What do you say when you want your dog to drop something?

Why do you need separate words for each dog? I don’t know much about dogs, so excuse me if this is a daft question.

Anyway we used to say ‘leave’ to my childhood dog. You could say it short and snappy or you could draw the ‘eeee’ out in a warning tone of voice.

I don’t think you need a separate command for each dog. Call the dog by its name and say the command: “Spot! Dropit!”

No

No.

But she usually stands and stares at me in blank amazement. I am working on it though.

The French command is “lâche”.

@Stinley and @Yetanotheruser Well, you could teach multiple dogs to only respond to a cue when they have been addressed by name. However, I haven’t taught my old dog to do that, and it would be hard work to start now. Thinking up a new word has to be easier.

If I asked my puppy to drop something by saying, “Aus” (old dog’s cue), two things would happen:

1. My old dog would look at me all wounded, wondering what I want from her, and she would drop anything she might be chewing at that time. There is no need for her to drop her toy or bone every time I want the pup to stop chewing stuff. That has to be about fifty times a day.

2. Over time, my old dog would realize the cue does not always mean her. She tends to go looking for food when she is on walks, and I absolutely need that cue to always mean her. We have worked on it for years, and I’m very happy she’s reliable now. She thinks she’s supposed to hunt the poisoned meat strange people leave out for other people’s dogs.

@thorninmud Is that pronounced the same way as the word for “coward”?

@longgone Yes, actually. But your pup doesn’t need to know that :)

^ That’s true – and it’s short. I think that could work! Thanks!

I need to go say it out loud and determine whether I’m feeling stupid shouting “coward” in French while my dog chews the remote control.

“Give”

“Drop it.” We use it for both of our dogs. They’re smart enough to know that if they don’t have something in their mouth, we aren’t talking to them, we’re talking to the other dog.

I say ‘give’.

“drop it” is the onyl way to get him to drop the frisbee.

“Drop it” (for my dog) or “release” (for other dogs.) Usually, “drop it.” Single word commands are best.

Actually, you can make up anything, any word at all to convey what you mean.

“Sell it!”
“Pawn it!”
“Dink it!”

Anything at all.

Dogs only understand the “meaning” of the word by what your expectations / trainings are.

We often ask our dogs if they want to “go outside.” If they do, they rush to the side sliding glass door to go out in the fenced area.

One time we were on the back deck and they were acting goofy. I said, “Do you want to go outside?”
My husband said, (condescendingly,) “Val, we are outside.”
I said, “The dogs don’t know the literal meaning of the English word “outside.” To them, it means a specific area, in this case, the back yard.”
At that point the dogs were gathered at the gate leading from the deck to the back yard because they did, indeed, want to go to their understanding of “outside.”

@Dutchess_III – I’m waiting for the day that the dog answers “Not today, thanks, it’s raining”

Drop it

I found that a lot of the time it is how you say it not what you say. My BC responds just as fast to “Hey!!” as he does to “Drop it!”

Release

My word was “out”

@Dutchess_III A lot of time it depends on the individual. Mine know the difference between “Doyouwanttogooutside?” and Doyouwanttogoforaride?” although both sound similar when said as one word. Same goes for the shortened version “Goforride?” and “Gooutside?”

Or just “ride” and “outside.” But we humans do like our full sentences.

And I don’t quite understand what you mean by “it depends on the individual.” Individual person or individual dog? And “what” depends on it?

Individual dog.

Thanks, all. It’s going to be “lâche”, because it fits perfectly: As an in-between, I’ve been saying “shhh” to get Wilson to settle down while tugging. So…since lâche conveniently ends in “sh”, we don’t even need to start from scratch.

I have always just used “Name, drop it!” with great success. I train my dogs to one-syllable call names so they know whom I mean.
It’s much easier, especially if someone else is caring for the dogs for whatever reason, as they don’t need to be memorizing a “password” for each dog.

^ I do plan to do that with Wilson – but re-training Nerina at eleven seems mean. Thanks, though, good point!

“Alright, just forgot it then, no need to go on & on about it & stop giving me that look as well”

My mistake, I thought Wilson was the new pup and you were looking for a special word for him.

^ He is, and I am. Just because the German “drop it” is taken, though.

Can’t your dog learn German?

^ We already speak German. Or rather, I do…

I’m confused now. See, I have two dogs. I had just one cue I liked, and that was the one I taught my old dog. I don’t think it’s fair to have her spit out her chew toy whenever the puppy has to let go of something. So, I needed a second word.

