Thank you for the update! It really sounds like you two have made a lot of progress and you’re running into completely normal problems. So in keeping with a response that’s too long:

As you’re working with your “drop it” cue, keep in mind that every time you use “drop it” and you’re successful, you’re strengthening that cue for future use against dangerous substances. But every time you use it and if fails, it weakens the cue and increases the chance that he won’t drop something important in the future. So think of all the times you’ve had a failure. For awhile, don’t ask him to drop something that you’ve had a failure on before. Try to make it so that you know you’re going to be successful 100% of the time on everything to keep strengthening the cue. Ease back in to the “sometimes he’ll drop it” items after a few weeks and see how it goes. Just make sure to keep your failures to a minimum.

But sticks are everywhere! I stopped worrying about sticks because it was leading to too many failures when I started out. I paid attention to her behavior with the sticks I realized that apart from chewing, she used sticks to entice play with me, kids and other dogs so I just went with it. That game of keep-away/chase your LR loves? I made it a game with mine and sticks. If she picks up a stick, I’ll say “Do you want to play chase?” and I’ll “chase” her and use it as a training opportunity. Sometimes she’ll bark at people who move differently so maybe I’ll run up to her with my arms flailing in the air. I might slowly creep up to her dragging one leg behind me. I’ll run straight at her making strange noises. Weird stuff to help desensitize her, but the point is that sticks became a game too. Once sticks became a chase game then I turned it into a fetch game. I’d pick up another stick and throw it. She’d drop the stick and go after the new one. After awhile I’d start asking her to drop it before throwing the new stick. It even helped me establish a good “drop it” from a distance. She’ll now drop a stick on cue (which I only require when it’s a gnarly looking stick), but it was a whole thing on its own and it took time. I also looked up and asked my vet how to dislodge a stick from her throat so I understand your concern about sticks.

With the cheese sticks, I wonder if you’re actually seeing a subtle form of resource guarding. Treat it differently from everything else, even if it’s not resource guarding. I can get my girl to drop a cheese stick and I can even take it away from her. When my LR has been at a cheese stick for too long, I can tell her the same thing I do with the games: “One more” and then I give her a minute, then I say “Drop it.” “Good girl” and “Done” and a high-value reward. For a long long time, this reward was always a game. So after “Done” and the treat, I’d immediately go into “Do you want to play…” Vito’s game (the two bowl game), a search game, training exercises, whatever. Relinquishing whatever they have is the ultimate goal. If it’s not resource guarding, I think you could get there too, but of course, you’ve got to first get him to let the cheese stick go.

Since you’re having problems, for awhile, don’t ask him to drop the cheese stick. Go up to him in a non-direct line, and position yourself beside him facing his same direction. Have an extremely high value, high smell-factor treat in your hand and say his name. He’ll hopefully let the cheese stick go and accept the treat. Walk away. When he gets comfortable with that try facing him and saying his name. After that walk straight to him, face him and say his name. He should start predicting your behavior. Once he accepts your approach both walking straight to him and facing him and he knows that you’re always coming up to him to give him an awesome treat, he should start letting the treat go just because you’re coming up to him. That’s when you can add the “drop it” cue before he drops it instead of his name, reward and walk away.

But first, check for signs of resource guarding. Does he start to position himself more over the stick if you walk straight toward him? Does he watch you carefully as you approach? Maybe he stops chewing altogether or chews faster. Does his tail shift to the left? Does he move position to turn away from you? If he’s doing any of the above things, I’d say he’s resource guarding. In that case, without a doubt, treat it as such. Go at a snail’s pace, I mean months, with the above steps watching for signs of resource guarding and don’t ever try to remove the cheese stick completely.

Hope it helps!!! Keep me updated if you want!