Dog Health Questions: Dog training help please?

I have a black and golden retriever and i want them to learn how to take objects willingly from me. however they do take tennis balls, and doggy toys and bones from me but if its stuff like grabbing blankets (part of waking me up training) and grabbing cloth (part of opening fridge training) or grabbing water bottle or grabbing regular house hold items they just won't do that. How do you teach dogs to grab on to things other than dog toys and bones and balls

6 Step by Step Instructions For Dog Training Preparation

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Looks like half the job is already done for you. The problem is that dogs don't generalise well- they understand that they are allowed to pick up certain items, but don't understand that they can pick up other items.

There are a few different things you can do to encourage this behaviour.
The first one is to make a game out of it- if you want your dog to pick up things like blankets he needs to understand that he is allowed to pick up this kind of material. You might want to make a flirt pole and use some old blankets to encourage him to show an interest in blankets and have them in his mouth.
There are also toys out there that you can put water bottles in- so these might be good in desensetising him to water bottles and encouraging him to handle them in his mouth- most dogs love the crackling sound that plastic water bottles make!
Instead of using a cloth on the fridge, make up a fabric tug toy out of polar fleece and encourage him to play with it, then attach it to the fridge and encourage him to play tug with the fridge door.

You can also try a fourced retrieve or similar where you physically put the things in his mouth, hold them there until he accepts it, and then reward him for holding the item.

Remember that these are not easy commands to teach, and most service dogs are trained from a young age and even then not all of them make the cut- so don't be too harsh on your boy if he takes a while to catch on. Start small- baby steps, and gradually work up to the big picture.
It helps if you sit back and divide the command into say, 10 parts.

The first part might be encouraging the dog to bite the fabric- in which case you would encourage any move towards the fabric, then when he starts mouthing it give him plenty of praise and rewards and when he is biting it 10 times out of 10 you can move onto the next step.

The second part might be to play tug with the fabric, etc.

The third part might be to attach the fabric to some small item (Maybe a low cabinet door- something that will open easily) and encourage the dog to play tug while youre still holding the other end.

The fourth part might be to encourage the dog to tug the fabric attached to the small item but you arent holding it.

Clicker Dog Training Will Make Your Pet the Next Neighbourhood Wonder

• Use clicker training till the dog understands how to offer behaviors. Then you can teach the dog to pick up household objects in one minute