Dogs will put just about anything in their mouths, even if we humans understand that the object is dangerous, important, or disgusting. Whether your dog has a shoe, a chicken bone, or roadkill in his mouth, getting him to “drop it” could save his life.
Thousands of dogs each year need emergency surgery after eating something unnatural that gets stuck in their digestive tract (and roadkill is just disgusting and full of bacteria). Luckily, teaching your dog to “drop it” is easier than you might expect.
First, it’s important to note that yelling at, hitting, or punishing your dog only teaches him to fear you instead of how to “drop it.” Dominance training is outdated, and positive reinforcement training has been proven to be much more effective.
Start by collecting a few things your dog enjoys (but not his favorite toys) and plenty of treats. Once your dog has one of the objects in his mouth, put a treat right next to his nose and say “drop it.” When he opens his mouth to release the toy, reward him immediately with the treat.
Related: The 10 Best Dog Training Treats
Once your dog has successfully done this about ten times, reward him first with an empty hand that looks like it’s holding a treat, then give him a treat from your other hand. Soon, he will associate your “empty fingers” hand gesture with “drop it,” allowing you another way to give your dog the command.
After your dog has become comfortable responding to “drop it” when he has something in his mouth that he doesn’t really love, you can move on to using a high-value object like a bully stick or his favorite toy. If you can get your dog to release the bully stick, give him several treats at once with lots of praise. After you’ve done this a few times, if he drops the bully stick immediately, then give him a bunch of treats and the bully stick to enjoy for his hard work of ignoring the temptation of the bully stick.
Dogs aren’t great at generalizing, so it’s a good idea to move on to teaching your dog to drop things that he shouldn’t have in his mouth to begin with, such as tissues, leaves, and sticks.
If your dog likes to play chase with forbidden items, the key is for you not to chase him. Once he sees you won’t play his game, running away is no longer fun and he’ll be more likely to “drop it” when asked. If that doesn’t work, try distracting your dog with something like ringing the doorbell in order to distract him enough to drop the forbidden item.
If your dog refuses to drop a dangerous item before he reliably listens to “drop it,” you may need to pry it out of his mouth for safety reasons. To do this, press your fingers into his mouth behind his canine teeth and gently pull his mouth open. Once you remove the dangerous item, reward him with a treat.
Once your dog reliably drops items when asked, stop rewarding him every time and only give him a treat periodically for obeying you. Intermittent reinforcement is the best way that your dog will always listen to you, even if you don’t have a treat in your hand.
With a little bit of consistent training, your dog should be willing to drop anything you ask him to.
