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"I'll be curious to read what Adrienne has to say on this because Gertie has always allowed me to remove things, but Esther likes to do the chase game and while she's learning to trade we're not there just yet. I have been practicing putting treats in their mouths while pretending to inspect what's in there. It was like prying open the jaws of an alligator at first, lol, but we're getting there. " "As my pup is so young, and building himself, I'm often afraid that one mistake, or one slip on my part will mess him up for the rest of his life. I may underestimate their resiliency. I think the liver paste has some potential. Put a little liver paste on my finger, and offered it with asking a drop, and that worked... Sheep poop maybe not as valuable as fresh chicken leg, but it's encouraging." I put both quotes together here to discuss what needs to be done in these situations. Basically, what to do when the dog has something high value, but hasn't been trained yet at that level to drop it? I feel that in these cases, it all sums to a multi-modal approach: strict management, training and adhering to hierarchy of life lines should the dog still get ahold of something that needs to be removed from the mouth. But firstly, let's take a closer look at how it feels when dogs get ahold of something, especially something potentially dangerous. Here's the thing: When a dog grabs something that can be dangerous, he obviously doesn't know it's bad for him. All he knows is that he has found a treasure, and he wants to keep it for himself and enjoy it, possibly lying down in a corner where he can eat it undisturbed. Suddenly, we appear in the picture. As soon as we notice our dogs grabs that something, we rush in their direction. However, our dogs don't interpret us moving towards them as us trying to help them. Dogs don't think this way. They live in the moment and don't understand long-term consequences and what will happen to them afterward. All they know is that they have found a treasure that smells good, and as we rush in their direction, we are trying to steal it from them. Since resource guarding is triggered by a fear of losing access to something, it can be said that it's a matter of "mistrust." If you have a wallet full of money, you likely wouldn't trust any stranger getting close to it, but you may be totally OK with leaving it in the bin for X-ray screening by TSA agents. This is because you trust those TSA agents. In a similar way, you want your dog to trust you. Remember: resource guarding is a totally natural behavior among dogs. No dog would drop food for another dog to eat unless he is either sick, very spoiled or finicky or it's a mother dog catering to a litter of puppies. My Rottweiler Petra, even when she was sick stricken with cancer, didn't want Einstein anywhere near the food she refused to eat. Resource guarding is an adaptive trait. If canines relinquished their food to other animals in the wild, especially in times of scarcity, they wouldn't have survived as a species. Even when there is a surplus of food, a dog's ancestors would bury it for later consumption rather than have it out for others eat it. So to teach a dog to drop something, you need to establish a strong foundation of trust. This requires lots of conditioning through progressive steps and the art of fair trading with the goal of obtaining strong positive conditioned emotional responses. In the meanwhile, management is the go-to strategy. Management serves several purposes such as 1) prevents us from being in the position of having to remove something from the dog, 2) protects all the progress we have made in training/behavior modification, 3) keeps us safe (a dog who doesn't want to give up something is likely to bite). So management-wise, let's talk about walks and how to apply management there. Always Scan the Environment. We already talked about this. I call this the dog walking form of "defensive driving" because we should constantly be looking ahead for any things on the ground that dogs may want to grab. Walk in Plain View. Walk your dog in areas where you can always see what's on the ground. Avoid areas of tall grass (these can also harbor ticks too by the way). Skip the long leashes. Skip the long leashes or long lines until your dog is better trained. Retractable leashes should be avoided too. Stick to a 4 to 6 foot leash. No off-leash privileges. Being off-leash is a privilege that I feel should be granted only once dogs have proven themselves trustworthy in sticking nearby and being responsive to their recalls, leave its and drops it and with dogs who are non-aggressive. This is also for the safety of the dogs. At home, the same rules apply, avoid access to things your dog may grab that you don't want your dog to have. Keep family heirlooms out of reach, items your dog may chew on and grab and you haven't trained to drop yet, items that may be dangerous to the dog. As mentioned, management prevents putting us in the position of forcefully grabbing items from their mouths which can have a negative effect because we're taking away rather than adding. This can also impact a dog's willingness to having his/her mouth touched in the future. Management also prevents regressions. For example, if a dog has been reliable in dropping rawhides, but you haven't practiced yet with raw chicken legs, a "confrontation" over a chicken leg, where we forcibly remove it, could cause a regression that would set the progress back even with the rawhides. So this means we need to go back a few steps and work again on establishing more trust with lower value items. So your first line of defense is eradicating your dog’s environment of all items he/she has not yet mastered in the drop it exercises yet. "Think of it as hiding all the grade 12 quizzes from the grade 8 student (until he has passed grade 12)," to quote dog behavior expert Jean Donaldson. So let's say though we are managing a whole lot and one day, out of the blue, an eagle drops a big piece of