Take a nice sturdy toy, like a rope toy or plushie, and tempt the dog to mouth it. When he puts his mouth on the toy, click and treat. Shippo got this after the first click! He tilted his head, as if to say, "You mean all I have to do is put my mouth on my favorite toy, and you feed me?! Cool deal!" We repeated this several times in a 5 minute session.
Next, when the dog knows he's supposed to put his mouth on the toy, you'll connect a cue to it, like "Take," "Take it," "Hold," etc. Repeat. Then you would start rewarding longer and longer instances of the dog having his mouth on the toy, and eventually, progress to letting go of the toy.
I will be editing this into a real article with more detail once I am done teaching Shippo "Take It."
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2 comments:
Just dropping in to say hi. I tried out your method. But my dog will run away with the toy the moment she gets hold of it. How do I stop her from doing that? Thanks!
If your dog runs off with the toy, then it's best not to let go of the toy when you have them take it. Does your dog know how to drop it? If not, the second part of "take it" is "give." Basically, you'd be having the dog take it, but not letting go of the toy. Then, as you gently get the dog to let go of the toy, you'll say "give." and then reward the dog after the give.
Does your dog know all the basic commands yet? If not, it would be best to teach those first. Hope that helps!
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