In this blog post, you are going to learn how to teach the drop command to your dog through a couple of simple methods. Which one you decide to go with is your choice.
How to teach your dog to drop is an important command that all dogs need to know if your dog has something it shouldn’t have then when it hears the command it will release the item it had within its mouth.
So, here is the first option which is pretty simple. Your dog has something in its mouth like a ball or a toy, you offer it a piece of tasty food, and say the word “drop”.
When it drops the item you then give it the tasty treat. After your puppy has dropped the item, encourage it to play with the ball or toy again and then repeat the process and offer it a piece of tasty food and say drop.
After many repetitions, you will find that your dog will start dropping before you say it as you anticipate getting the treat.
Now you have two options: lower the value of the treat reward or higher the value of the item to drop and then start the process again so your dog learns that when you say “drop” you want it to release what is in its mouth.
Now the second way of teaching drop is in 3 steps. Step 1 is teaching your dog that when it hears the word “drop” it will get a treat. Step 2 is teaching your dog that the action of dropping is going to be rewarded. Then step 3 is being rewarded for dropping.
Here is step 1.
Drop a treat or kibble on the floor and when your dog eats it say drop. Now do this around 10 to 15 times so it hears the word “drop” while it’s eating What will be the reward?
Now we can move on to step 2 which is teaching the action of dropping paired with getting some food.
Now have around 4 or 5 treats or kibble in your hand or pocket and make sure your dog has a ball or toy in its mouth that you would like it to drop. Say the word “drop” but at the same time, show your dog the treats and throw them on the floor to the side and away from your dog.
What should happen now is your dog will drop the ball/toy and go and eat the food. When it does pick up the item dropped and repeat the process again and again.
Once your dog is getting good at step 2 and it is pre-empting what is going on then move to step 3.
Step 3 is making sure your dog has an item in its mouth and then you say “drop” and when it does without showing it food, you then reward it with a treat for dropping. Repeat the process until it sinks in.
If at any time you struggle on step 3, go back to step 2 for a while and then move back to step 3 again.
Anyway, there are two ways to teach drop to your dog. More training, obedience, puppy socialisation and more can be found in The Complete Puppy Training Program which helps take the pressure off training your puppy by giving you a plan to work with on a daily basis.
Enjoy training the drop command.