Seven Easy Steps to Teach “Leave
It”
December 2012
Here’s the situation: you’re struggling to open a
child-resistant cap from a big bottle of Tylenol. Before you know it, the lid pops off and the bottle
shoots through the air, spilling Tylenol all over the floor. Your dog comes
running, eager to gobble up the “treats” as quickly as possible, not knowing
these treats can kill him. There isn’t any way you can pick them all up before
your dog eats some, so what can you do? If you’ve taught your dog the behavior
of “leave it,” you simply say those words to your dog and resume picking up the
Tylenol off the floor, as your dog sits and watches. No emergency veterinary
visit, no forcing your dog to vomit the Tylenol. Sounds good, right? You owe it
to your dog (and to your wallet) to teach this behavior. It’s a convenient
behavior, as well as a life-saver.
Leave it means this to your dog: remove your face
from the object and look at me. The
dog should disengage from the object and give you his full attention. A
well-trained “leave it” is really something to see, and it’ll impress all your
friends when your dog performs this cool trick. We’ll teach this behavior using
food in our closed hand. The closed hand makes it really easy for the dog to
get it right – it’s almost impossible for the dog to get food out of your
closed hand.
This is a great behavior to teach your dog because
you don’t need to rely on a leash and collar to keep your dog from getting something
in his mouth. Instead, you’ve got
a phrase that means “look at me and leave that thing alone.” It serves you both
well because it keeps the kitty poop or dead bird or Tylenol out of your dog’s
mouth and it also is an easy way for your dog to earn a goody. Here’s how you
teach “Leave It.”
Step 1
Place a treat in your hand, make a fist, and present your fist to the dog at
nose level and say nothing. Your
dog will sniff, lick, paw, gnaw, push, and mug your hand, trying to get the
treat out. At some point, the dog will pull his nose off of your hand, even for
1/8 of a second. The instant that happens, CLICK and open your hand to let him
have the treat. We don’t care why
the dog pulled his nose away – maybe he heard a noise, maybe he got bored. Put
another treat in your hand and continue this step until your dog stops nosing
or pawing at your hand when you present it. Once your dog is good at leaving
the treat alone, you’re now going to add the eye contact into the behavior.
Instead of clicking when the dog pulls his nose away from your hand, you’re
going to wait until your dog looks up toward you. Goal: Your dog doesn’t touch your hand at all when you put it at
nose level in front of his face. And your dog has started to leave the hand
alone and is looking at you to earn
the goodie.
Step 2
When you are ready to bet me $100 that your dog will not touch your fist when
you present it, you are ready to add name the behavior. Say “leave it,” (or whatever word you choose) before you present your fist, then
present your fist. Because your dog is really good at this, he shouldn’t move
forward at all. Click and treat! If he does move forward and touch your hand,
simply do nothing. Wait until he leaves your hand alone, then click and treat.
If you find that you’re saying the word, but your dog is still trying to get the treat, you’ve added the word too quickly.
Go back and keep working without the word until you’re ready to bet $100 that
your dog won’t touch your fist. Goal:
You say “Leave it,” put your hand out, and the dog leaves your hand alone (i.e.
doesn’t bump your hand with his nose). Important note: Do NOT repeat the cue
“Leave it,” more than once. If the dog doesn’t comply, simply wait until he
leaves the hand alone all by himself. He isn’t in trouble, he simply loses the
chance to earn a little snack.
Step 3
You’ve named the behavior, now let’s increase the difficulty slightly. To do this, say “leave it,” and present the treat
in a slightly open hand. If
you’ve mastered Steps 1 and 2, your dog should not charge in to get the treat. When
your dog leaves the treat alone, click and treat! If he touches your hand or
tries to get the treat, simply close your hand, being sure not to pull your
hand away. Continue to open your hand a little more each time so that your hand
is open wide with the treat in the middle of your hand and the dog still leaves
the hand alone. Goal: Your dog is as
good at leaving the open hand as he was leaving the closed hand.
Step 4
The next step will be to put the treat on your knee. Your dog should be getting the hang of this game
now and hopefully will not try to go for the treat. If he does, however, just
cover the treat with your hand so he cannot get the treat. When his nose comes
away from your hand and he looks at you, CLICK and treat. Always pick the item
up and hand it to the dog, as opposed to letting him take it off your knee when
you reward him. Goal: The dog looks
at you when you put the piece of food on your knee and say “leave it.”
Step 5
We’re now ready to move into more “real life” territory. This is a big step – you’re going to present the
treat on the floor and ask the dog to leave it. Have the dog on a short leash.
Say “leave it,” and put the treat on the floor on the opposite side of where the dog is sitting. Be ready to cover the
treat with your foot if your dog tries to eat the treat off the floor. When
your dog leaves the treat alone andlooks atyou, click and pick the treat up off the floor and hand it to your
dog. Always handing the treat to your dog makes it clear for him that grabbing
the treat from the floor isn’t the way he gets the treat. This will set him up
for success in real life when something falls on the floor in front of your
dog.
Step 6
Once your dog is easily leaving
the item when you place it on the floor, drop the item on the floor. If you are doing this with your dog on leash, do
not use the lead to pop him back from the food. Toss it far enough so he can’t
get to it even if he tried. As he gets better, gradually toss the treat closer.
Step 7
Begin to introduce new “leave it” items to teach your dog that this behavior
applies to all kinds of things (i.e. a toy, a person, another dog, steak on the
counter, etc.). Remember to make
the reward for leaving it better than
what the dog actually left. If you gave me a bowl of Brussels sprouts because I
left the pan of brownies alone, I probably wouldn’t leave the brownies alone
next time you bake!
Taking the time to teach
your dog to leave things alone and look at you isn’t only useful, it can save
your dog’s life if he’s ready to eat something poisonous or something that will
make him sick. Or heck, if he’s about ready to dive into your
fresh-off-the-grill hamburger that you (sloppily) left on the coffee table
while you got a drink!
“Leave it” (and its companion “drop it”) are definite lifesavers! These are good clear instructions for teaching and proofing the behavior.
They’re also a pretty good show-off, in non safety situations. In our house, when we’ve had company, we can leave snacky things on the coffee table and Elka won’t touch them. She also once picked up a Mystery Item on the long line at the park…I said “Drop it”, and when she did, I recalled her and let her shove her face in the treat bag. Then, curious as to what it was, I investigated….my dog had picked up, and then dropped on cue, a turkey sandwich. /swoon
Step 2
When you are ready to bet me $100 that your dog will not touch your fist when you present it, you are ready to add name the behavior.
I love that you make this point! so many people get so excited and want to move to fast and when you train your dog you must make sure that you don’t rush things.