This morning my young dog Snorri gave me reason for pride.
Snorri has an incredible nose and is also highly food motivated. Like all smart dogs (and kids) he is also very curious and he likes to explore everything. He uses his mouth and his nose. On the sidewalks of New York City using his nose is mostly acceptable but using his mouth is definitely a hazard to his health.
On our walks we practiced “drop” about a million times. To me “drop” means: Get your mouth empty because delivery of something very delicious and a much more valuable reward is waiting.
So this morning ingraining this in him really paid off. Snorri snagged chicken bone on our walk, I cued him to “DROP” and he DID.
WHEW! Those are the moments when I am overwhelmed with joy and pride and find that all those practice repetitions really paid off for both of us.
Related and helpful is to find a hierarchy of reward preferences for your dog: what does your dog find most rewarding?
Teaching the dog to “give up”something knowing that the action is worthwhile also know as: how to teach impulse control
Need help applying these techniques? Book a behavior consultation!
