What do you do to get your boy to release? - Page 1

I have been having a problem with my boy not releasing his toys when I tell him " out "  He wants to keep pulling or just hold on. I put my fingers in his mouth and pry his mouth open. Sometimes my finger gets in the way of his sharp teeth and he wont let go.   Im not sure what I should do to get him to release,. Should i tap him on the nose, just keep pulling, put my fingers in his mouth and pry his mouth open.. thats not an easy task sometimes.    Any advice?

 I am not a trainer and my 6 mouth old boy is my first GSD. Take what I say with a grain of salt.
This is what I did. I used a rubber bumper. I would get  him to pick it up and then I would get ahold of the toy and roll it out of his mouth while commanding out.  I did this about 6 times with each exercise period. I gave him slight praise and a small treat after each release. It took a couple of weeks, but he's responds to the command  without me needing to roll the bumper now. It only gets difficult now if he decides I want to play tug before I tell him to give it up. 
At one time I had to train my Chesapeake to release, but with him I had to resort to pinching his ears to get the blockhead rascal to open his mouth. I don't recommend that with a GSD pup.

Hi wdozier,

One of the methods I use is the two ball or two toys. You hide one and when you want to get your dog to out .,you say," OUT',show the second ball or toy. the important thing is to restart the game imeadiately, or give the second toy within 2 seconds , of the dog droping the first toy.

Please make sure you only give the second toy ,when your dog out's the toy ,it is holding.Sometimes just hug and praise your dog while it is holding the toy , but do not make any attempt to take the toy.

Another very important point is not to pull the toy while you say ," out " .You must stop all movement , the toy must be dead in the dogs mounth .

when you say out. If the dog still does not drop the toy , stop playing and ignore the dog , until he out's. 

Hope this is of help.

sonora

Instead of prying the mouth open, just push down on his tongue while saying out.  That will get him to release.

Heidi

 Sonora has a good routine in 2 ball and yes don,t pull the ball it,s called oposition reflex you pull he pulls. your inticing the game at that point and when saying out you void the meaning of the word your kinda giving opposing commands in the dogs mind so you create conflict you don,t need. I would not even touch the dog while giving the out command during 2 ball.  

How old is the dog?. 

Does he have strong prey drive?

wdozier...How old is your dog?...Are you going to be doing Schutzhund or any sport...or Police work with him?...What are your goals for him?...These are important questions to answer as to know how or what you can do to teach him to "out" (release) the toy...

The best thing...and safest thing to do....is to get hold of the toy and just out-wait him...another words...just wait until he lets go of it himself...and when he does let go of it you then have a choice to make...give it right back to him as a reward or just take it away...

~Bob~

I had the same problems with Rama (picture on the right)

Sonora offers great advice. Great!!!!

All I can add to that is:  I tought my boy the "leave it" command for treats. You can put a treat in front of him and tell him to leave it... and he won't touch it until I tell him to get it. 

Then I trasnferred that command with the ball. put the ball in front of him... tell him to leave it... then tell him to get it. Then when I try and take it out of his mouth I tell him to leave it... if he doesn't I lightly blow in his ear... THIS WORKS LIKE MAGIC!!!! I PROMISE! THe second you blow in their ear... they will release!

I guess I should be using the out comman instead of "leave it" to get them ready for the SCH work... 

My little Girl, Akeelah  just watches what Rama does... and copies it... so when I ask her to leave the ball she just opens her mouth and drops it into my hand. It is great! I have never had to blow in her ear! 

Hope this helps, Happy Holidays!

Jacob

If all else fails, you can try flanking him. If you don't know what that is ( some people are not familiar with this technique), when giving him the out command, you put pressure (slightly pinch) the skin between his flank and his belly, the skin that is stretched kinda tight when the dog is standing. The dog will let go and turn around to see what happened. You don't have to apply very much pressure at all. I learned this trick from the head K9 trainer for a police department in Tennessee.

When my dog won't let go I shove my boot up his arse!

Naww..... just kidding.

Give the command once.   Wait him out.   Everything stops, everything on hold until he obeys.   Use your expression to communicate, or lack of one.   Don't play his game.

Once you get what you want move quickly.   No waiting works both ways.

Teaching this as early as possible works best.   You didn't say how old your dog is.

Never pry open his mouth or force the command.    It has to be his decision and then re-enforce a correct responce with a positive reaction or praise.      Don't praise a slow responce, just rinse and repeat.

Take your time and be consistant.   Nothing good ever comes fast, be patient.  Its a lot of work.

Don’t flank your puppy! He may release the toy but he may also bite you. He may also become wary of people touching him on his rear.

Two toys may work. But how do you get the second toy from the dog?

I trade the toy for food. I hold the toy as still as possible. I then hold a treat under the dog’s nose. When the dog lets go of the toy to eat the food I slowly put the toy in my pocket. I feed the dog a few treats and praise him. When the dog is RELIABLBLY letting the treat go for the food I then pair the release behavior with the queue (out, release).

This is a basic idea. Please refine it so it fits your final goal with your dog. For instance, I would start to do this at a much older age with a schutzhund dog than I would with a dog that was strictly a pet.