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7 Easy Steps to Teach Your Dog “Leave It”

December 5, 2012

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!

Dogs in Public: Lessons Learned by Doing

November 20, 2012

If you want your dog to behave in public, you have to teach him in public. Teaching your dog at home or at obedience class is a good start, but if you expect that teaching to carry over to “real life,” you’re going to have to work in that situation.

Because public work is a necessity for service dogs, we start our public training very early. Last week, I attended a day-long meeting and it was the perfect opportunity to introduce Monti to public life. The picture above shows her (finally) taking a nap during the meeting. That relaxed behavior doesn’t happen naturally — especially not in public with so many interesting sights, smells, people and goings on — so I dedicated this meeting time to teaching Monti that she could, indeed, take a nap even in public.

I went very well armed: I had her breakfast and lunch with me, able to dole it out in small bits throughout the morning to reward good (quiet, calm, focused) behavior. In addition, I also brought chew toys (that didn’t squeak, much to my meeting-mates relief), and rawhide chews to occupy Little Miss Social during the meeting. As you can see in the picture above, I also had a portable water bowl, as well as a little soft bed so she could get really comfortable.

Monti’s training thus far has been active training — she’s always been reinforced for doing something. Maybe it was sitting, touching my hand, laying down, going into her kennel, whatever. But this little girl knows that doing gets reinforced. So imagine her confusion when I asked her to down, reinforced her, then ignored her (I had to pay attention to the presentations, it was a business meeting afterall!).

I started to spread out my rewards — if she was quiet for five minutes, then eight, maybe three, then twelve — so we got longer periods of inactivity from squirm-worm Monti. She quickly caught on and began to put her head down on the blanket. Bingo! Now, that was the only way she’d earn a goody. Head down = reward!

I then lengthened the amount of time her head had to be down. Before she knew it, she was asleep! Ahhh, the joys of a sleeping puppy.

It didn’t take long for her to learn that relaxing was the key to it all. Is my job done? Heck, no! It’ll take several more of those one-day meetings to help this feisty little Labrador figure out that public time = time to sneak in a nap. But we’ll get there. Every outing will be easier for her (and me) — the more experience she gets, the better service dog she’ll be for her partner.

You can do the same training with your dog that I’m doing with service pup in-training Monti. Find public places that allow dogs. And frequent them. A lot! Remember, if you want your dog to behave in public, you have to teach them in public.

Do you have a favorite place you like to take your dog to teach him in public? What do you like so much about it? Please leave a comment!

Are Your Expectations For Your Dog Reasonable?

November 7, 2012

Are Your Expectations For Your Dog
Reasonable?
November 2012

There’s a middle ground for everything. When it comes to their dogs, though, owners usually
expect too much or too little from their dogs. From those that expect too much,
it goes something like this: He knows how to sit! He’s just too
stubborn to do it when people come over.

Or, for those that expect
too little, it’s a version of this sentiment: Oh, he’s just a puppy – you can’t expect a puppy to know how to sit at
this age! (Mind you, their dog
could be 8 years old, but this is the language they use).

The problem with both of these
viewpoints is that the expectations of the owner are way off. This month’s
newsletter will take a look at our expectations and help you decide if you’re
being fair to your dog, or if you’re just making excuses for your dog’s
not-so-polite behavior.

Expecting Too Much
Dogs, like people, need to be taught what to do. They don’t intrinsically know that we don’t like
it when they pull on the leash, jump on our visitors, or bark at the neighbor’s
dog. They only way they know what to do and when to do it is if we take an
active role in teaching them the rules of the road.

The people who expect too much from their dog are
usually forgetting about three factors our dog’s face in their daily life:
distractions, distance, and duration.
This means that just because your dog knows how to sit, he can’t automatically
sit when someone rings your doorbell, he can’t sit in place when you’re 20 feet
away from him, and he can’t sit and stay – unless…
Unless you take the time to teach him how to sit with those three criteria.

Each of these conditions must be taught
individually then (and only then), can
you start putting them together and use them in real life. For instance, let’s say I’ve taught our new
service puppy in training, Monti, to sit when someone wants to pet her. We
taught her to do this: at home (not in public – distractions), with family
members (not with strangers – distractions), and we pet her as soon as her butt
hits the floor (she doesn’t have to keep her butt down for long –
duration). For me to expect her to be
able to put her butt on the ground at the local farmer’s market is awfully
unfair.

