My dog loves kleenx's. Loves them! He is 7 months old and knows basic obedience, he knows "leave it." If I see him approaching something he shouldn't have and I say "leave it" he'll stop dead in his tracks and stare at it longingly.
However, he always manages to find a kleenx and I CAN NOT get him to "drop it." I try to take it out of his mouth and his jaws are sealed tight. He gets growly and nippy and just nasty! He will not submit! I do feel like we have a very good pack structure normally.
There are other instances too where we'll tell him 'no' to something and he gets very definant and hyper. And barks at us and it seems the more we correct him the more obnoxious he gets, then we just ignore him or change the subject.
He doesn't always do that, I attribute that to pent up engery. Generally he's a good listener.
How can I train him to "drop something" Is there an article or post on it? I coudln't find anything. Should I start teaching him with his toys and give him a treat every time he drops it? I don't want to appear to be rewarding him for finding kleenxs. ??
Any help would be much appreciated!

I would venture to say that you need to do a little more work on your “out” command. Tissue, favorite toy, dog treat, a person’s arm or leg should all be dropped quickly and without thought on the dog’s part.

I would be very concerned with the stubbornness and aggression towards you with certain items or at certain times. In my pack that would be dealt with quickly. It is the beginning sign of, “I know this is against the rules, but what can I get away with.”

I would suggest going back a couple of steps. Maybe put a drag lease on the dog so that you can be a little quicker with a correction. This will re-emphasize with the dog that you are the one in control of all things all the time. Then work to the point where you can distract the dog with tissues (no trademark) on the floor, etc.

Oh by the way, I had a dog years ago that went nuts for toilet paper. Why, I don’t know.

Heaven only knows what all my Akita would end up getting into if I didn't tether her to me indoors (and the nastier the "better" no doubt) so I don't give her the opportunity to dig anything out of wastepaper baskets, etc. -- But if your pup won't trade you his used tissues for a tasty treat, then you could try a squirt in the nose with water from a spray-bottle...

It sounds like it's a 100% pack rank issue, not an "out" issue.

You say you feel as if you "have a very good pack structure normally" but that he gets growly and nippy and obnoxious when you correct him.

So basically the dog is an angel as long as everything is going his way, but the second you try to assert yourself and try to make him do something that he doesn't want to do, he acts up. Doesn't sound like good pack structure

Then when he does challenge you, you back down and ignore the behaviour, thus letting him win... sounds like your dog is getting away with dominant behaviour.

Don't overthink this, it's extremely simple.

Get a prong collar on the dog and correct him until he submits.
If he gets "more obnoxious" when corrected, your corrections aren't hard enough. Don't get angry with him, don't try to bribe him, just say NO (once) and give him a swift and effective prong correction when he gets barky and growly, tell him to lie down for a few seconds until he calms down and then release him.

My pup (GSD) went through the exact same thing when he was 6 months old. The annoying barking in your face and getting hectic and bity when corrected.
One strong prong correction followed by a quiet "down" command and it stops instantly.

No yelling or emotion is involved; you stay perfectly calm the whole time and the dog will immediately respect your rank and will back off. Exercise helps with dominant behaviour of course, but you must step in and correct it when it does appear.

My pup had to go through that maybe 4-5 times when he was 6 months old and that was the end of that. He's never barked at me since. Now he's 10 months (and close to 100 lbs.), drops everything on command (or at least doesn't resist when I take things away from him), lies down on command when he gets overly excited and I need to calm him down. The lying down thing is an excellent tool to calm a dog and get it to submit as long as you are consistent with it.
If he's trained and respects you as his leader, he should respond to your "down" command regardless of how hectic he is, or where he is (park, off leash) or what distractions are around (other dogs, people in your home).

Get this fixed now while he's still a baby and not a threat to you. Once he's a fully matured adult he's not going to give in as easily and may bite you for real if you try giving a serious correction.

agree with what others have written. It is definately a pack issue if he becomes stubborn and growly when you try to take it out. And it also sounds like your "out" command needs to be worked on too. Don't forget, its not the pups choice to obey what commands he wants to. Its not his choice.
And as someone else said, make sure the correction is getting through. I know sometimes its easier to give up when it seems like your corrections aren't working, but your only teaching him that if he kicks up enough fuss, he will get away with what he wants. Tethering is a great idea too...a pup close to your side can't get into trouble. And don't think your dogs too old for that. Tucker was 2 years old when I got him and he was tethered to me for the first month.

well I seem to have a different opinion than the rest. I believe you should never take anything from your dogs mouth yet. It will only creat conflict and that will show up in your bite work, it makes it hard to teach the calm when your dog has the sleeve in its mouth, you will notice the dog will be chewy, and want to avoid the decoy when he apoaches the dog while you are calming, also because of this conflict every time you try to calm the dog and put your hand under his chin area he will either try and avoid you or drop the sleeve, this is all a resulf from conflict, you want to be the dogs partner, if you try to dominate at such a young age, it will affect the bark and hold in the blind, and it will affect his grip. I was always taught that if your dog gets into something it was my fault because I was not watching my dog. I have two comp. dogs one is a kennel dog coming out to work and exercise. the other dog lives in the house. what dog do you think is better at ppd, psa, and protection work in general. It is the dog that comes out only to work. The bite is special and the drive to get it is much higher. You might try to have a ball or tug to trade the dog when you want him to drop something, this will reduce conflict.

Thats true, if this is a working pup she's talking about.
I think the pup is a pet, non-working.
Which is why most of us said to stop the behaviour now. You don't want that trait in a family dog.

Is there a link to a discussion that covers ways to best teach the "out" command. Couldn't find it in a search. I thought that's what the posters orginal question was and I would like to know too!

I only know how its done in a working dog, again I want to minimize conflict. All of my training as far as puppys go I wait for them to do the act and then say the word. I wait for them to sit and then say sit, same with platz, or out. It takes time to teach word association (SP?)I know that this is how you teach them without creating conflict, you can not give a dog a correction unless they fully under stand the command. Train the dog the same every time and your dog will understand what you want much faster. PS even if the dog is a pet you can wait for the dog to drop his toy and then say out. giving the dog a reward at the same time. then lead the dog away from the toy, dont pick it up or you will start the game over again. when we train the out with the sleeve or tug we do not pick the sleeve up you kick it away and let the decoy start the game, when we are done we let the dog carry the sleeve home (back to his crate) and wait untill they drop it. Then I put my dog in his crate. No conflict and he learns that when he drops the sleeve or the bite the game is over and put away. use the same technique with your pet and you will reduce conflict. Good luck

"Out" is not the easiest thing to train, at least for a novice dog trainer like me...I guess since it goes against a puppy's natural instincts?

I started using treats to get the "out" and have since switched to immediately resuming the game of toss after he outs with a verbal marker. He is more toy driven than treat driven at this stage. I guess that's the wrong thing to do? My understanding about this command is the dog should be taught that, 9 times out of 10, the game will resume when he outs, motivating him to "out" when asked.

He will "out" about half the time and I think he knows what I'm asking him to do....he just has a very hard time letting go of the toy when he's so excited to play. Maybe I'm not training this correctly?