Hi

We have a 3 month old Golden Retriever puppy. She is doing well re toilet training, sleeps in her crate at night no probs.

The issue is she won't drop a toy on command. We play fetch and she brings the toy back to us but won't drop it so we can throw it again. We have tried using treats and she will drop it for a choccy drop but after giving her a treat 4 times she goes back to holding on to it for dear life. We thought she might like the tug of war of us trying to get it from her so we have stopped pulling on it and ignoring her.

Any other ideas of what we can try? Have read this board loads since we got her and have read some good advice.
Thanks

Are you saying your release word as she drops the toy? Then gradually you can start saying it earlier.  When she realises that "give" or whatever word you choose means let go of the toy, then you can progress to only producing the treat after she has dropped it.  With my puppy, I made this progression very slowly but once the habit was established, was able to phase out treats for letting go of toys fairly quickly though I still reward her now for letting go of items of higher value.

Yes, if you pull the toy at all, she will think it's tug of war.

Or if you try and 'snatch' the toy from her, she will obviously want to keep a tighting grip on it! I think sometimes it takes a while for them to grasp that if they let you have it then they toy can be thrown again, Beard Boy is very good at letting go of it but not always brill at bringing it back straight away! I used to encourage him in then give him a fuss and gently took the dummy out of his mouth without him really noticing, as I was still fussing him :D

Hi nattles

This is normal behaviour, the dog does not have a reason to drop it.

In fact I doubt if she understands how good she has been for picking it up.

The dog has not been "taught" to pick up, or carry, or return, or to give; all these are necessary and must be taught in isolation before getting a successful chain.

If the dog brings back the toy, wave a treat under her nose, when she drops it say "good" and throw the treat away from the toy.  She will then come back and then you repeat it.

It is extremely important that you throw the treat away from the toy as most problems with retrieve stem from competition, ie the dog is trying to compete with you for the toy, by throwing the treat away you a) remove this element of conflict, b) allow her to get a treat and c) to decide to return and pick the toy up where you have left it for another treat.

When and only when she is doing this reliably with no cues, commands etc you can then say drop or whatever when you produce the treat.

Then you can move it to saying drop and producing the food ONLY when she had done it, instead of waving it in front of her to "bribe" her.

Hope this helps.

Hi,

Please never play tug of war with a young Goldens mouth.

1) Causes misaligned teeth
2)There mouth are sore from teething
3) Golden Retrievers mouths being gundogs are naturally soft playing this sort of game will not help.

All my puppies from young age from 8 wks are used to items being taken off them using my fingers gently giving the command leave over time they know when i ask for item they will drop it or give it to me in my hand,By 4 month plus it just becomes natural never had a problem,never chase a dog either it will think its a game and will be difficult to retrieve to hand.

Briony :-)

Thanks everyone for your replies.

We will give the ideas a go.

Have you tried using a ball instead, i know it shouldn't make any difference to your dog not dropping but our golden loves carrying a toy round in his mouth as a comforter. Do you have any photos of your puppy? sorry i just love them when they are little.

Hi  Louise

No we have'nt tried a ball - good idea!

Here a couple of pics from my phone

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/935851

She is a lot bigger now!!