How to Master the “Leave It” Command
Wish your dog would just leave it already? Certified Dog Trainer Robert Haussmann explains how to teach your dog this essential cue step by step. Whether it’s food on the sidewalk or a sock in your laundry basket, “leave it” is a powerful tool for keeping your pup safe and focused.
Disclaimer alert: This information is just for educational purposes! Every pet is different, so always talk with your vet or trainer for specific advice on your pet’s situation. We don’t accept any liability for any loss or injury that occurs as a result of watching videos on our channel. (Fyi: We also don’t accept any liability for extra treats given but we doubt your pet will mind.)
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TRANSCRIPT
so you want to teach your dog the leave it? we can help with that. I'm Robert and this is Josie. let's get into. so why teach leave it in the first place? well there's plenty of stuff that your dog can get into that's not healthy for them or just gross for you to have to pull out of their mouth being a dog they're going to be scavenging and checking things out so you want to make sure that you have a cue that they understand and it means stop investigating that so now that we know why it's so important let's get into it so first I'm using some peanut butter treats that Josie thinks are pretty great but in my other hand I have liver treats that I know really blows her mind so I'm going to show her these and as soon as she stops trying to go for it I'm going to mark it with a yes yes and reward her away from the hand with the uh the peanut butter treats in it so again I'm going to let her try and investigate and as soon as she stops I'm not saying leave it at this point as soon as she stops trying yes good i'm going to reinforce now once you feel that it's predictable that she will turn away and stop trying you can start adding the Q leave it yes good girl so I use the word yes to connect the good behavior of coming away from the treats with the good reward of getting a treat in the other hand so coming away from the medium to low value treat earns her the high value treat so once the dog's responding to the leave it Q I'm going to try and make it a little bit harder by putting the food on the ground i'm still covering it under my hand but now what's on the ground belongs to the hound and for her she says that is just too hard so I'm going to give her another shot here leave it yes i'm going to make sure I'm rewarding her away from the food on the floor it's important to recognize the difference between teaching your dog to leave something that they're never allowed to take versus having them wait before they're allowed to approach their food dish in this case anything you're teaching your dog to leave is off limits forever it's never something they're allowed to take make believe it's dangerous for them it's poison it's something they can never have leave it good girl leave it yes good girl so give that a shot good luck and see you next time