For obvious reasons it is very important to teach a drop it command. Not only does it make playing fetch more fun and engaging, but it can also have safety implications down the road. Unfortunately, for many dogs this can be a difficult command to teach. The difficulty usually lies with a dog being “food wise” and not wanting to hold something in its mouth because it knows treats are involved, or a dog just not being interested in holding things in its mouth to begin with. In either case, you must first teach your pup to actually hold something in its mouth by putting it on cue. A “Take It” command is a whole other command and if you need help in establishing this first, consult with your trainer.
Once your pup will willingly hold something in its mouth, and not automatically drop it because he/she knows you have treats, “Drop It” is actually very easy to teach. Especially if they are food motivated. If they are not food motivated you can follow the same steps, but just trade what they have in their mouth for another toy using the same steps as if it were a treat. Once you have your dog in front of you with an object in their mouth, just say “drop it!”, and quickly produce in a treat in an open palm in front of them. It helps to have the treat ready, perhaps in a closed fist behind your back, or to your side, before saying the command. Most dogs will readily drop what’s in their mouth for a treat. If at first your dog doesn’t drop what’s in their mouth, try a different treat that they may like or value more. Make sure to include your reward marker, i.e. Yes!, as soon as they let go of whatever was in their mouth. This will let them know that letting go of the object was what got them the reward. Now just toss the toy (if they will bring it right back to you) or entice them with a game of tug to start the process all over. During this process, it is often helpful to secretly load a new treat in your hand.
After a few days of this, or even sooner for some dogs, you can begin doing the same thing, only now put a few seconds between “Drop It” and producing a treat in your open hand. Due to muscle memory most dogs will immediately drop the object before the treat is even presented. In which case simply mark the behavior and reward. If they don’t, that’s ok, just follow through as before with a treat in an open hand. Continue in this fashion for a session or two, if they still don’t seem to be picking it up (or…dropping it), go back to producing the treat immediately for a few sessions and try again in a day or two.
Now your pup should be willingly and reliably dropping the object on cue before the treat is provided. You have basically completed the training and are well onto the maintenance phase where you can begin phasing out the treats.
One quick side note…without getting too involved, there is a training technique called a “Jackpot”. Jackpotting is where if you normally would give 1 piece of kibble for a reward, you randomly give a handful all at once, or a much higher value treat. This will make the behavior stronger, because in the back of the dog’s mind they are thinking “Maybe this time I’ll get the hotdog!”. I include this in all of my cues, or commands, but especially in any that may impact the safety of the dog down the road.
