When drop it just isn’t enough…

[Woeismeitappears]

I have no idea if anyone has any idea but I’m getting a bit stuck with this.

18 week old GR puppy, very bright, very very ge motivated.

5yo cat.

we live in the country and so surrounded by woods, cat is quite the hunter and regularly brings home her findings. This hasn’t ever been a pleasant thing but she’s a cat and it’s her nature 🤷‍♀️

the problem is that she’s now bringing in MORE stuff and is basically leaving it for the pup.

in 3 days the pup has had a bat (yes an actual bat) which I managed to get off her (by literally throwing half a bag of treats on the floor) and 2 mice (both of which she swallowed) as soon as I said drop (the ironically came for her treat!) no issues with tummy problems, vet said as the mice are caught that whilst it’s not great it’s minimal risk as the major risk is poisoning which obviously as they are caught ‘fresh’ isn’t as much of an issue.

I actually cannot think of a solution to this. Pup knows drop but is obviously a work in progress due to her age - cat seems determined to leave stuff next to pups bed etc.

I do a regular check but am obviously missing stuff as the next minute the pup is throwing it on the air in delight.

I've tried locking the windows and doors and letting the cat in manually but she’s a sneaky little thing and seems to get them in regardless. I’ve found mice on the bloody roof that she’s left to get later.

any suggestions? Or reassurance that this will stop at some point?!!

Puppy tax as usual

Ha, my terrorist ate a manky magpie’s wing yesterday (not attached to the dead magpie)! He’s pretty good at “drop it” usually but unfortunately the more seriously I say “drop it”, the less likely he is to do so. He starts to proper snaffle whatever it is he’s got so no one can take it off him and then I’m scared he’ll get it stuck — I had to wrestle a spare rib out of his throat in this situation once!

If it’s any consolation, no harm seems to have come to any of my dogs after eating something hideous. I expected to see feathers this morning but all was normal! My old lab ate a whole dead blackbird once, he wasn’t giving that up for any amount of treats thrown in his face. Truly disgusting, but it was fully digested — beak, claws and all — with no apparent ill-effects 🤢

There are people who swear by the whole prey diet

I bet you a tenner you can't find a dog owner who hasn't had to wrestle something out their dog's throat before now.

The fried chicken shops of north London were the worst for us - I lost count of how many times I had to wrestle a fried chicken bone from ddog's mouth after it had been dropped on the pavement.

On one occasion I had my fingers down his throat trying to extract what I thought was a cooked chicken bone. It was, in fact, a very squishy whole jalapeno. With hindsight, I should have let him suffer the consequences of that one.

I'd say it will get better, but you appear to have a lab, so maybe not ...

Ours would not drop dirty nappies that he found out and about, people would just drop them on the floor. No way was I wrestling those out of his mouth

Where is the cat tax? What a great mummy she is feeding that huge oversized kitten you brought home...

thank you all so much! I’m not feeling like such a failure now 😂😂

cat tax as requested of the serial killer…..

She's adorable.

Can I just mention a back dog would have been a better choice fur wise...

I guess you need to practice "leave" a lot including when they have a food item such as bone/chew thing?

Already have a yellow lab so basically my house is fur covered anyway!

She’s just trying to teach him to hunt properly 🤣

It’s really just a case of train, train, train and have some really high value rewards about.

keeping the cat in till well after dawn and making sure it’s in before dusk can help a bit as they and most of their prey are crepuscular and that’s when they catch most of them.

You need to teach a retrieve instead of focusing on the drop. If you teach dog to retrieve everything to you and deliver it then you are firstly tapping into the natural instincts and secondly things become less appealing because the dog has to work.
The clue is in the name ie retriever..

You’re going to need much higher value treats! Turkey breast used to be the highest value to our GR but raw steak would also help 🤣