Using the Leave It Dog Training Command

Series Summary

Teaching your dog or puppy basic obedience commands can be a tricky feat, but the reward of a happy, healthy pet makes it well worth the time and effort it takes to train a dog. Learning how to stay, sit, and heel are important for both you and your dogs happiness and safety. There are many variations and theories on how to train a dog, but most professional dog trainers will tell you to reward good behavior and negatively reinforce bad behavior. Of course this can be more difficult than it sounds. Many people may end up unknowingly enforcing the bad behavior instead of the good, but with a little effort and knowledge of how a dog learns, even you can teach your dog basic obedience commands.

When giving commands to a dog, it's important to be strong, abrupt, and in control. This is definitely the case when teaching dogs the leave it command. With this command, you can stop a dog from eating toxic food, chewing something that shouldn't be in their mouth, or from digging where they shouldn't be digging. In this free video series, a dog obedience trainer will teach you how to get your dog to leave something alone. You'll learn how and when to use the command, how to associate visuals with the command, how to bait the dog, and how to vocalize the command correctly. With these training tips and techniques, you'll be able to keep your dog from going through the trash, eating off the counter, or digging up your garden!

Video Transcript

"In this segment, I'll be talking about the command, leave it. We just finished the command, sit, which I call the home base of all commands. But the next command I'll be showing you, leave it, is a close second. The purpose of leave it command is to show your dog not to eat, chew, or dig in certain areas. It also illustrates to your dog that you're the boss, leader, alpha in the dog, human relationship. Leave it can be used in many ways, which I'll talk about later in this topic. Leave it is definitely going to be a command that your dog will link if ever you would drop something, anything that your dog should not eat. I will also talk, later in the segment, how important leave it is to mix it with tone of your voice, as well as posture."