Some dogs may not readily give up objects, especially those that are novel or particularly motivating. This makes it difficult to play games such as fetch and may be counterproductive in games of tug-of-war where the dog consistently "wins" the game, and will not give up control of the object. In fact, some dogs are possessive to the point of aggression with some objects. Therefore in order to play with your dogs constructively and positively and as a means of retrieving objects that your pet should not have in its possession, the give or drop command can be extremely useful.
How do I teach the ''give'' or ''drop'' command?
It is very useful if you can teach your puppy how to give up items with a command, but this is not always easy to train. For some dogs, it might first be helpful to teach the dog to take something that you have offered in its mouth. Remember that the goal of "give" or "drop" training is to achieve the desirable behavior so that if you initially give the dog something too desirable, you may have a difficult time motivating your dog to give it up. A rubber toy or wooden stick may work well. Keep your hand on the object at first and once the puppy has grasped the toy, say 'give', take it away and offer a special food treat. The purpose of this exercise is to get the puppy to open its mouth and release the item. At the same time you need to say, 'give it' so that the action becomes associated with the phrase. By repeated pairing of the words "give it" with the release of objects, the dog will learn the meaning of the words.
