Teach your dog to drop it with Kersti Moss, Professional Dog Trainer

Dogs get into things they shouldn’t. They pick up dead animals and try to eat garbage. Although you should train a solid “leave it” cue to tell your dog to leave certain things alone, you might not always notice what your dog is doing until it’s too late. Therefore, an equally important behavior to teach is “Drop It.” This cue tells your dog to immediately drop whatever they have in their mouth. Sometimes this will simply be to prevent an annoyance like your dog stealing your shoe. But at other times this cue can be lifesaving such as when your dog picks up dropped medication or toxic food like chocolate.

Why You Should Teach “Drop It”

“Drop It” allows you to get items away from your dog without having to run after them. In fact, as most dogs love the game of chase, this will only increase the likelihood of your dog taking forbidden things in the future. They quickly learn it’s a great way to start what they see as a fun way to play with you. Chasing your dog also increases the chance they will swallow the object to prevent you from getting it first. Even non-toxic items can pose a choking hazard or create an intestinal blockage.

Nor should you ever have to pry your dog’s mouth open to retrieve an object. That puts you at risk of a bite and again may persuade your dog to swallow the object. Fighting with your dog over anything can also lead to problems with resource guarding down the road. If your dog already shows issues with guarding objects, consult a dog trainer or animal behaviorist for help before beginning any of the following exercises.

Teaching your dog to drop items on cue is also a useful component of fetch as it helps your dog bring objects back to your hand rather than leaving them on the floor for you to retrieve. And finally, “drop it” is perfect for trick training. You can have your dog putting their toys in their toy box or playing dog-sized basketball in no time if they understand how to drop things on cue.

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