My Golden will not 'drop it'

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#1
Hi! I have a Golden retriever who is 4 years old, 5 in June, and she is pretty well trained. Ya know..the basics such as sit, stay, come, .... But she WILL NOT obey the command 'drop it'. She is ALWAYS GETTING THINGS IN HER MOUTH!! Socks, clothes, shoes, cards, you name it! we say 'NO NO BAD GIRL!" or 'DROP IT ABBY! YOU DROP IT!" please, i need some suggestions!!!

also- please go to my website when ya'll have a cnahce!
http://freewebs.com/goldenkisses

(it also has a message board!)
 
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#2
Oh, that's a tough one, especially since Retrievers, by nature, should be willing to "drop" on command.

Do you reward her for bringing the things to you? Try just telling her "Drop" or "Drop it" in a calm voice, then take the item from her mouth. After you have it, tell her she's a good dog, a smart dog, and pet her like crazy. That's how I've taught mine to give me what they have. Bimmer's very good about it - ever since he was a pup he's even been good about giving me food right out of his mouth. Shiva is good about it, although she will try to hide something she really wants to keep in her big jowls. Kharma is learning, but I think she's going to be the toughest to train to it; she's easily the most willful of the three.
 

Brattina88

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#3
Drop it is not something dogs want to do sometimes, and if you try to grab whatever is in her mouth away it might encourage her to play tug of war with it :eek: Try saying "spit it" since it seems she has already learned to ignore "drop it" and distract the dog with another toy, or a yummy treat. The very second the dog spits out whatever is in her mouth (to grab the new treat prbly) praise her! Consistancy is everything in training, if it starts to work, then gradually wean the dog off of the treats but use your hand as if something is there. She will start to reconize this hand signal after a while. (hopefully) ;) I hope this helped a little...
 
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#4
Brattina is exactly right about the grabbing! I should have been more clear about taking things from them. I don't tug with mine, I reach in and put my fingers behind whatever is in their mouth and gently remove it, widening the bite with my hand if necessary. (You should see the look on people's faces when they see me put my hand down these huge maws!) This also keeps them used to letting you mess around in their mouths and even removing food at times. After all, you never know what they might stumble across that they really DON'T need to eat!
 
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#5
goldenkisses said:
Hi! I have a Golden retriever who is 4 years old, 5 in June, and she is pretty well trained. Ya know..the basics such as sit, stay, come, .... But she WILL NOT obey the command 'drop it'. She is ALWAYS GETTING THINGS IN HER MOUTH!! Socks, clothes, shoes, cards, you name it! we say 'NO NO BAD GIRL!" or 'DROP IT ABBY! YOU DROP IT!" please, i need some suggestions!!!

also- please go to my website when ya'll have a cnahce!
http://freewebs.com/goldenkisses

(it also has a message board!)
Hi,
I am going through dog training now with my dog and what they say to do is say leave it or ahh ahh firmly and dont say her name befor you say leave it or ahh ahh she will get confused if you do that. :) Hope this helps :p
 

MEG126

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#6
hey! i have a golden too, she's three and she's always picking things up in her mouth. she's really good at dropping it now, just hasn't learned to leave stuff alone (like underwear, socks, etc.) but when i wanted her to drop something i'd say "drop it" and if she didn't then i'd pull her mouth open so the toy dropped out, and then praise her. you definitely don't want to make a game out of it by playing tug, because your dog will learn that it's more fun to make you fight for it. but yes being consistent is definitely very important, and don't change your wording at all.

i use "leave it" with my dog too, but only when she's sniffing at something that i don't want her to pick up... it's kind of a no but more specific i think...

good luck w/ your training! i hope some of this was helpful!! -meg
 

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