Need help with holding things

I need a little help with this trick.

So far I have Bamm picking the object up as you can see in this video:
YouTube - ‪Bamm- Trick in progress‬‏

The next step is I need to work on him holding it for longer periods of time. The problem is he wont hold it for more than a second or two without dropping it because he's used to me clicking at that point. We've only been working on this for about 2 sessions so far. I tried not clicking until he's had it in his mouth an extra second or two, but he wont hold it in his mouth long enough. He'll just drop it and pick it up again, drop it and pick it up again hoping I'll click.

Here's what I ultimately have in mind for this trick:

1) I want him to be able to hold the object in his mouth when I say pick it up and not drop it until I give a release command

2) Eventually we're going to do the same thing with other objects and ultimately I want to branch it off into a "stack the food bowls" trick and a "stack the orange cones"

So... how can I encourage him to hold it longer?

What I would do, is instead of focusing on getting him to hold it for longer periods of time, teach him the drop it cue. Decide if you want to start with him dropping the object on the floor or in your hand, and train that way.

For example, if you want him to drop the item into your hand:

Start by introducing your hand into the picture, by continuing to click for him picking up the object, but after you click put your hand under the object to catch it. If you don't catch it, that's ok (it's your fault for not getting your hand there quick enough), but HIS behavior should look exactly the same (pick up the object, hold it till you click, and then drop it). Don't try to add duration to him holding the object at this point.

Once he's used to your hand coming in and catching the object, then add the cue: At the point when you would've clicked, instead of clicking, say "drop it" (or whatever your cue is). He will probably drop it because 1.) he doesn't hold it for very long yet, and 2.) he expected you to click. When he spits it out, THEN click, and catch the item. It's still your responsibility to make sure your hand is in the right place to catch it.

After MANY repetitions of using the verbal cue, start to add stimulus control (teaching him not to drop it until you cue him to drop it): Wait just a hair longer to cue drop it. You should still cue quick enough that you're pretty sure he's going to do it anyway, it should be very easy for him. Then once he's got that, wait a hair longer than that. If at any point he drops it before you cue, let the object fall (don't catch it), don't click, and just repeat. Gradually, VERY gradually add duration to the hold; it'll probably take about 75-100 clicks before he'll be able to hold it for 2 seconds. But once he's got 2 seconds, he's probably got the idea and it'll go very fast from there.


That's just one option you can do at this point, I can think of at least two others but I don't want to write them all out. Give that one a good try, and we'll see if it works; I think it will.

awesome thank you so much! I'm definitely going to give this a try.