Why is it important to teach a dog to “drop it”? If you have a puppy at home, you know they seem to always have something they shouldn’t in their mouths. If you have an older dog that still has this habit, it will protect her from having something dangerous, toxic, poisonous or even valuable to you in her mouth. It also allows you and your dog to safely play games like tug-of-war.

The goal is right when you say “drop it”, your dog drops whatever it is they have in their mouth. With positive reinforcement training, you do this by rewarding them with a treat when they listen to you instead of yelling at them, chasing them or disciplining them until they spit the item out.

An easy way to train “drop it” is while playing tug and fetch games. Have your dog chew on one of her favorite toys. Once she has her mouth on it, put a treat (good treats like meat or cheese work great with this type of training) close to her nose and say “drop it”. When she opens her mouth for the treat and drops the toy, feed her the treat and praise her for dropping it. Don’t force the toy out of the dog’s mouth if she does not drop it, as she may think this is a game. Continue to tempt her with the treat until she does drop the object. Then feed her the treat and give her praise. If your dog likes to play “keep away” and runs away with the toy in her mouth, keep a leash and collar on your dog during the training session.

Repeat this training several times until she is responding consistently. After a while, try holding the treats farther away and eventually try the command with praise instead of treats.  Once your dog seems to understand the “drop it” command, practice it randomly both with and without treats, but always with praise. Eventually your dog will respond automatically to the “drop it” command.