My puppy picks up everything and runs. How do I teach her to drop it?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! You need to teach Sofi basic commands: come, sit, drop it, leave it. You can't expect a dog to know how to do this things naturally. Leave it is a great command, as when you see her going for something you can use it. Also drop it is great because once she has something you can call her to you and have her drop it/give it to you. She is a young dog and sometimes it takes 2-3 years to grow out of this. I would pick up things you do not want her to get in to, close bedroom/closet doors and confine her when you are not home. I would also hire a trainer or take her to classes if you feel teaching her these things yourself will not go well. Good luck!

He’s using this as a way to get you to play. I would try to put up things he shouldn’t have and ignore him when he takes something. Your trying to get it is what he wants. If he likes to go outside or for a walk take the leash and act like you are leaving so he’ll want to join you and hopefully will drop the object. When I teach the command ‘Drop’ which is what you need in this instance, is to offer him a very high value reward. Steak, cheese, hot dogs or his favorite toy. In order to get the reward he needs to release the object he isn’t supposed to have. I recommend putting him on a short leash, giving him a toy and working on the ‘Drop’ command. That way he can’t run away, and soon he’ll learn what you want. He’s just a bratty teenager so don’t go along with his games. He will improve as he gets older. A general group obedience class will help you learn to work together also, and is fun. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Jax.

Asking her to 'drop it' for a treat is teaching her the command - you should simply continue to practice trading a toy or anything else in her mouth for a treat. If you practice frequently enough hopefully you will be able to ask her to drop it without a treat in an urgent situation, but it's important to continue to give rewards for the correct behavior.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. If this is a behavior that you would like to stop, I find that using a spray bottle filled with water and spraying a dog lightly in the face helps to correct the behavior. Also, using an empty can filled with coins and shaking it loudly can help as well. I used both techniques on my dog and it worked quite well. The can trick was by far the most effective in my case. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please remember to rate this answer as helpful or not. Thank you!

It's normal for puppies to be very interested in rocks and other things that they can pick up in their mouths - this is how they explore the world, similar to the way that human toddlers want to touch everything with their hands. I would recommend teaching your puppy a reliable "drop it!" command so that you can ask him to drop anything he picks up outside that he shouldn't have. Start with a toy for practice - when he has the toy in his mouth, say "drop it!" in a cheerful tone of voice and put a treat in front of his nose. Most puppies will readily drop the toy to get the treat, praise and reward as soon as he does. With practice, he will begin to drop the toy eagerly as soon as you say "drop it!" without needing the food lure in front of his nose. Make sure that you still reward with a treat every time - we want this behavior to be very reliable! Once he's got the idea, you can start to use this command when you are outside in the yard or on a walk - if he picks up a rock or something else he shouldn't have, just say "drop it!" Praise and reward immediately as soon as he does - you will need to bring treats with you for this purpose. As he gets older, he should grow out of this behavior, so just be patient and consistent in the meantime.

I would recommend working on a 'drop' or 'leave it' command with Charlie. You can give him a toy, then offer a treat and when he drops the toy say the command. Once he will do this consistently during training time you can try using the command when he picks something up and wants to chase. It is important that you don't chase after him when he's doing this (unless he has something that will truly hurt him) as even the negative attention can reinforce the behavior. Look away, find a treat, and wait for him to drop the item and reward him. Since he seems to like chase you could also have a special toy that is the only one you use for chase - you could ask him to drop whatever he has and replace it with this toy and then chase him for a bit as a reward.

You should work on a command like ‘drop’ to teach him to put the toy down when you ask, them ask him to come. You will need to offer a high value treat to get him to drop the toy. The growling may be an attempt at getting you to play when you were pulling the toy away from him - if you work on asking him to put the toy down you can probably avoid this in the future. Clicker training can be especially helpful since you can click as soon as the toy is dropped.