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Puppy who refuses to 'drop it'.

7 replies

GhostsInSnow · 13/08/2013 17:28

Mum has a generally lovely little shih tzu pup called Charlie, he's 15 weeks old now. He's been pretty good so far, toilet trained quickly, walks wonderfully on a lead, will sit, stay etc. The problem is (as with most pups I suspect) everything, and I mean EVERYTHING he can get into his mouth goes in it and he flatly refuses to drop it.

His teeth are like tiny little razors and incredibly sharp. This afternoon Mum dropped a plastic poop bag and within seconds of it hitting the floor Charlie had a hold of it. He wouldn't drop it and in the end, worried that he was going to ingest it and cause no end of problems I had no choice but to prise open his mouth and retrieve it.

At that point he really did get quite nasty, lots of growling and snapping ensued and he bit me quite badly. Poo bag was eventually retrieved but not before I was dripping with blood from both hands.

Now obviously this behaviour needs to stop now so any suggestions are welcome. If he's eating a biscuit etc or has a toy he will happily let you take it from him without issue but anything in his mouth is his as far as he's concerned and god help your poor fingers should you try and take it back.

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idirdog · 13/08/2013 17:46

Just hold a very smelly treat eg cheese in front of his noise and he will drop the item to eat the cheese

GhostsInSnow · 13/08/2013 17:50

idirdog I did have that idea and tried to distract with a beefy flavour treat but there was no way he was letting go of the bloody bag.

Cheese might be an idea though, it's not something he normally has so may be a good distraction especially when he's out on a walk and hoovering up anything he finds on the street, but ideally I'd like to be able to get into his chops without fear of losing a finger and I'm not sure distraction is a long term solution with him.

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SoloRolo · 13/08/2013 17:53

I'd suggest carrying really tasty treats around with you in a treat bag such as cubes of cheese, hot dog or liver cake. Play some games with pup and when he has something in his mouth gently wave a really high value treat under his nose, say drop and he'll probably release the toy to take the treat, praise, give him the toy back and repeat.

He should learn that "drop" is a positive command as he is rewarded with a treat and most of the time gets the item back. This method has worked with my pup who is an avid stone eater! Good luck.

SoloRolo · 13/08/2013 17:54

X post!

Grunzlewheek · 13/08/2013 17:57

Just got a rescue shih tzu thinking they were sweet lap dogs, ours has a set of jaws like a steel trap, so I can sympathise. Ours is now being treated like a real dog, not a lap dog and the terriers are teaching him to keep his jaws to himself !

GhostsInSnow · 13/08/2013 18:20

Thank you :)

Just spoken to Mum who's going to practice this method this evening:

Drop it Technique

He's such a stubborn little sod this one!

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GhostsInSnow · 13/08/2013 18:24

grunzle they are certainly a bold breed, Charlie certainly puts the 'shit' in shih tzu. He looks like a big fluffy balled ewok but he most certainly isn't (though I've found that most of the time if you tickle him just inside his back leg his world stops, he rolls over and doesn't move until you stop). Mum is unimpressed with me, I inadvertently taught him the roll over thing and now if he meets anyone on the street when he's out for his walk he's on his back and waiting for a belly rub Blush

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