One Game: Three Cues
Playing fetch with your dog is a good idea for a bunch of reasons. It burns off lots of monkey energy. It lets dogs exercise the chase part of prey drive. In Lilly’s case, it also lets her exercise the gathering instinct since border collies are a herd fetching breed more than they are a driving breed, like our Australian shepherd pal Pitsch. But, maybe the best part of playing fetch is that you can practice three training cues in the process.
1. Fetch (or whatever cue you use … we say “Get it”)
2. Come (and who doesn’t need to work on that?)
3. Drop It (or mine, or whatever word you use to get the dog to give up the toy)
We use Drop It because it’s a very useful cue for dogs who grab things they shouldn’t. I’ve actually gotten Lilly to put down baby bunnies with DROP IT. Handy cue too, if you have a dog like Ginko who thinks everything is food. We’re always telling him to DROP IT when he grabs something he shouldn’t.
Think if it this way. DROP IT is a good backup plan for when LEAVE IT fails.
We’re nothing if not realistic over here at Chez Champion of My Heart.
So, if you’re already playing fetch, why not throw these cues around and get a little training in while you play?