Golden "Retrieves" but would not "Release"??

Hey Rodrigo,

I love hearing about how Dimitri is going! What a bundle of puppy goodness, haha

I think he'll get used to the halti, it has only been a week and a half, and always making it part of your walking routine will help. He'll stop bothering with it after a bit.

As far as learning to drop, when he picks up his toys, get down on his level and call him over very sweetly, give him lots of praise when he returns with the toy. Don't try to take it from his mouth, but pat him lots while he's there with it in his mouth. Work up to putting you hand on the toy and playing tug of war with him. Eventually, when he's ok with you grabbing the toy in his mouth, incorporate a "let go" or "enough" command, and work it out of his mouth. You can help this along by catching him dropping things out of his mouth on his own, and giving a "let go" or "drop it" command as he does it. When he hears this as he's dropping something, he'll associate the two and learn it as a command. But you need to try and give the command everytime he drops something, the more repetitious you are about it, the better and quicker he'll learn.

My own dog used to not quite get the gist of giving a toy up. When he didnt respond I eventually used my serious voice, saying sternly to "drop it" and sometimes popping him on the nose, not painful at all, just something else to focus on which usually made him open his mouth to lick his muzzle or just reacting with "hey!" You could try something like this too.

kjd's idea of a dual toy system is also great, just be sure the second toy is just as desireable to Dimitri!

Have fun!