“Bring it” is my most needed task. Marley picks up dropped items and puts them in my hand. Some things are easier to pick up than others. Most dogs don’t like metal objects in their mouths. That includes spoons, coins, etc. Some things can hurt a dog’s mouth and shouldn’t be picked up by an inexperienced dog (hair brush, fork, etc.). The easy things to pick up are made of fabric or wood (ie: toys and sticks).

Some objects are too big or too heavy and may hurt her mouth. A soft drink can is too large and too heavy for her. She picks up bottled water by the neck, but has trouble holding all the weight on one side of her mouth. While she can pick up magazines, text books are out of the question.

Some things require more care. When Marley picks up a pen, I don’t have her jump up to hand it to me. If she were to grab it by the end . . . I don’t want her jabbing herself in the throat with it.

I try not to have her pick up things automatically, but rather wait until I ask her to. There are numerous items that I don’t want in her mouth - my medications, knives, anything on a rest room floor, to name a few.

Many people use two or three words to accomplish this task - “take it,” “bring it,” “release it.”