Teach Your Dog To Drop – This Is The First Step For Many Training Exercises

Sprinkle some treats or some kibble on the ground at the same time as you say drop

Right now, you are simply getting him to associate food with the word "drop"

This is a useful step because it gets the dog used to your hand coming down as you say "drop"

Say the word drop just before you put the food on the floor

Practising while sitting down starts to get the dog used to acting in the same way in other situations

The more varied the situations in which you repeat the procedure the better.

The more varied the number of positions and different situations you give the cue from the better the dog will learn the behavior

As mentioned before you should practice in as many different situations as you can. If you have built a solid foundation with your dog you should notice that as soon as you say drop they start to orient towards the floor. They should do this before you have even dropped the treat. This tells you that you are ready to on to the next step

Start with an object which the dog is not too excited about . Say "drop" and drop the treat as soon as he looks at it.

Start with a toy which your dog is not too interested in. He should leave the toy and look for his treat as soon as you say "drop". Move on to more and more difficult toys. Still drop the food a second after you say the word "drop" regardless of the dog's behavior. This will develop a strong association between your dog hearing the word "drop" and letting the object drop from his mouth regardless of how exciting it is.

Keep practising making the situation more and more difficult. A squeaky rubber toy is useful at this stage. Dogs find them irresistible.

Your dog should stop tugging on the toy when you say "stop"