Teaching Your Dog How To Leave It

“Leave it,” on the other hand, requires a more unique approach. With Leave it, you are trying to teach your dog to ignore something that you know it wants. This comes in handy when you are walking by spilled food or road kill or something else that peaks your dog’s interest that they need to avoid.

With Leave it, positive reinforcement does play a role, but you also need to play with your dog’s emotions. You want to frustrate your dog away from the item, so that when you say “Leave it” your dog is less tempted to go towards whatever you are telling them to leave.

5 Steps For Learning Leave It

• First you need to take two treats that your dog is very fond of. One you keep in your hand, the other you put on the floor in front of your dog (but closer to you).

• When your dog makes a move towards the treat, you say “Leave it” and cover or move the treat away from them.

• Once your dog stops going after the treat, uncover it again and let your dog see it. When they start going after it, say “Leave it” and cover the treat again.

• Uncover the treat once more, and continue this process until your dog stops going after the treat once you uncover it. And once it is uncovered, give your dog the other treat that you have been keeping with you and shower your dog with affection.

• Remove the treat they were supposed to ignore and do not give it to them. It may even be best to throw the treat away.

After training, give your dog a break before trying it again. You do not want to get your dog too frustrated, and there is a small amount of frustration caused by removing the treat, even though you are rewarding your dog with another treat later.

As you continue to practice with your dog, you should notice that after you say “Leave it” your dog will immediately leave it alone. This is the exact behavior you are looking for, and you should reward your dog heavily. There is no need to cover or move the treat unless your dog starts to go towards it, and the goal of “Leave it” is to teach your dog that when you say the command, the item (treat or not) should be left alone.

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