give it up and I'll give you something better. I say 4th because this requires the dog to either give it up, or allow you to remove it from his mouth. That's the most important part.

The beauty of mastering these 3 or 4 basic commands is that they can be adapted to any situation. Which includes rolling in goose poop, chasing sea :winkgrin:doos down the dock, attacking the lawn mower, or chasing squirrels.

The method in the video just seems too complex and lengthy to me.

I discovered that I almost had it nailed the day that Indy swallowed a sewing needle with thread attached. First was indy! Second was "stay". Third was I think was leave it. Didn't matter. He dropped and allowed me to try and grab the needle.

All commands almost got me to catch it before the needle was swallowed, but not soon enough. He did stop, and allow me to get at his mouth, but not fast enough unfortunately. The needle went down before I could catch. Many hundreds of dollars later and stomach surgery and needle was removed

All I'm saying here is that are really only a handful of basic commands you need. Why complicate things?
 
Sigh:(, Barb you are not understanding what the drop command is. It is not stop and let me take something out of your mouth. It is drop what your mouth on your own, voluntarily.

It is difficult and thus why it is intensive training but when they pick up the needle, stick, walnut, rotten possible poisoned chicken, You say drop it and on ground it goes. No risk if them swallowing the harmful item as you are wrestling it out of their mouths.

No one is being condescending just explaining the difference. No need to get defensive. You dont have to train it. Go with your current training but it sure can be lifesaving. I know it out been helpful for me over the years. The best example I can think of is my JRT mix and a block of Decon. I saw her pick it up , said drop it and she gagged it back up on the ground where she stood. It was a second from going down and I was 10 feet away no way I could have gotten over there in time to stop her from swallowing it as it was almost down her throat. After it was on the ground. I asked her to leave it and sit while I picked it up.
 
I'm not stupid...I know the difference but I also know you can make it simpler.

That video was way too complex for the standard owner. Let's be real here. What normal dog owner is going to go through those hoops!

I made it simpler. It worked for me. You can disbelieve if you want. But it worked for me. And super easy to teach a dog because it only requires mastering a few basic commands cc.
 
Barb
if you find this method too lengthy or complex then just don't do it?

There is absolutely no reason to be worried about being defensive, I don't even understand what your conundrum is. All I did is post a video of DROP it, and showed how it works for me and that's all.
I am not sure how there is a need to get all emotional over it
 
Sorry, having a bad day, and a couple of posts just struck me as a little negative against me.

To be honest, I'm hypersensitive these days....afraid to say boo on this forum anymore.
 
I have a slightly different take on the "drop it" command; instead of "drop it" I've always taught a general "NO" which means "whatever behavior you're indulging in at the moment, stop doing it immediately!" I think it helps to simplify things, not least because, when you're rattled, you might not think of the exact command for the specific behavior being performed.

Just as the "come" command should always be associated with something positive, the NO command should always be associated with something negative, even if it's only scaring the poor bugger half to death.
 
Mignarda said:
I have a slightly different take on the "drop it" command; instead of "drop it" I've always taught a general "NO" which means "whatever behavior you're indulging in at the moment, stop doing it immediately!" I think it helps to simplify things, not least because, when you're rattled, you might not think of the exact command for the specific behavior being performed.

Just as the "come" command should always be associated with something positive, the NO command should always be associated with something negative, even if it's only scaring the poor bugger half to death.
Click to expand...

Interesting,
Way back when I to say and train the same! But then I thought if it was really working so great, why were there so many dogs running way from their owner playing keep away with the desired piece hanging out of their mouth trying to eat it as fast as possible. With the owner threatening, hollering no no no and panicking...
The fear thing works once, twice... then it can establish the undesired behaviour if they ever got away with it, then why should they come to you?

I don't train that way anymore; I don't want anything negative associated with me if I can help it, but even with the other methods I have used in the past I found this method is the best I have ever tried! The best as in I liked it for ease of training AND results, it was mind blowing to me.
It does depends on your criteria, of course
 
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Toffee's Mom said:
Interesting,
Way back when I to say and train the same! But then I thought if it was really working so great, why were there so many dogs running way from their owner playing keep away with the desired piece hanging out of their mouth trying to eat it as fast as possible. With the owner threatening, hollering no no no and panicking...
The fear thing works once, twice... then it can establish the undesired behaviour if they ever got away with it, then why should they come to you?

I don't train that way anymore; I don't want anything negative associated with me if I can help it, but even with the other methods I have used in the past I found this method is the best I have ever tried! The best as in I liked it for ease of training AND results, it was mind blowing to me.
It does depends on your criteria, of course
Click to expand...

It works the same way it does with kids. It's never "hey, I'm not doing anything now, let's go out and work on our NO." It's a regular part of day-to-day interaction, starting from Day One. And it's not all negative. I generally give some kind of positive feedback once the dog has properly behaved.
 
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