How happy would you be if you were able to say Leave It! to your dog when he spotted a chicken bone on the street and he happily left it and instead spun around and looked at you? I promise you it can happen. BUT, you have to make it worth his while. If you expect Boomer to leave that half-eaten piece of pizza, he has to think that something better will happen when he looks at you. That takes a lot of puppy training and practice, but the good news is that it’s so much fun to teach and once your dog has a solid Leave It, you can use it in a myriad of different situations. Don’t want him to look at that dog across the street? Leave it! Don’t want him to jump on that kid running by? Leave it! Don’t want him to steal that turkey off the kitchen table? Leave it! Leave it means: Whatever you’re looking at, don’t even think about it! It’s my favorite behavior to teach a dog.
As with all behaviors, you want to set your dog, and yourself up for success by starting him with the lowest degree of difficulty. So to start you just want him to get the concept: If you don’t touch this, you will be rewarded you with something better!!
Training Instructions:
Place a couple of treats in one hand and one single treat in the other hand. Ask your puppy to sit in front of you (or lie down if he does that well).
Start with both hands behind your back, then present the hand with several treats to your dog in your open palm. Keep it about two feet away from him but make sire he can see the treats. The second he spots them, say Leave it! He will probably move forward to get to the treats – why wouldn’t he, they’re yummy - and when he does, close your hand and move it behind your back again. Make sure you have full control so your dog never gets to the treats.
If puppy tries to move around your back to get the treats, just lure him back in front of you with your closed hand or by tapping on the floor in front of you. Present the hand with the treats again and retract it immediately if puppy goes for it. Do NOT repeat the verbal cue; you don’t want the cue to end up being Leave it, Leave it, Leave it!! Repeat this sequence until your puppy hesitates, even if it’s just for a nanosecond (he will eventually get frustrated and realize that trying to get the treats doesn’t work) and when he does, mark it with a YES and immediately give him the treat from your other hand.
Now you can try again from the beginning.
Ask puppy to sit, present the treat hand, say Leave it, then remove it if he moves forward. Repeat this until puppy consistently stops himself from going for the treat. Sometimes you can spot your puppy’s AHA moment when, at the sight of the treats in your open palm, he immediately looks to your other shoulder in anticipation of the reward. When you feel your puppy is solid and consistent in leaving the temptation, switch hands so puppy now has to leave treats from the hand he’d just gotten rewards from.
Now you’re ready to go to the next step. Remember, when you raise the degree of difficulty, you have to lower the criteria so your dog has a chance to succeed.
Gently place a treat on the floor next to you while your dog is sitting in front of you. Anything that moves or is on the floor will be a lot more tempting for your puppy so be sure you can cover it with your hand if he goes for it when you ask him to leave it. Once you’re sure he’ll leave it on the floor, you’re ready to stand up while the treat remains on the floor. Make sure you’re ready to cover it with your foot in case he gets too tempted. Next comes leaving something thrown gently on the floor. Again, make sure you throw the treat in a place where you can block it with your leg or your body. Each step of the way, see if you can get to a point where your puppy not only leaves the temptation but also looks up and gives you eye contact. You can achieve this by waiting to YES him until he gives you eye contact.
Finally, you’re ready for what looks more like a real-life situation: walking up to a temptation on the floor. Place a pile of treats on the floor of your living room or in your hall way or anywhere where you’ll have the space to walk towards it and get close enough so your pup can smell and see but not touch it. Again, the second puppy spots the pile of treats, ask him to Leave It and stop. He might strain to get to it and if he does, just wait it out until he turns to you to see why you’re not moving forward. When he does, YES it and give him a treat. Move back and approach again. This time, I can almost guarantee you that when you ask pup to leave it, he will turn around to you by himself and look for his reward.
