Tuesday Training Byte: Teaching the "leave it" command

Has your dog ever counter surfed or grabbed your sandwich off your plate? Leave it can be used for a variety of situations, such as medicine dropped on the floor, a food wrapped in the McDonald's parking, or your child's shoe or toy. I teach my dogs to leave it unless I direct them otherwise to take it as this might save their life or an emergency vet visit.

First, you dog should know the "watch me" command where you have rewarded eye contact from your dog. I start with some yummy dog treats like cut up hot dog and string cheese set on a paper plate on a chair seat (for larger dogs) or the floor (for smaller dogs). My dog will be on a shorter leash held at a distance he cannot reach the food. When my dog looks toward the food, I hold a treat in front of his nose and lure him to look at me. Once he makes eye contact, I say "leave it" and give him the treat while he is still looking at me. We take one step closer to the treats and I say "Leave it!" and wait for me dog to look at me. If he does, I immediately turn in a circle away from the treats. Then I repeat the "leave it" command as soon as my dog looks at the treat. If he looks at me, I mark that behavior with a "Yes!" immediately followed by giving him a treat. It is important that your dog not reach toward the treat. Start over at the beginning or make wider circles around the chair to help your dog get the idea that those are strictly off limits. Once my dog has the idea of when he sees something and I say "leave it" his response should be to immediately look at me, I am ready to try the command in other situations. I have a particular flower bed that I do not want my dog to pee on. So as we walk by on leash, as I see him look that way and sniff, I immediately say "Leave it!" and when he looks at me, I give him the treat from my pocket. If he does not look right at me, I instantly circle him away from that flower bed cutting between him and the bed. It is so important for two things to happen in teaching the leave it command: 1) your dog cannot pull you and get to the off limits item, and 2) that he gets rewarded for looking at you when you give the command. Happy training!

Be sure to train the "leave it" command with your dog on leash so he doesn't manage to grad the off limits item!