To put it in a different context: when you watch professional sports teams execute
specific plays, they aren’t running those plays for the first time. They’ve
practiced those plays forward and backward and inside out during practice (many practices – some with pads, some without,
with full contact, without contact, etc.), before those plays ever make it to
the playing field. The coach makes sure those players can flawlessly execute
the play before calling it. He’s sure those players are ready for the play. Why
would you ask your dog to do something that you haven’t adequately prepped him
for?

Expecting Too Little
On the flip side, there are people who think their
dog isn’t capable of basic manners. We’ve all endured the large two-year old “puppy”
who is “just super friendly and wants to say hi” by putting his front paws on
your shoulder and looking you in the eye. Friendly? Maybe. Inappropriate?
Definitely. ALL dogs can learn good manners – the owner just needs to take time
to teach the dog. Expecting too little from a dog is just as unfair as
expecting too much. Imagine if your son had NFL football talent, but the coach
of the neighborhood league had him on 3^rd string and didn’t develop
your son’s talent. How frustrating would that be to you and to your son?

Finding
a Balance
We expect a lot from our service pups in-training. They need to be exceptionally talented dogs. However, we evaluate each dog
individually and against the job they’ll need to do (not against each
other). Take Siena, the Great Dane pup
in training that was just released from the program. Based on her temperament,
expecting her to walk into a public situation without reservation or fear would
have been expecting too much from her. But since the job required that, we did the right thing for the dog and found a
fantastic home for her where she could live a fabulous life being adored. Siena
wasn’t going to be able to make the progress necessary to become a service dog.
Instead of forcing the square peg into the round hole, we readjusted her life
so it would suit her.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Asti
Spumante, the little Labrador puppy in-training. She’s almost 16 weeks old, but we expect her to sit
before being petted, to walk nicely on a leash (no pulling), to look at us when
we call her name, and to exhibit a fair degree of self-control. When I ask her
to sit before people are allowed to pet her, the usual comment is “Oh, she’s
just a puppy, she can’t (or shouldn’t be asked) to do that.” Oh, yes she can!
Believe me, she can sit before someone pets her. Expecting any less of her
would be unfair to her, to the program, and to the people who want to pet her.

She can’t sit for very long, or if there are too
many people who want to pet her at once. But she can sit before being petted. So we adjust our expectations to
meet the dog. And in the end, ultimately we
are responsible for whether or not the dog can meet our expectations, not
the dog.

As I expose her to more
distractions and increase the amount of time she needs to sit, I can then, in
turn, expect her to be able to handle those situations. But I can’t expect it
if I haven’t taught it.

Think about your dog and
what you expect from him – are your expectations fair? Or do you need to add
some training into your dog’s life for him to be able to meet your
expectations? Conversely, are you making excuses for your dog’s behavior? Maybe
a good manners class is all it’ll take for your dog to be a canine good
ambassador! Check out your local positive reinforcement trainers and get him
enrolled!

Bittersweet: Siena’s Got a Home

October 19, 2012

Sweet Siena, the loveliest spotted Great Dane, has a wonderful new home. Anytime one of “my” dogs (not really mine, by the way — all these dogs are really Service Dogs of Virginia‘s dogs, I just raise them) goes to a new home, whether they’re placed as service dogs or are career changed like Siena, I’m full of worry that their new home will love them enough.

What’s “enough?” I don’t know. As much as I love them, I guess.

I’m not sure why I worry. After all, every dog that I’ve had a hand in raising has found a spectacular new life — either with us (tee hee) or with their new partner. But I guess it’s what parents worry about when their son or daughter is about to get married — with their spouse look out for them, take care of them, even spoil them?

I’m covered all all those fronts with Siena’s new family. They came for a visit to see if Siena was the right dog for them. I liked them immediately. Siena was stand-offish and shy. They didn’t take it personally and let Siena set their pace.

They didn’t mind the dog hair, the dirt, the slobber that is inevitable with four dogs in the house. I certainly don’t mind it, but I’m a dog person and it’s kind of par for the course. Dogs = dirt. At least in my house. But at one point, the woman had a web of Siena’s slobber from her thumb to her index finger and she didn’t miss a beat. Ah, my kind of people!

Siena will be close by, which makes my heart happy. I’m hoping her new family will take us up on our offer to babysit her whenever they need us. We’ve been fortunate with most of the dogs we’ve raised — they’ve all come back at some point to visit and vacation with us.

