Teaching the Out/Leave it command

[HandyAndy]

My 11 month old male has poor recall so I'm really working hard every day on motivation and concentration using tug toys and balls etc. Its working really well so far and he really getting stuck into the tug toys, which is great, although he is nearly pulling my arm off at times!!

Sometimes however I need/want to stop the game quickly and remove the toy. I want to teach him the Out or Leave It command in a way which the dog enjoys, because I dont want to turn the game into a negative stand off between me and him.

When I want to take a toy he will submit eventually and give it up, but not without a battle. I want to keep him focussed on the fun side of things as its his recall, down and stay which I really want to improve.

Any suggestions will be gratefully received

Andy

[Paul C.]

Andy , sit in a chair with the dog sitting in front of you, hold one ball/tug in front of him at muzzle level, tell him to " bring ", " take it " now to teach the word " out".you can pinch his lip to his tooth, & when he gives it , you give it back to him with the command to " bring " or "take it., or you can blow in his ear, & when he releases do the same, or blow n his nose , & the same .
Paul C. wellingtonk9.com

[tankgrrrl]

I may be totally off the point here...I do something similar with my dogs when we play with ropes I let her get really into the game of jerking and pulling and then I will say "loose" and she drops it. Is this a similar idea? ...Am I using the wrong word for this? I have just always used it, and I have taught this game to all my dogs. Sometimes I let them win when they are younger to build up confidence and get them to play more. By the time they are Riley's age I dont have to "let" them win...lol they pretty much can take my arm off if I dont let go in time. She gets very excited, however she is also extremely gentle. on occasion she will grab my hand instead of the rope and she ALWAYS stops immediately and steps back. She has yet to "really" hurt me. I was told she doesnt have enough drive to do bite work because of this trait so I have never even tried. I just dont know enough about it.

[Paul C.]

You are on line ,Judy. Did my suggestions on " focus " help?
Paul C. wellingtonk9.com

[tankgrrrl]

You are on line ,Judy. Did my suggestions on " focus " help?
Paul C. wellingtonk9.com

We are working on it, however I still cant access your site. Riley last night while walking surprised me by looking directly to my eyes for every command on our walk. She would be put into a sit at corners then look me in the face until I told her to continue, I am hoping she is getting close to working totally with hand signals soon.

[Paul C.]

Glad to hear that it's working for you. You need to spend more time on the stationary work before actually taking a step.Some dogs it takes months to perfect this.Don't do what most people do & rush it just because you have some early success. I have a little test that i do to my clients dogs to test the security of the focus, & it tells me if they are ready to proceed.
Paul C. http://wellingtonk9.com-us.htm