Drop & Find
Disengagement • Flexibility • Optimism • Calmness • Regulation
Description
This game teaches your dog how to let go and move on with ease.
Rather than taking items away or asking for a direct “give,” Drop & Find helps your dog choose to disengage and shift their focus elsewhere. It builds flexibility, reduces fixation, and supports dogs who struggle to move away from things once they’ve engaged with them.
By pairing disengagement with movement and foraging, your dog learns that releasing something doesn’t mean losing out - it leads to more opportunity.
How to Play
1. Start by setting up a few simple exploration stations - this could be scatter areas, snuffle mats, boxes, or objects your dog can investigate. Keep everything low to medium value to begin with.
2. Allow your dog to move freely and engage with the environment. There’s no need to cue anything yet - just observe how they interact and look for soft, relaxed engagement.
3. When your dog is calmly engaged with a station, take a few natural steps away to create space. As you step away, gently say “drop” in a calm, neutral tone.
4. Immediately scatter a small handful of food away from the station, encouraging your dog to move through the space and sniff it out.
5. Allow your dog to return to the original item if they choose. Repeat the process when your dog is calmly engaged again, keeping everything fluid and low pressure. Over time, your dog will begin to move more easily between activities, showing smoother transitions and less need to hold onto things.
Why it Matters
Many dogs don’t struggle because they won’t drop something, but because they find it difficult to disengage once they’ve started.
Drop & Find builds the ability to:
shift attention without pressure
release items without conflict
move between activities with ease
It reduces the emotional need to hold onto things and helps prevent patterns such as guarding, fixation, and frustration.
By reinforcing movement and foraging instead of confrontation, this game supports emotional safety, regulation, and behavioural flexibility.
Tips for Success
Move first, cue second - your movement helps your dog unlock the behaviour.
Keep your tone calm and neutral; this isn’t a command.
Scatter food away from the item, not near it.
Let your dog return to items if they want - this builds trust.
Keep sessions short, relaxed, and exploratory.
⚠️ Important Notes
Do not use this game with items your dog is already guarding or feels strongly about. This game is designed for low-pressure learning, not for working through conflict.
If your dog freezes, stiffens, hovers, or becomes tense:
pause the game
reduce the difficulty
return to easier setups
This should feel safe and easy - not like something your dog needs to “get right.”
As your dog becomes more comfortable:
introduce slightly higher value items
allow longer engagement before cueing
reduce how far you move away
begin to use the game in everyday situations
Always prioritise flow and ease over difficulty.