@longgone That was very clear. (I just wonder if the old dog will think, “Well, that’s a new command. I wonder what I’m supposed to do now?” :-)

I’ve never had a problem with one dog responding to a command I specifically give the other dog.

@janbb Thank you, and God.

She might, but she’s a hungry Labrador…when in doubt, keep chewing ;)

@canidmajor That’s probably because your dogs are used to being part of a multiple-dog-household? I am 100% certain Nerina would assume I was talking to her, and it would definitely bother her. The puppy has changed her life drastically – no need to make it extra hard.

Well, that’s a theory, but I have never raised and trained dogs together, I acquire them one at a time and incorporate them into the household. It may or may not be a problem for her, but unless she’s either very old or not too bright, I doubt it would confuse her. After all, the word, to the dog’s ear would not be “dropit” it would be “wilsondropit”.

I’m sure you’ll find something that works for you.

I would thnk “Macht shnell“would be useful for something; it always scared the dickens out of me.

^^^I’ll use that on the grandkids, @janbb! Thanks!

I used a really firm and hard tone when I needed them to do something. Mostly I was gentle with them and them with me. I’d also stand with my foot on the frisbee, after a while they’d give up.

@canidmajor Everything I say is gibberish, to the dogs, unless they hear something they know to be a cue. Your dogs, I assume, know that all their cues are preceded by their names. Nerina is used to picking any potential cue out of the human talk. So, whether I say, “Wilson” before giving “her” cue or not, she will still see it as her cue.

I know it will confuse her, because I’ve seen it happen. She drops bones when I tell my foster dogs to drop something, she drops her dummy when we’re on walks with other dog owners and they tell their dogs to “drop it”. I have no idea how smart that makes her, but I like to believe that she’s not an idiot and just has this one cue automatized because we worked on it for years. Of course, I’ve heard people claim that all Labs are dumb, and compared to herding dogs, they might be. No idea. I’m biased, and I don’t believe intelligence is easily measured. They’re wonderful dogs in lots of ways, though, and very trainable.

@janbb Well, that’s basically her “go pee” cue. *Mach schnell.
Yeah, Germans have the benefit of a language which is perfectly suited to yell at dogs, boot camp style. I love that. ~

Drop it. I don’t get why wouldn’t you want to use the same word. If ever someone is watching your dog, they may need to tell your dog to drop it, if she grabs something that is unhealthy. Just using their name should be enough. I say my dogs name followed by drop it.
Dogs also respond to eye contact. If you are looking at your dog and saying drop it, they will usually know you mean them.

^ Have you read my previous posts? I’ve explained why I want a different word. I will be happy to explain again, if I wasn’t clear enough…but I think I was rather clear, in my last posts.

As to people watching my dog: There is no universal “let go” in German “dog language”. If someone watches my dog, that person will just have to learn a new word – when I watch other people’s dogs, I ask what their cues are. In any case, my dogs are usually watched by people they know well.

Just as an aside, I was taught not to use their name before a negative command; only to use it for positives like come. That’s not always easy to implement but not a bad policy.

I’m teaching Wilson “off” and “no” and such as positives, though. He sees them as an invitation to come play a better game with me. So, as of yet, there are no negative commands or poisoned cues for him. Otherwise, yes, a good thing to remember!

[Mod says]: Moved to Social.

@janbb: I really look at it that there are so few “negative” commands as to not be an issue. I teach my dogs that “drop it” is in the same category as “sit” and those. I use reward based training for all of those.

^ Yeah, teaching “drop it” using anything but positive reinforcement is dangerous, in my opinion. I just had a client who came to me wanting to know why his dog wouldn’t let go of balls. I asked him how he had taught him to want to let go. He explained, “I said, “drop it” very firmly…and then I grabbed his neck.”

I know you’ve already chosen your word (late to the party again!!) but i wanted to answer as I have a friend who says “Thank You” when she wants her dog to drop anything. It is very sweet and it does’nt seem to be a problem when she uses Thank You in conversation with a human although it would for some dogs.

I know a lot of people that use “dead” as well.

When I say, “Let’s go outside!” to my dogs they run to the back sliding glass door that leads to the fenced yard.
One time we were on our deck, which is off the side of the fenced yard. The deck is actually open to the world, no fencing.
The dogs were with us on the deck, and they were being squirrelly and I said, “Do you guys want to go outside?”
My husband looked at me like I was stupid and said, “They already are outside.”
I just shook my head as the dogs piled up to the door leading to the house, ran through the house to the back sliding glass door.

I don’t understand why he think these dogs have such an advanced level of understanding of the English language.