Teaching a Leave It Behavior

“Leave It” is an important skill for any dog to master. We have all had moments where our dog went for something nasty while on a walk. I’ve personally have had dogs try to snatch up everything from deer poop to an actual deer leg. Once this skill is mastered, you won’t have to worry about that happening anymore.

Tips for Training Success

Have your dog perform a few easier behaviors such as sit and down before teaching a new behavior.

• This gives your dog a chance to get into training mode with some easy wins.

Remember to work in a quiet, distraction-free environment when training a new behavior.

Steps for Teaching “Leave It”

Grab two kinds of treats for this skill.

• A low value treat that your dog likes but doesn’t love.

• High value treats that your dog loves to use as your reward. These should be accessible in a treat pouch or pocket.

Take the low value treat and hold it one hand with a clenched fist.

Present your dog with the hand holding the low value treat in a clenched fist at your dog’s nose level.

Open your hand.

If your dog goes for the treat close your hand.

• Your dog may try to lick or paw at your hand, and that is fine.

Wait for your dog to ignore your hand and mark the behavior with your chosen secondary reinforcer word or sound.

Give your dog a high value treat that you have tucked away using the hand opposite of what you are holding the low value treat in.

Once they are consistently ignoring the treat, you can add the “Leave It” verbal cue.

• In the accompanying video, I moved on to this step too soon.

Keep training sessions short (about 5 minutes) and do multiple training sessions throughout the day.