Winnie had her third week of puppy training last night. This week’s focus was on “leave it,” “take it,” and “drop it.” 

Leave it:  Is for getting them to back off of something they haven’t yet put in their mouth.

 Take it: Tells the pup when they are allowed to take the object,

 Drop it: Is for getting them to drop an item they already have in their mouth.

We started to learn how to teach “leave it” by putting a treat in our hands, showing Winnie, and then closing our hand into a fist and saying “leave it.” Once Winnie stopped sniffing at the hand and just sat there. We opened the hand and said “take it.” Next, we did the same thing but left the treat in an OPEN hand. And once Winnie sat nicely, we said “take it.” The last progression of this skill involved us throwing the treat on the ground nearby and saying “leave it.” Then once Winnie stops pulling on her leash, sits down and waits, then we say “take it.” 

Our homework for the week is to practice “drop it.” The first step of doing this is by getting Winnie’s attention, saying “drop it,” and then throwing high-value treats onto the ground in front of her. This helps her begin to associate the words “drop it” with something good. The next progression is to put a toy in Winnie’s mouth, say “drop it” and then throw down a few high-value treats. The dog should drop the toy and pick up the treats. The key for this is to always give the toy back after you take it, otherwise the dog might associate “drop it” with never getting it back, and therefore, they won’t do it. The next step is to play tug with Winnie and then say “drop it” and give her some treats. Always remember to give the toy back to the dog after this! 

We are loving this group training with Winnie as we have learned so much. Next week is our last class and we are going to be working on recall.Â