Teaching drop?

I have had Buster for about 5 weeks now. He is almost 7 months. When we got him he had been kept outside. After having him for a while we think that he was kept outside most of the time as he didn't seem to have any manners while in the house! Since having him he has learnt recall, fetch, sit, down (if on furniture or jumping up) stay, we have toilet trained him and he now asks to go outside, sit to wait for food and leave.

Leave is one of the first things we taught as having 2 young children they do tend to drop food alot, some of which is not good for him to eat. Also it works when he goes to pick up on of the childrens toys. The problem I have is that if he hasnt quite got it and you say leave he will, but if he has got it in his mouth then he just runs off with it. How do I teach drop it? And how do I not turn it into a game of chase? I have never had to teach this before as if LuLu ever picks anything up and you tell her leave she will put it down.

What worked for Billy is that we gave him a treat when he had something in his mouth and said drop, he would go for the treat and drop whatever, eventually he learnt to drop, we practiced all the time, even when we did not want what he had got,

What does he do when he fetches something to you? Will he let you take it?

We have done the same thing as Lynne described but it's still not a 100% success

I done the same as Lynne. It worked great with my older dog, Bella is a work in progress but we are slowly getting there

ummm....im not sure my dogs "leave it" command is stay away, drop it, dont go near it etc etc i think i went a bit over bored on that command haha

blaze wrote:ummm....im not sure my dogs "leave it" command is stay away, drop it, dont go near it etc etc i think i went a bit over bored on that command haha

Same here! Useful, though!

We too use the Leave command to cover dont touch , or if she has something sh shouldn't we tell her leave and she will drop it.

If he has something in his mouth and I am able to get hold of it, or have him on a lead or something so he knows he cannot get away, and I tell him leave he will let go straight away (he tried not to let me have things a few times when I was teaching him leave, but I think my stuborness won those battles so now he gives in straight away! Lol) but if he can run off he will. I don't want to chase him as he loves a game of chase. I had to teach him how to play fetch when he first came here as he didnt have a clue. He has got the hang of that and will either drop the ball in my hand or on the floor at my feet, but he runs off if it is something he knows he shouldnt have and he wont come to me.

Caryll wrote:

blaze wrote:ummm....im not sure my dogs "leave it" command is stay away, drop it, dont go near it etc etc i think i went a bit over bored on that command haha

Same here! Useful, though!

I am in the same boat!