[pixelpea]

I have a 10 month old pup who is such a smart awesome dog. There are only a few circumstances when she disobeys. We are always outside whether in the park or up in the mountains. We have done lots of training with a long line and she has a great recall except... when she finds something yummy to eat on the ground. There has been a handful of times when I see her pick something gross/dangerous up and immediately she looks at me and runs away. She does know 'drop it' and the majority of the time she does listen to me. I worry about this because the other day at the park she picked up what looks like a deflated pink rubber balloon. She immediately ran away and stayed away until she swallowed it all! The next day at another park she found a bag of candy! I'm worried that she may eventually harm her health. Sometimes I'm surprised by all the random things hidden in the rocks, dirt, and grass. I know an option is to always have her on a long line, but it seems it's about once every two weeks when she decides to run away and gobble down whatever great treat she has found. I want her to be able to run and play! Any suggestions on helping with her drop command? At this point she knows when she picks something up off the ground that I will take it away so naturally she runs. I'm really worried about he ingesting the wrong thing. Is this a recall problem? A drop it problem? A young puppy problem? Any advice or training suggestions would be greatly appreciate. Thanks!

 

[Amaryllis]

She's a puppy in the teenager stage with less than 100% recall and less than 100% drop it. I'd keep working the recall and drop it and not let her off leash as of yet.

 

[Cafall]

Do you try 'trading' with her? She knows that 'drop it' means you're going to take away the tasty thing she found so she eats it really quick before you can get it from her. I would work on turning 'drop it' into meaning 'drop that thing and I will give you this even tastier thing'.

 

[juliemule]

I seperate drop it from leave it. Meaning drop it is used for toys or anything she gets back ( the trade game) from leave it, something she is not to touch period.
Practice this at home, place kibble or anything of low value down. With her leashed, say leave it, reward. Work away from home, slowly work up to high value treats, everytime reward with something awesome. Be sure to add strange objects, like balloons, bones, dead birds, etc. When this is 100% do off lead, as long as you are close enough to physically move the object, then farther away, as so on.