Y'all... I messed up

[jimpaterno]

I tagged this Wags because I sort of got what I wanted, but I think y'all will get a kick out of my mistake.

I never wanted my dog to play keep away, so if he got ahold of something unknown or questionable I would put on a really excited tone of voice and ask "what did you find?" Then I'd hold out my hand, tell him to "drop it" in the same excited tone, and he'd get a toy in return. So far it's worked.

Last weekend we went to my parents' house, and my dumb butt looked away for 5 seconds too long. He came trotting around the corner with something in his mouth, and I started my "hey, buddy, what did you find" routine. Then he drops a cat turd in my open hand and just sits there looking proud of himself.

 

[sandy1133]

@jimpaterno I taught the same thing to my poodle and now he won't play tug of war with me. Whenever I go to grab something from him he immediately drops it, great for things he shouldn't have, bad for play time

 

[jimpaterno]

@sandy1133 My pup likes fetch more, he's not as interested in tug of war. It takes a few tries, but I've found that if I grab a long toy or rope and offer him one end he gets that he's allowed to try and take it from me. If the object starts with him and I take it, he's either going to get something else or we're going to play fetch.

 

[sandy1133]

@jimpaterno Same! Tad believes fetch/ball means life. He plays tug of war with other dogs, just not me.

 

[smallvolume]

@sandy1133 “Tad”

 

[eibhlin]

@sandy1133 We have 1-2 toys we only use for tug for this reason so whenever she wants to play tug she grabs her scrap of fabric and drapes it over my hand. Everything else is dropped in front of me for fetch. Thankfully she loves to chase things and is not a fan of keep away so that’s never really an issue

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@sandy1133 I solved that by teaching my dog "take it." Sometimes he seems uncertain about whether or not he can take a treat or a toy because I often tell him to leave it and make him wait for it. This helps clear things up.

 

[johnerica]

@jimpaterno My little 12 week old beagle mix found the litter box yesterday. Absolutely vile. Gone is the puppy breath, replaced with the telltale sign of a turd burglar.

 

[jimpaterno]

@johnerica And they always want to lick you after.

I know what you've been doing, get your mouth away from me.

 

[johnerica]

@jimpaterno And she’s desperate to get back into the room with the poop. What a filthy habit.

 

[mishclark]

@johnerica I just saw an episode of Victoria Stillwell saying that feeding your dogs pineapple makes them hate their poop smell.