# How did you teach your dog to bring you the leash



## pyratemom (Jan 10, 2011)

I have been working on this one with Raina. She will go show me where the leash is and bounce up and down until I pick it up but I can't figure out how to get the last step in, which is have her go get the leash and bring it to me. She looks at me like I'm crazy when I ask her to get the leash, like "Really human,don't you know where you left it?" She will bounce over to where the leash is always kept but won't put it in her mouth to bring it to me. When she was a pup I ingrained in her brain that the leash was not a chew toy and did not belong in her mouth, now I don't know how to say except when I ask for it. Anybody have any good ideas, hints, suggestions? Help!


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

I would put it in her mouth and gently pull her to you and tell her GOOD GIRL!!! and give her a treat (I tell my pups 'thank you' which is their release command). Gently play tug ie make it fun and ok for her own mouth it. Once she understands she won't get in trouble if she mouths it (not chews, but has it in her mouth) then you are almost all the way there. The recall with the item needs to be short at first, then longer with you backing away quickly and praising her as she follows you with the least. Hope this helps  I'm sure others may have another way of doing it. It has worked for all my dogs


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## Pax8 (Apr 8, 2014)

I started at a very short distance (maybe a few feet). I held the leash in front of Kaiju, told him to take it, and then sprang backwards as soon as he grabbed it so he chased after me. Once he got to me, I grabbed the leash and praised him. Once he started to get the idea and was going for the leash once I held it up, I changed out the "take it" command for just "leash". When he was reliable with that, I started setting the leash on the ground and doing the whole process, but with the expectation that he would grab it from the ground. Once he was good at that, I put the leash on other surfaces (a table, a counter, slung over a chair). Once I had him actively seeking out the leash when he heard the command, I finally started layering more and more distance over it. 

It's probably lots of really small steps, but I wanted to make sure I really isolated exactly what it was I wanted him to do. That way he wouldn't only retrieve the leash when it was on the ground, or only when I was close or holding it or whatever. 

I also never tugged with it. I had him drop it and then we threw a party. I didn't want him running to me and then chomping down, expecting a game of tug. I wanted him to drop it into my hands as soon as possible so he could get a fun wrestle and possibly a food or toy reward.


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## Lin (Jul 3, 2007)

I would teach the commands "take it" (which is all about holding items in their mouth) "get it/x" (going to retrieve it) "bring it" (carrying the item to you in their mouth) "give" (putting the item into your lap or hand) first, and once those are solid you can pretty much teach the dog to retrieve and bring you anything. With something like retrieving a leash, you have the do whats called shaping the behavior. You can't just start from nowhere and expect the dog to learn a complicated combination of tasks at once, you have to break it up into parts and once the dog understands all the different parts then you can put them together. Once together, you can introduce a new command that combines the entire behavior pattern.


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## pyratemom (Jan 10, 2011)

Thanks for all the tips. I will try breaking it down to smaller steps. I thought when I got her to show me where the leash was I was heading in the right direction but these tips help me go further.


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