When Sammy was younger he would easily trade an item he picked up (mulch, a rock, etc) for a piece of kibble or a high value treat like freeze dried liver or turkey. All I would have to do is hold the kibble or treat and say "trade" and he would drop the item he had for the food. So easy! He also knows "drop it" as he will drop a frisbee or ball if we are doing some retrieving. However, when it comes to items he shouldn't have, he will no longer drop it or trade for it. He's started running off if I ask him to "trade" while holding a treat; whatever he has seems to have more value than what I am holding. And in fact, sometimes I can tell he has something "forbidden" (even if I didn't see him pick it up) as he starts to take off from me when I get near--then realizing he has something in his mouth he shouldn't have. In either case, he won't recall any longer for a treat just moves away. And if I can get near he just holds the item more firmly in his mouth. Any advice? Should I up the reward to something really good that I only use for these instances? Use a "magic" word for these instances as Pippa mentions in her book so he's really tempted to drop it and get something extra special and tasty? Thank you for any advice!
What if you got his attention by throwing the treats on the floor in another direction and taking the item when he’s not looking if he heads toward the treats.
Does he have a solid retrieve? Once a solid retrieve is established, in theory, they'll bring you anything they pick up (this is not always pleasant :-D)
You need to set up training situations in your house in a controlled way. That means - he has things which he feels he's not supposed to have, but which you aren't panicked into thinking are unsafe and can allow him to have whilst training. And in your house, in one room, so he can't really run miles away from you and get satisfaction from chase games. Then you need to use amazingly tasty treats, yes. I like Chirag Patel's approach to this because he starts without an object involved at all:
