Teach Your Dog to “Leave It”
Teach your dog to back away from spilled food, dangerous items, and anything else you don’t want her to go near.
Jolanta Benal, CPDT-KA, CBCC-KA
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Teach Your Dog to “Leave It”
Biologists generally agree that dogs evolved as scavengers near human settlements. The scavenger’s rule of life is, if it smells like food and it’s lying around, eat it. So our dogs snarf our fallen sandwiches at home and dive for fast-food wrappers on the street. Sometimes their spot cleaning of the kitchen floor is, well, convenient. But sometimes we need to back our dogs off from items that are valuable, dangerous, or repulsive. This week, how to teach your dog to “Leave it.”
The cue I use when asking my dog to leave something alone is “Leave it,” so that’s what I’ll use in this episode. Your cue can be “Off” or “Back up” or “Banana peel” — your dog won’t care.
How to Start Teaching “Leave It”
To begin teaching “Leave it,” you’ll need a hard, fairly boring dog biscuit and an array of fingernail-size, delectable treats: something in the meaty-fishy-cheesy-soft-and-stinky line. The dry biscuit will tempt your dog; the delicious treats will reward her for resisting the temptation. Wear closed-toe shoes — why will become obvious in a moment. Keep lessons short and fun; 10 or 15 reps is plenty for most dogs. If you feel ambitious, add more training sessions rather than longer ones.
Have the deluxe treats handy, perhaps in a waist pouch or on a nearby table. Show your dog the dry biscuit and put it on the floor. Cover the biscuit with your foot, so your dog can smell it but can’t get her mouth on it. She will probably paw and push at your foot, trying to get at the treat. (This is why you’re wearing closed-toe shoes.) Say nothing, because the words will mean nothing to your dog. Just quietly watch her and wait. Sooner or later, when she can’t get to the temptation, she will back off.
Watch for the First Backing-Off Behavior
This first backing-off behavior may be so tiny and fast you barely see it. Your dog may turn her head away from the biscuit for a moment, or take a half step backward. Try mightily to catch that instant when she’s doing anything other than trying to get at the biscuit. Immediately say a happy “Yes!” and immediately deliver one of the superdeluxe treats.
Start Again
Show your dog the biscuit again, and again cover it with your foot. Again, wait quietly till she does anything other than mug your foot. Mark that behavior with a “Yes!,” and deliver a treat. Many dogs start getting the picture after four or five repetitions. They’ll refuse to go after the biscuit at all; some make a big production of looking away from your foot or even turning their whole body aside.
Progress Bit by Bit
At that point, you’re ready for the second step. Show your dog the biscuit, but now set it on the floor right next to your foot, where you can cover it quickly if your dog dives for it. She probably will. Cover the biscuit, wait for her to quit mugging, and then take your foot off the biscuit again. Keep trying until your dog hesitates instead of immediately going for that vulnerable uncovered biscuit. Say “Yes!” right away and deliver a treat. Do several reps. Then begin leaving the biscuit uncovered for a bit longer. See if you can work up to 5 or 6 seconds in a couple of brief lessons.
Challenge Your Dog
Okay, your dog has begun to get the idea that ignoring a so-so treat will earn her a much, much better treat. As you continue training, challenge her a bit more. Move the biscuit around with your foot. Drop it from a few inches up, then from table height. Toss it gently. Throw it. Set it down near your dog. Replace the biscuit with something your dog likes a bit better, then with something she likes better still. Work your way up to using a leftover chicken wing. Practice in the kitchen, in the dining room, on the sidewalk, and in your backyard next to the barbecue the same way — with a temptation and a superdeluxe reward. You can also set up a series of temptations along your block, and then practice walking your dog past them. Because you’ll have your dog on leash, you’ll be able to prevent her from getting the tempting item. Then you can reward her for backing off. As you train in all of these settings and with different tempting treats, your lessons will look more and more like real life, so you and your dog will be ready for the day the pot roast falls.
Adding a Word Cue to Your Training
When your dog responds correctly 90 percent of the time at any given level of difficulty, you can add your verbal cue to that level of difficulty. Say your cue, then present the temptation. At that point, the “Leave it” behavior will pretty much always follow your cue, so your dog can learn to associate that cue with her behavior. Expect this learning to take a couple of dozen reps.
Tips for Effective Training
For maximum success, go up a level in difficulty only when your dog is responding correctly 90 percent of the time at the level you’re already at. Also, make lessons harder one factor at a time. Suppose you’re introducing a stronger temptation than a dry biscuit. This is not the lesson in which you also begin putting the temptation between your dog’s front paws. Begin each lesson with a quick refresher of the one before — don’t expect to pick up exactly where you left off. Some stages are especially challenging — for instance, holding back from a thrown temptation is difficult for many dogs. Tether or leash your dog for the first few reps, so she can’t reach the temptation if she makes a break for it. And if she does make a mistake, don’t get your undies in a bunch. Just go back a couple of steps in training and work your way up again.
Usually, I wean dogs off regular food rewards once a behavior is well learned. With a “Leave it,” though, you’re often asking your dog to give up something she wants a lot. For that reason, it’s wise to reward lavishly whenever possible. There will be times when you don’t have treats on you; those are exactly the times when past generosity pays off.
As for The Dog Trainer, search for me on Facebook, email me at dogtrainer@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email, or call 206-600-5661. Your questions and comments may appear in future episodes. Bye for now, and thanks for listening!
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Jolanta holds professional certifications in both training and behavior counseling and belongs to the Association of Professional Dog Trainers and the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. She also volunteered with Pet Help Partners, a program of the Humane Society of the United States that works to prevent pet relinquishment. Her approach is generally behaviorist (Pavlovian, Skinnerian and post-Skinnerian learning theory) with a big helping of ethology (animal behavior as observed in non-experimental settings).