Rocky, our very first dog (above), so dear to our heart, spent some time with us every year. We were thrilled that his family trusted us enough to take care of the Rock Star while they vacationed or traveled abroad. We would joke that it was Roo’s vacation time, just like it was their vacation time. He did love his visits “home,” and it made my heart sing when he bounded out of my car and into his partner’s wheelchair upon reuniting. That’s the best of both worlds, now isn’t it?

And Big Talos. Oh my. That dog. We’ve been lucky enough to have that big lug back in our lives a few times as well. Again, we feel so fortunate that his new family feels comfortable enough with us that they let him spend some time with us.

It really is something special to share this beautiful Dane girl with another family who gets her like we do. I know Siena will be spoiled, loved, and happy with her new people. She will get everything she needs, and then some. And her new family will be rewarded with the love of this sweet, lovely little girl.

We’ll have her for another week or so, then she’ll transition to her new life with her new people. We’re both excited and, not surprisingly, a little forlorn. But really, in the end, it’s a win-win-win. Us, Siena, and her new family have just won the lottery!

Dog Training – The Personal Side: Can You Tell Your Dogs Apart in the Dark?

October 12, 2012

It was 3:00a when I heard the bark. I knew who it was, instantly, even though the bark came from the other side of the house. And I even knew what the bark was for. [Lily. She wanted to patrol the yard for vermin. We’ve had vermin lately. Or so she says.] Then, I heard another dog, in another room, shake his head. Just from the sound of his ears flapping I could identify him, too. In the dark. [Tango. Soft, velvety ears.]

I tweeted a question this morning:

If you have more than 1 dog, can you tell which one is barking without looking? Drinking water? Shaking her head?

The answers I got back didn’t surprise me. Yup, lots of dog-people can identify their dog in the dark. They can tell them apart by their footsteps, the way they drink water, the way they sneeze, and lots of other ways.

I’m happy to know I’m not the odd (wo)man out on this one. That I’m just as normal as the next dog lover.

Tell me: Can you tell your dogs apart in the dark? Leave me a comment!

Siena: Officially Released + Looking for A Home

October 10, 2012

It’s official. Sweet Siena is going to be a pet! This is good news, really. As service work just wasn’t a good fit for her. She’s a homebody. She doesn’t like a lot of change. I’m helping spread the word because I think the more people who know about her, the better our chances of finding her the perfect home. Here’s a taste of who Siena is…

I’m not responsible for selecting the home. I’m really just the lady who reaps the benefits of having a Dane puppy in the house until a great home is found. [And the one who will be boo-hooing when said home is selected and it’s Siena-transfer time, of course.] Service Dogs of Virginia purchased Siena and are the rightful owners. It will be their decision to find and select Siena’s permanent home.

Here are all the particulars about this sweet girl.

Born: June 4, 2012
Breed: European Great Dane (AKC papers)
Color: Merle (grey, black speckled with white)

Siena’s a great dog who wouldn’t be comfortable working in public in ever-changing conditions and locations. She’s more of a homebody.

Siena is current on her vaccinations, has started basic manners training and is doing very well in K9 Nose Work™ classes.

She gets along very nicely with other dogs and lives in harmony with a cat.

Siena is very snuggly and definitely enjoys a nice long nap on the couch. She’s fantastic in her crate andruns to it when asked.

She is just finishing up her house training and can go to the bathroom outside on cue (a very handy thing!).

She’s a very soft and sensitive dog, so her new family will agree to use only clicker training with her (no prong, choke, or shock collars). No underground electronic fences.

Reason Released: Siena doesn’t handle change very well. She’s happiest in her comfortable home, not out in the grocery store or mall. She’s very happy going places — she enjoys trips to the farmer’s market, local park, neighborhood walks — she just didn’t transition well into public places that a service dog would have to frequent (stores, doctor offices, restaurants, etc.).

Training: Puppy Charm School (will continue until she’s 18 weeks), K9 Building Blocks (good manners training (will start at 18 weeks). Siena very much enjoys K9 Nose Work class and we’ve noticed that this class, not surprisingly, is building her confidence level and expanding her horizons. And she’s quite good at it, too!

She’s Good At: walking politely on a leash, going to and staying in her crate, cohabitating with our kitty, playing with other dogs, snuggling, leaning, car rides (provided you don’t drive like a maniac).

Price: $1500. If you’re interested in Siena, contact Service Dogs of Virginia:
Info@servicedogsva.org or
(434) 295-9503

If you want more information about Siena’s personality and training, contact me:
laurie@smartdoguniversity.com

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