WEEK 5

• When your dog has a toy in his or her mouth, pinch a treat between your thumb and pointer finger. Say the words “Drop It” and then put the treat right up to your dog’s nose where it can easily be smelled. Once your dog spits the toy out, follow up immediately with your “Yes” Marker and then you can give the treat.
• As you are providing the treat, try to pick up the toy simultaneously. We do this to prevent the dog from taking the treat from you and then attempting to pick up the toy without consent. If your dog is having trouble letting you take the toy away, try tossing the treat a few feet away instead of delivering it to the mouth. Once you have the toy in your grasp and your dog is waiting patiently for you to offer it again, you can then say the “Get It” cue and allow him or her to grab it again. As soon as your dog grabs it, follow up immediately with your “Yes” Marker. This time, the reward for getting it is the opportunity to play with the toy (and not giving a treat).
• Repeat steps 1-2 above. After a few repetitions, see if your dog can Drop It without a treat in your hand (you can just pretend to have a treat initially or make a fist to begin fading the treat out). Over time, we will not be rewarding with treats all the time. The “Get It” and consent to play with the toy again will be the reinforcement. However, this step may take some time to achieve.
• You can now begin to add in a hand signal for the Drop It cue. You only want to start doing this once you’ve been able to get them to drop it and they are comfortable with you grabbing the toy from them. This will work more with dogs who are comfortable with you grabbing the toy straight from their mouth. This may work well for dogs who get extremely excitable and have a hard time with dropping when they are over stimulated or excited. We usually hold up a closed fist with our fingers faced towards the dog and give them the “Drop it” cue. Once they have dropped the toy, we mark that with a “Yes” and trade the toy with them for a treat. IF your dog is showing signs of guarding from you or is attempting to bite you, stop the exercises immediately and contact a trainer.

TIPS: Remember, it’s okay to put the treat at your dog’s nose the first couple of times. However, once he or she is doing it reliably, make a fist and pretend you have the treat there so that your dog doesn’t become dependent on the treat being in front of his or her face. Reinforcement should not always be treats. You should also reinforce with the toy being dropped if your dog likes to play with toys and finds them rewarding.

Once your dog knows how to play the game, 90% of the time you should be practicing with toys so that you are working on your dog’s impulse control. 10% of the time should be reserved for asking your dog to drop something he or she shouldn’t have. Anything more than 10% and you might not be working with your dog enough. We want to make sure the Drop It is reliable and grounded in solid muscle memory.

• Don’t forget to reward at your leg along the seam (Reinforcement Zone) so that your dog always has to come back there to get the reward.
• Try to walk and treat at the same time. As you get better at practicing this with your dog, you want it to feel fluid and natural. Right now, it’s like trying ballroom dancing for the first time, and that’s okay.
• Remember to hold the leash in the opposite hand of where your dog is. The hand closest to your dog should be free to give your dog hand cues or reward.
• If your dog gets distracted and puts tension on the leash, try to take a couple of steps backward (without putting further tension on the leash with your arm) and as soon as he/she turns around that’s when you should mark and reward close to your leg.
• Try to keep your leash around the same length every time you walk your dog so that your dog learns how much room he/she has before there will be tension. I find it’s best to put the handle of the leash on my wrist, grab a portion of the leash below the handle, and then to glue my fist with the leash to my sternum (on the opposite of the dog, of course).
• As your dog becomes better at focusing on you, start to increase your criteria by marking/rewarding for eye contact in addition to being close to your side. It’s not imperative that your dog always be in perfect heel position. It’s okay for dogs to sniff and pay attention to other things on a walk, but they can learn to do that without pulling or putting tension on the leash. The mark/reward process is used to communicate to your dog what you like and want more of.

NOTE: If your dog is not responding or pulling on leash, go back to the previous step so that you are setting him or her up for success and ensuring good habits are being formed.