When you have a high prey drive dog, and it loves to hunt, the thing to remember is that when it catches that bird, that's the ULTIMATE reward!  That bird is the lamborghini of dog toys, the thousand dollar glass of champaigne.  In those terms, try telling a car fanatic you're going to trade them their brand new lambo for some rusted out chevy (aka treat, or tennis ball) and they're going to look at you like you're nuts.

For a high prey drive dog, imo what becomes more important than drop it is getting them not to run after something.  That's the really hard part!!

I'm sure the diva is very opposed to uncivilized games such as fetch, but if you were able to find something that she DOES like to chase that you have control over, you can then start working on getting her to not only drop, but not chase things she shouldn't.  (I'm thinking stuffed animal attached to a line that you can pull, or better yet have someone else pull to simulate an animal running through the yard, which would no doubt activate her prey drive.  You probably dont' want to start right away with that one though) I have worked very hard on certain commands that have come in VERY handy, such as "wait", "leave it", and working on a foolproof recall.  By foolproof, I mean being able to call a dog off of ANY situation.  And the way that works is by working under a dogs threshold, and constantly upping the ante, at a pace that is comfortable for the dog.  So, leave it and drop it may be easy for things that are not that fun, like a tennis ball.  I also love to mark behaviors that a dog naturally does.  If a dog picks something up, there's really only 2 outcomes... Eventually, the dog drops what it has, or it eats it.  In theory those are the only 2 things that can happen.  So, if you can start to mark when she naturally drops something, I bet that will help a ton.  When she starts to drop the nasty, stankin tennis ball, (she'll probably drop it as soon as it hits her mouth!!) you can mark the behavior, and make a big deal out of drop it.  Once she is consistently doing it, I would start to up the ante, and use something more appealing, but not much more appealing.  You can start to make it harder, and harder, until eventually you're working your way up to the fake animal on the line, with your helpful hubby hiding behind a bush pulling the string.  Dakota was very reactive to people, other dogs, etc.  Not in an aggressive, I'm gonna kill you way, (but that's how it would look to an unaware eye) but in a "wtf, why can't I go say hi" kinda way.  So, I would start far, far away, where she wouldn't react at all.  We would walk up a bit... Once I saw ANY kind of reaction, it could be an intense stare, hackles going up, tail moving position, ears going back...  I took a few steps back.  That was my current threshold.  I would then sit there, and reward every time she looked at the person, place or thing.  (use your imagination, anything that even slightly swayed in the breeze was appropriate lol ) Then, I would take a step, and do the same thing.  When she relaxed, I would go closer, and closer, until eventually we cold walk by with a loose leash, minimal distraction, and go about our business.  Then, I started working in our "watch" command.  Just like it says, when I tell her watch, I'm looking for her to watch me, more specifically, I'm looking for eye contact.  So, by using the commands she already knew, and working them more and more into real, everyday situations that caused her to react innapropriately, she started getting more and more used to listening to those commands under "stressful" conditions.

It was a tremendous amount of work, I literally spent the entire winter working on this, daily, and this is with a dog that learns amazingly fast.  It really does take alot of time, patience, and dedication to train out a dogs instincts.  We're not talking about learning something from scratch, and somethign that your dog naturally does anymore, like sit as an example.  I haven't seen a dog that HATES to sit...  (some don't listen, but not because they hate to sit lol ) But I have seen lots of dogs that HAAATTEEEEE not being able to chase something.  It's in your dogs blood, it's in her genetic makeup, and instinct takes over, so you are now tuned out, and it's almost a waste of time to even try to give a command at that point, because it's almost guaranteed that it will be blown off.  The blinders are on, and all that's going through the mind is "get the bird...get the bird... get the bird... get the bird..."  When that instinctual prey drive kicks in, I dont' care how obedient your dog is, if you haven't practiced, and practiced, and practiced around these types of distractions, your recall will be almost non-existent, and trying to call a dog off will simply not work.  The goal is to lessen the reactivity in those situations, and practice in as close to these situations as you can safely simulate regularly.  When training, use a long lead if you have to, that way you have more control.  With enough practice, she will get it, and our bird friends will be safe.

Now, to lighten it up a bit... Enough talk about all the work, when your dog finally "gets it", what a reward!!!  The other day, there was a bear across the street, and a stray cat ran right down the road, and she didn't move!!!  That's the payout for months of hard work.  Any anyone that has dealt with a very high prey drive dog knows how big that reward is.  So, stick with it, and if you have specific questions about techniques, or ideas, or need some help trying to work through it, let me know, I'd be more than happy to write as much as I can to help you out!!

Well I have nothing to add except...

Miss Diva my dear how could you put one of those filthy dirty birds in your mouth and even worse you actually ate it?? What were you thinking?!!!! Is this some kind of beauty ritual I don't know about? Do share my friend

Yours truly,
Athena the Goddess

Not sure if someone said it but most of the time put another toy or food at her nose. She should drop it. That was the beginning stage of drop it to us. When she does it, reward but not with the toy/food she dropped. 

Laith did the drop it and take it immediately too for awhile. That is when leave it really helped. They are sneaky!! 

Well, thank you so much, etim48.  Ziva says 'thank you', too.

Okay my coffee is all over the computer this morning lol. That was a great picture of the Diva and her skills! That girl has some serious talent!! Still chuckling, you have such great writing skills Kate.

When we work the Schutzhund dogsof course they all have very high prey drive and the sleeve is the ultimate reward. They are built up into drive and once they get this sleeve it can be a challenge to get it out of their mouth. Not that you are going to do this with the Diva but the only way I can get the PREY from Romeo's mouth and it is how the schutzhund dogs are started to out the sleeve is to lift him up off the ground by his collar while saying out. Sometimes I also have to grab his flank. I would hate to have our trainers GSD he actually bites when she has to out the sleeve. So worst case scenario if you need to get something out right now you can lift her up off the ground and they do drop it lol.

Kate are you sure you don't want to start a raw diet with her lol! I think she just may like it