CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Behaviour & Training => Topic started by: JulieM on February 13, 2012, 10:36:25 PM
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Hi All,
I wondered if anyone had any tips for teaching 'drop'- I've searched for a previous thread and people discuss doing it, but I can't find anyone describing how this is done.
Florie is stealing a lot (grr!) and whilst previously she'd be happy to swap for a treat, she now still doesn't give up whatever it is. If I get too close she growls and is obviously really uncomfortable with my approaches.
I guess I'm looking for tips to calm all of it down and actually 'train' a drop rather than just swapping. Any ideas?
Thanks for any thoughts :D
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Go On u tube and type in drop command...
Theres a few in there one by Victoria Stilwell...
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Thanks Seaangler I'll take a look :D
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Beau is a little devil pinching things and resolutely hanging on to them no matter what. We found that playing with his toys by throwing them for him to fetch back encouraged him to let go of them so the game could continue. Tugging at them just encouraged him to hold tighter, but just holding still and firmly repeating 'Leave' and 'Good boy' makes him quickly let go and this now works for other things he picks up as well (letters etc). He will not drop objects he can fit inside his mouth though, you have to fish for those.
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Maike is a thief and if anything drops to the floor she will come dashing and grab it, no matter what it is. It's only in the last couple of weeks that she has been willing to swap and it works best if I get a piece of cheese or gravy bone and don't even look at her, just hold it so she can see it. She usually drops whatever she has and comes running (then the trick is to be fast enough that I can pick it up before she dashes back and grabs it again!). For socks I now use the method tenaille has described and she will usually let go if I hold still and don't pull in any way.
Having said that, she's only 7 months and I dread the teenage months when all this training is probably going to go out the window. She's never showed any guarding behaviour which means that if she grabs something that could harm her and absolutely mustn't be destroyed/chewed I do in an emergency grab her and try to prise it out of her mouth and really hope I either manage to train her to not grab everything before she gets at that age or that she stays as sweet as she currently is.
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There is a great book called Mine! by Jean Donaldson. It will give you ideas how to deal with resource guarding! :D
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Thanks for the book recommendation- I've read one of her other ones and thought it was really interesting.
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This is an absolutely brilliant way to teach it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndTiVOCNY4M
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KayJay - Thats a fascinating video! Thanks for the link