How Do I Teach My Dog to Release Something He Shouldn’t Have: Slipper, Sock, Shoe, My Hand LOL!?

Hey folks! This is Frank from Sit Happens Dog Training.

Welcome to another Q&A session where I answer questions from y'all on the internet.

Today's question is:

"How Do I Teach My Dog to Release Something He Shouldn’t Have: Slipper, Sock, Shoe, My Hand LOL!?"

Answer from Frank Silva

So, um, and the question is, you know, how how do I, um, take something away from my puppy when, you know, they shouldn't have that particular thing, a sock, a shoe, um, it could be anything that's that other than their toys. So, first and foremost, okay, it's very important again going back to puppy management, you shouldn't have 20 pairs of shoes laying around the house throughout the entire house. I get this with a lot of folks with young kids and socks being laid around. That's just toys for puppies. So, try as much as possible to pick up as much as you can so that way those issues will not happen as often. So, going back to if your puppy does get a hold of a sock or a shoe, first thing you're going to do is you're going to say, "Uhhuh." And you're going to say, "Drop." Again, less is more with dog training. Don't use a lot of words. A lot of owners make the mistake of saying, "No, no, no, no, no. Ah, jump. Come here. Give me this." And and all you're doing is confusing the puppy. The puppy hardly even knows commands at this point. So, what you want to do is get a hold of the puppy. Uhhuh. Drop. And I would put grab a hold of whatever is in his mouth. And then I would put my hand over his um over his mouth and I would wait. And if he doesn't release, I would try again. Uhhuh. Drop. The one thing you don't want to do with trying to teach a dog, you know, what's good to chew and what's not is to try to play a game of tugof-war, when you're trying to pull it out of their mouths, it becomes playtime. Oh, now it's time to play. Yeah, you want to try to take it away. I don't want to give it to you cuz I want to engage and play with you. So sometimes we have to squeeze the little jowls up top a little more to get them to understand. We're not punishing, we're not hurting them, but it's like a mother dog giving a correction to a puppy. When they get a little too crazy, they go behind their neck and they'll give them a little squeeze. So, and again, repeat. Uh, drop. That answer your question?

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