Background - I live in a singlewide trailer so one room to the next is only a matter of feet and I only have seconds to react when the dog bolts for something.

Example of my situation, dog is sleeping in the living room, I’m in the kitchen and drop a pill or something of that nature. In the blink of an eye, the dog has bolted for the item. What command should I be working on in a situation like this?

What I want is to stop the dog in his tracts, before he reaches the item. I am working on the “drop it” command but when we are talking about such a small thing like a pill, it’s in the mouth and down the gullet within seconds. I am not sure which command I need to be working on to address this issue.

I have watched many of the training clips that have been posted on this site where the handler is moving with the dog and while in motion the dog drops into a downstay – are they using a down or a stay command to get their dogs to stop like that?

Thanks,

Peggy, For me, "leave it" means DO NOT TOUCH IT. I don't care what they do otherwise but best not fool around with whatever they were about to do, can stand there and look at it or walk away, whatever. From there you can give another command or not, depends on the situation.

With your dropped pill problem you could say "leave it" followed by "go away" or "go laydown". It irritates me for mine to go after whatever hits the floor so if one of my dogs did this I would work on putting a stop to this behavior. Teach this as two separate commands.


Best of luck,
Debbie

Or you can not drop the pill

Thanks Debbie, that helps put into focus what I need to train toward.

Your right Mike, not dropping the pill in the first place would be the ideal thing, however at 80 yrs young, my husband does tend to drop things no matter how hard he tries not to and I have had my share of slips. I figure I have a better chance of training the dog not to pick it then for us not to ever drop anything

Well then "Leave It" is the way to go!

two things, you asked how to teach a down stay and do we use stay or down. One command equals one action. DOWN means down and dont move untill I give another command. Stay is never used. SIT,PLATZ,HEAR BRING,etc. if I give the foose command I mean walk next to me and watch or focus on me, I do not say foose and look or watch, one word one command. Leave it is also used, I usually use that word while traing, I might spike the training field with hot dogs and cheese, until he understands that he cannot sniff while in a foose I might have to correct hime and say leave it. either way it takes time to teach all these things, I hope you have a club or good trainer to help. It is easier to be shown these things than to read and try to do. I hope my imput helps good luck.

I see what your saying, my thought with that second question was I wondered if that would be the best command to teach to stop him when he was going after something that had been dropped. I think just teaching the ‘leave it’ command will solve my problem.

Would love to have a trainer to show me or be a part of a clud but not something I can do at this time. He is a pet and with hip dysphasia that is all I want him to be. I am training basic obedience and I do know 100% he understands the meaning of come, sit, stay, down and were still working with distance and different levels of distractions. I am working on the drop-it command and haven't done enough repetitions yet for him to have a solid understanding.

I was looking through back treads to find examples of teaching the ‘leave it’ command, for example should I use toys, food or different objects to train that command with and so far haven’t found anything yet?

Thanks,

if your dog truely understands the sit down etc. when you drop something and he starts coming you should be able to say sit! and he should sit . I have a three year old that can platz on a full run to the decoy or toy..... It has taken months of working to make this happen, my other dog is still young and have not worked the sit or platz on a run yet. I can tell you that mondio ring uses a different way than I have used, i'm sure there are many ways to get there. I find it easier to have some one throw a piece of hot dog on the ground while I have the dog in a foose. This way when he wants to break I can give an immidiate correction and say foose! spike the ground with food and walk him around it, when he tries to eat it give a correction and say LEAVE IT! keep it short and reward the dog at the end so he knows the game is over. dont forget to free him from the command (SAY FREE!) . good luck

"Drop it" for many dogs, is a relatively easy thing to teach

This is what I do:

I usually teach this when playing tug or some other game where the dog isn't interested in giving up the toy, but is paying attention to me.

I get the dog going on the tug, and when he has it gripped in his mouth, I hold a treat in front of his nose and say "drop it" at the moment he lets go of the tug. And heap on the praise, as well. Rinse and repeat until the dog gets it (usually not long at all).

Gradually, you'll say "drop it" without having the treat right in his face, and then eventually, you can start giving treats only occasionally when he drops it.

As a general rule, you want to label a behavior after the dog has "gotten" it, but I never found this step to be necessary as most dogs pick it up really quickly.

If your dog is stubborn about giving up what's in his mouth, make sure you use a four star treat at first, to motivate him.

"Leave it" can be taught by putting something down on the floor that your dog is only mildly interested--something the dog will want to check out, but not something he's going to want to fight to have. Walk him by it, on leash, and as he goes to sniff it you pop the leash until he gives up on it and follows you instead. Gradually increase the desirability of the item placed on the floor, following the same proceedure.

When you're sure your dog has the idea, you label the behavior "leave it" and then you'll give the dog the command, give him a chance to obey, and if not, you follow with a correction.

Hope this helps. It's much harder to explain it that it is to show it!

Edited to add: If your dog is snapping up anything you drop, you really should work on boundries with your dog. Work on setting pack groundwork. You can practice dropping something and authoritative posturing so your dog understands that anything around you...is yours. He needs to respect your space. What you described your dog as doing is something that I would deal with in this way, and then move on to the "leave it" and "drop it" commands which are certainly necessary commands for a pet to have, but in this case, IMO, you should be stopping the behavior that's causing you to even need these commands.

Good luck!

I notice a big difference in thought between a "pet" and a working dog. To have these boundries in a working dog, will cause him to drop his bites in the blind or off the suit as you approach him, it will make him mouthy in the bite because you have become a domineering(sp) figure instead of a team mate. We want the dog to trust us. I relize there is so much more to it than I can write. A team mate can still be the leader and not cause conflict. I feel teaching a dog with out conflict and the use of patientce is the best path for me.I am generally a "hard handler" and have had to modify my style, a little softer, it seems to work better. I hope I have made sence.