This is an interesting video that I found on YouTube recently. In the video, the trainer explains how to teach a dog to drop a ball or any other sort of object (including a hot dog!).
Note: I have never tried this technique, but I found this video interesting to watch and analyze because the method demonstrated in the video is quite different from how many trainers teach dogs to “drop” or “leave it.”
What you’ll see in the video is that during the majority of the “drop” training, the dog does not have any sort of object in his mouth. This might seem really strange at first, but the trainer has a good reason for beginning the training this way.
Most trainers teach the cue “drop” to mean “drop the object in your mouth.” This trainer is teaching the cue “drop” to mean “orient toward the floor, find the treats that are on the floor, and eat them.”
Once this cue is solid, the trainer can practice the cue when the dog is holding an object in his mouth. When the trainer says “drop,” the dog immediately drops the object and starts looking for the treats because searching the floor for treats and then eating them is incompatible with holding an object in the mouth.
So, check out the video below, and let me know what you think! I’d be interested to hear if you have tried this method or a similar method for teaching “drop.”
Watch on YouTube: Teaching Your Dog to “Drop”