I started meeting with a client a few weeks ago who has a delightfully goofy, big fluffball of an adolescent dog. This dog isn't even a year old and is already close to 100 lbs. He is one of the smartest dogs I've had the pleasure of working with in quite a while. And he's also one of the spookiest. What do I mean by spooky? I mean that anything new causes him to jump back (literally!), give a big "WOOF," and then avoid the person/area near the scary thing. While we jokingly refer to him as a big chicken, this is a big problem. If he gets startled or spooked on a walk, he could drag his owner for blocks!
We started working on this problem in the comfort (and control!) of the owner's backyard. I brought all the spooky stuff with me: boxes with things inside that rattle, crunchy water bottles, and a Pringles chip canister with chip crumbs inside. My client's dog was even freaked out about the bag I carried these items into the yard in! I barely brought out the Pringles can and he jumped a foot in the air and backed away, woofing and eyeing me with suspicion. I laid all of the items on the ground and waited for the dog to work up his courage. When he approached tentatively, we cheered him on. He got brave, stretching to sniff the items, and we rewarded him. Within about 5 minutes, he was actively walking around through the items, not caring if they were rattled, tipped over, etc. He even pawed the Pringles can on his own! Now that he was brave enough to explore the items, we entered a whole new phase of training, teaching leave it and drop it. Why? Because now that he wasn't scared of the items I'd brought, he figured he could take off with them and destroy them!
Teaching leave it and drop it are probably two of the most important behaviors you can teach a dog. Starting early with your puppies is key, but even adolescent dogs like my client's can be taught the value in these two behaviors. And if you adopt an adult dog, it is certainly still worth teaching. You can start with your puppy and a couple of favorite toys. Hand them a toy. When they take it, give the command "drop it," placing your hand out for the toy as you simultaneously hand them the other toy. Once they are readily trading toys with you this way, you can try teaching them to leave a toy when asked. Place a toy at your feet. When your puppy approaches, say "leave it." The moment they look up from the toy like, "Why can't I have my toy?!" give them a treat. If you have to, put your foot over the toy on the floor when you say "leave it" to get your pup to look up and away from it. Work on dropping toys, asking your pup to leave it, and then rewarding the moment they look away from the dropped toy. When you can do this successfully with toys, you are ready to move on to other objects like shoes, remotes, keys, socks, etc., basically anything your dog might want to pick up. When they move toward the object, tell them "leave it," and be ready to reward them when they do. If they test you and pick it up, that's okay, you are just going to ask them to "drop it," and do the trade for something else. What you don't want to do is chase your dog to get something from them, get into a tugging match, or basically make it some kind of game. I've known more than one dog who swallowed an inedible object when he was being chased to give it back!
You can even practice these behaviors with food! Start with an empty paper plate and a few treats. Put the treats on the plate on a low table or even the floor, if you think you are ready for that step. When your dog approaches the plate, tell them "leave it," and be ready to reward them with something from your hand the second they look away from the plate. Gradually try moving away from the plate and/or turning your back. Again, ask your dog to "leave it," and be ready to reward them. If they grab the treats or the plate simply say something like "Oops!" or "Phooey!" or "Game Over" and walk away with the treat in your hand and ignore your dog for a couple of minutes. You are teaching your dog that this was indeed a game and as with any game, there are rules. After the time out, you can go back and try again. With practice, your dog can reach a "master level" on this game. My border collie mix, Shadow, was a master. I could leave a plate of food, even something like steak which she loved, on a low coffee table and leave the room for hours, if I wanted to eat cold food! When I'd return to the room, she'd be casually watching the plate from across the room, but it would be untouched. Even though I'd adopted her as a young adult dog, I began teaching these behaviors right from the start, and she loved learning. And she loved the chicken she got for success with the task.
Leave it and drop it are valuable on your walks as well. Being able to redirect your dog away from things on the ground by saying "leave it" and/or having them drop what they've picked up and trade for something better means less panic on walks that your dog will consume something dangerous.
So, back to my client and his at first spooky and now brave and bold adolescent thief: I made a big show of taking the bag of chicken out of my pocket and having a yummy bite myself that the dog could see. I wish I'd had a camera to capture the look on that dog's face. It was priceless. Basically it was a, "HUH?! What did you just eat?!" He dropped the Pringles can and trotted over to me, right through all the other tantalizing objects on the ground. I asked him to sit and stay and went to retrieve the canister. When I returned, I put the canister on the ground. When he leaned toward it, I said "leave it" and his head popped up. Now, HE got the chicken. Even when I kicked that can across the yard, he wanted to chase it, but he trotted right over when I said "leave it," and earned more chicken. My client was stunned as he was pretty sure the dog would value the novel item more than the food, but he was wrong. This is a smart dog; it wasn't just about the novel item and the chicken. It was about the game; learning the rules of the game, figuring them out, and then winning!
Spend some time working on leave it and drop it with your dogs this week, even if they already know these behaviors. Make the game harder, practice with distractions, etc. but do work on it. Any behavior you want to see happen successfully again needs to be practiced and rewarded.
As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.
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