Teach a Leave It Cue
Your head is killing you. You reach into your medicine cabinet to grab an aspirin, but you drop the pill on the ground. Your pup is underfoot and launches themselves at the opportunity to eat the potentially delicious snack that’s been dropped on the ground.
“Leave It!” you exclaim, and your pup stops dead in their tracks… or maybe they don’t.
If your pup doesn’t know “leave it” quite yet your pup might swallow the aspirin, and a vet trip might ensue.
“Leave It” is a necessary, life-saving behavior that your pup should happily respond to regardless of the distraction. Sounds hard, right?
It doesn’t have to be!
10 Steps to Reliably Teach Your Dog to “Leave It”
We’ve got you covered with our ten steps to teaching a reliable “leave it”!
Step 1
Prepare high value treats, low value kibble, and your clicker. Put the high value treats in your treat pouch, the low value treats in your non-dominant hand, and your clicker in your dominant hand.
Step 2
With your pup sitting in front of you, present the hand with the kibble at your shoulder height, but to the side of your pup so it’s easy for them to ignore your hand and make eye contact with you. Wait for your pup to make eye contact with you, then click and reward with a high value treat.
Repeat 3 times.
Step 3
Present your hand with the low value treats to the side, but slightly lower than your shoulder this time, making the challenge of ignoring your hand slightly more difficult. Wait for eye contact then click and treat.
Repeat 3 times.
Step 4
Present your hand with the low value treats to the side, at belly button height, making the challenge of ignoring your hand slightly more difficult. Wait for eye contact then click and treat.
Repeat 3 times.
Step 5
Present your hand with the low value treats to the side, at waist height, making the challenge of ignoring your hand slightly more difficult. Wait for eye contact then click and treat.
Repeat 3 times.
Step 6
We’ll add the cue now by saying “Leave It” then presenting the low value kibble off to the side and at waist height. Click when your pup makes eye contact with you.
Repeat 5 times.
Step 7
Crouch down or sit in a chair. Say “leave It” and present your hand with the kibble at face height for your pup but still off to the side. Click when they make eye contact.
Repeat 3 times.
Step 8
While crouching or sitting in a chair, say “leave it” then present your hand around shoulder height for your pup, clicking and treating when they make eye contact.
Repeat 3 times.
Step 9
While crouching or sitting in a chair, say “leave it” then present your hand around knee height for your pup, clicking and treating when they make eye contact.
Repeat 3 times.
Step 10
While crouching or sitting in a chair, say “leave it” then present your hand on the ground, clicking and treating when they make eye contact.
Repeat 3 times.
Continuing Education to Maintain Your Dog’s New Skills
To continue to build up a reliable “leave it” behavior, practice these steps, two repetitions per step, in three-five different locations (or even rooms in your house).
Once your pup can easily perform the “leave it” in five contexts, you can start to ask them to “leave” higher value items such as tastier treats, socks, or even high value treats, being sure that whatever you reward them with is of more value!
Ready to begin training your dog?
Make sure to grab yourself a treat pouch before class to help with training on the go! We personally love this pouch by RUFFWEAR.
