As a puppy I had a thing about litter. I like carrying things, human tissues are nice and soft and they often have an interesting smell and taste – you puppies know what I mean.
So, I noticed that none of my humans particularly like me picking stuff up when I’m out, or at least most stuff. The things they dislike most is old human tissues – doesn’t matter whether a human has used them or not, their sense of smell is so poor they can’t tell. I’ve got this one sussed now – when I want a treat if we’re out then I just pick up a tissue. They usually spot it and tell me to drop it. Bingo, a treat!
Occasionally this doesn’t work too well, you’ve got to remember that the human ability to focus isn’t always very good, especially if there’s a mobile phone nearby, so you have to deliberately walk in front of them and let them see it. This seems to work best for me if I do that then make a show of dropping it. Works well 🙂