Teaching Your Dog the "Drop It" Command

My husband and I adopted two puppies in January.  During one of the coldest winters ever.  Without having a fenced yard.  Don’t adopt two puppies in the winter without having a fenced yard.  Ever.  That being said, after this bout of temporary insanity and one loooong, cold winter of walking puppies in the snow, we did eventually manage to house train them.  A few weeks ago, we decided to have a fence installed so the Tasmanian Devil-like whirlwind of two terrier puppies chasing each other can wreak its havoc outside instead of in my living room.

Since Frankie and Marty now have the great outdoors to explore, they patrol the fence perimeter looking for anything they can put into their mouths.  These dogs will eat anything, and I mean anything.  They do not discriminate.  In addition to their dog food, they have attempted to supplement their diets with sticks, rocks, grass, poop, an old paintbrush—you name it. One morning I awoke to my husband brandishing a half-eaten cucumber over my head yelling about Marty stealing from our garden.  Hey, at least this was actual food.  Rocks are not part of a normal diet.  I’m willing to let the cucumber slide.

Frankie’s current favorite game is to grab a rock in his mouth and run around from one side of the garden to the other while one of us makes a fool out of ourselves trying to catch him.  As you can guess, this is a futile exercise, so, I have come to my senses and am attempting to teach him a “drop it” command.

In order to do this with your pet, you should ask your dog to pick up a toy. Once he has the toy in his mouth, firmly say “drop it,” and offer a tasty treat.  You are basically asking your dog to trade the toy for a treat. Repeat until he is very good at the command.  Then try holding the treat farther away, and eventually using the command without the treat.  Once he is good at this, try doing it with “real world” items, such as rocks. 

My Frankie is easily distracted and thus a slow learner, so we are still working on this command, but he listens about 20% of the time.  If you have a breed other than a terrier, he or she should pick up this command rather quickly.

So, to keep your dog safe from eating sticks, socks and even cucumbers, teach the “drop it” command.  It will mean fewer visits to Patton Veterinary Hospital for radiographs and surgery to remove foreign bodies from your dog’s intestine.  We like your dogs, but we want to see them for wellness visits, not to remove foreign objects from unmentionable places. 

Wish me luck and don’t laugh too hard if you see me chasing Frankie around the garden yelling “drop it!”