Teach the "Leave it" Command to Your Dog

Video Transcript

" Hi! This is Elise McMahon for Expert Village and today we are talking about how to teach your dog a reliable stay. If you would like to find out more about my services, you can visit my website at canineheadstart.com. So we have just talked a little bit about using aids and using leave it as one of your aids. I am going to show you how you start teaching leave it so you could incorporate it into your stay if you want to. So how do you start teaching leave it? We started off with a cookie in our hand and we let the dog know as we are bringing it down to them that we want them to leave it and we start introducing right away, the word leave it. Ursa leave it… leave it… take it… good girl. When the dog is not trying to take it we mark them and then we release them by using the word take it, leave it… take it. As you are working on this you can gradually increase the amount of time you are asking the dog to leave the object, leave it… take it… good girl. Notice that I am not moving my hand away from her. I am asking her not to come up to the treat. I am putting my right down there in front of her face asking her not to take it. We have done in the hand and now we have to generalize that command we are going to do it on the floor, leave it… take it… good girl. Good job. So that’s how you start teaching, leave it. Once your dog knows leave it, you can incorporate it into the stay and we will talk the next about how to do that. "