meat (in Arizona it's mostly vultures which cause me to painstakingly scan over and over a half acre yard before having doggy guests out in the morning) from the sky right in front of your dog on a walk. Or...... let's make the issue even more urgent, the eagle has dropped a bar of baker's chocolate (the most dangerous type for dogs). What to do if your dog is getting very close to it (despite scanning the environment, walking in non-grassy areas and using a shorter leash)? Firstly, make it habit to always carry with you on walks something valuable so that you can work on exchanges. I like to carry with me "moo tubes" which are beef tracheas or bully sticks in my pant's pockets and some high and super high-value treats in my treat bag. Life line 1 would be asking the dog to leave it. Life line 2: if the dog doesn't know leave it yet or hasn't been trained to a reliable level, if feasible, move quickly away from the item as if you were just jolted by electricity. With the short leash you can easily do this and you're dog will be easily in the clear. Praise and reward your dog for sticking to your side. If your dog knows how to reliably do attention heeling, and he hasn't spotted the item yet, make your smacking sound and encourage several steps. Praise and reward with the high value treats (leave the super valuable ones for other emergencies). Life line 3: if the dog has already grabbed the item, asking a "drop it" would be lifeline 3 Life line 4: if the dog doesn't know drop it yet or hasn't been trained to a reliable level, you can show your valuable item (the bully sticks or beef trachea), let your dog sniff it and see if he'll voluntarily drop. Using long items such as beef traches or bully sticks can help put some distance between your hands and your dog's mouth. Line line 5: Alternatively, you can try tossing a variety of edibles (the bully sticks, soft treats) on the ground and see if they'll grab his attention evoking him to drop. While this can seem like a form of bribery, for this rare occasion it's OK because your are trying your best to exert the least amount of damage while also keeping your dog's safety in mind. Line line 6: If the item your dog has picked up is something large and difficult to eat in one setting (like a big bone), consider that as you are walking, the novelty of it may wear off, or your dog may get tired of carrying it (or he may get interested in other things) so he may voluntarily drop. Also with the heat and exertion, they need to pant eventually and they should drop it. Life line 7: This is a last resort when it's a choice between that and saving your dog from potential big problems associating with eating something potentially dangerous. If your dog therefore doesn't drop when you show the valued items and doesn't show signs of losing interest or getting tired of walking with it, you can gently and calmly pry the mouth open, remove the item and quickly in exchange place in your dog's mouth several of the softer high value items. Give several in a row to leave a positive strong impression. Of course, this should be avoided if a dog has a history of severe resource guarding and serious biting. So be warned: This can be a risky affair. Your dog may try to bite so it's your responsibility deciding whether this approach is really needed. If worse comes to worse and one is unable to remove the item and the dog eats it, calling the vet for instructions on how to induce vomiting- if that's an option (not all items can be safely vomited) or going to the vet for a shot to induce vomiting can help, if no more than two hours have passed. Items can also be grasped and removed through endoscopy, antidotes can be given for certain poisons and meds can be given to prevent absorption. Always keep the Pet Poison Helpline number handy. For indoors, should the dog grasp something potentially dangerous my favorite method is this one: Find something edible that is higher in value than what your dog has and that is safe for him to have. Whatever it is, keep it always handy so that you can reach out for it as needed. Make noise with the wrapper, open the fridge, chances are, he'll prick his ears and watch you carefully. Let him clearly see what you are doing. At this point, your dog may carry the item in his mouth and come to check what you are doing or he may drop the item he had in his mouth voluntarily once he realizes you have something better. Once you have your high-value items to trade for in your hand, let your dog see it, walk past an open door or baby gate, toss the desired item that way and as soon as he's past the door/baby gate to go get it, close the door/baby gate between you and your dog so that you can safely retrieve the item. For non-really dangerous items sometimes we can get them to drop using some temporary astute strategies, like having somebody ring a doorbell, grabbing the dog's leash, having the dog chase us around to get them tired and possibly panting, taking them out in the yard, and having a helper remove the item when the dog is far away preferably behind a closed door. Of course, if a dog is prone to resource guarding, it's important working on the issue with a dog behavior professional for in person guidance and coaching for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification. Hope this helps!

You are such a great professional! Answering so quickly and so profound. Bravo I forgot to tell that when this started we went immediately to a vet who did all the check ups and no bacteria found. He even did an abdominal ultrasound. So it’s not an uriner infection . It’s not submissive nor excitement urination. I read your article. mai what is left is anxiety or not well trained at the beginning. I well start learning him again as if he was à puppy. I ordered as well Fleur de Bach for animals. It’s a plant preparation ( natural) that should lower anxiety. I keep you posted. Thanks a lot for listening, answering and helping❤️ Greetings from Paris p.s. If you and Einstein come to Paris you have a door of our hous wide open 😀