Leave it: This means "DON’T TOUCH, DON’T EVEN LOOK AT IT, LOOK AT ME INSTEAD" This could save your dog’s life one day. If you have anyone who takes medication in your home, you want to have this cue.
Have a flat type of treat of low value, something you can put your foot or hand over to keep the dog from getting it, you’ll also need a great treat to give them when they leave it and look at you.
- Tell the dog to sit, (see the factoidz on how to teach your dog to sit first, don’t ask a dog to do something they don’t know), when they sit and you have a loose leash say "leave it" and drop a treat on the floor away from them (approx. 2 feet) and near your foot opposite from the dog.
- DO NOT USE THE LEASH TO HOLD THEM BACK, just cover it with your foot or hand (if they go after it) and say "leave it" IN AN AUTHORITATIVE TONE (not yelling just a deeper tone) every 6 seconds until they stop going after it and look at you, say "yes" or use the clicker (see how to load a clicker to work with your dog, here on factoidz) and treat them with that different treat from your other hand when they stop going after what’s under your foot/hand and they look at you.
- Pick up and move the leave it to a different position (remember dog’s don’t generalize, they know they can’t have it on the left of them but what about on the right).
- Do not let them have the leave it. Keep doing this until they stop going after the leave it you keep dropping, then start dropping more pieces telling them to leave it each time you drop something on the floor.
- Praise them for looking at you, when you’ve dropped the last one then treat them after they look at you. When they start doing this well, then your ready for the next level.
- If using your hand, because your dog is afraid or cautious of your foot, (some little dogs do this), put the treat, say for example under your right hand and when they go after it say "leave it" when they stop and look at you, Click or say "yes", and pick up the forbidden treat with your right hand and then give them the other treat you have been holding in your left hand, you’ll need to pick up the forbidden treat your saying leave it too, because if you expose it your dog will quickly snatch it up. Please note, you shouldn’t have to say "sit" when using the hand method.
They need to start to understand when you say "LEAVE IT" it means don’t go near it, don’t touch, look at me instead. Whatever a dog is looking at, that is what they are focused on, have them focus on you, not the Leave It object, that way you can give another command or walk past bad object.
- Caution : whatever you say leave it too, they can not have that item/thing/person for at least 24 hours.
Don’t forget to try in different locations, different rooms.
Note: once they stop trying to go after the treat Stop having them "sit" before you drop the treat, we don’t want "Sit" to become part of the command, we only use sit as a "crutch" since we are human and have slow reflexes, this gives you a chance to get your foot on the "leave it" treat before they get up and run for it, without kicking them in the head. But we need to fade "sit" quickly.
We do not use the leash to hold them back when we first teach this to them, we want them to learn restraint, once they hear you say "leave it" and they don’t go after things you drop on the floor, they are learning to restrain themselves, now you’re ready to go a step further.
Next level: Have different things to use as the leave it: remote control, pine cones, snails on the ground, or cat litter box..etc..
- Now use the leash, when the dog goes after the new object, keep them about 6 inches away from the object, tell them "leave it" even when they look at it, if they ignore you, dogs don’t generalize, say leave it every 6 seconds until they give up and look back at you, when they do say "yes" or click and then treat them, make sure they come back to you to get the treat don’t reach forward and hand them the treat.
- As they get better try and walk past the forbidden object, they look at it, say "leave it". they should look at you, when they do "yes" or click and treat them. Then use a new object, the more you practice with the better they get at it.
