Teaching your dog to hold an object builds a solid foundation for teaching advanced behaviors for dog sports, such as retrieve. To teach the hold behavior, choose an object that your dog likes and hold it in front of your dog’s muzzle. Click and treat when your dog shows any interest in the object. Once the dog understands that interacting with the object is rewarding, slowly increase the criteria until the dog is nosing the object and, eventually, putting his mouth on it. Remember: never put the object into the dog’s mouth. The dog should grab the object willingly.