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When we ask our dogs to leave something alone, we want them to respond immediately- not take a moment to decide if they want to or wondering what you have to offer in exchange, or worse- hurrying to gobble it up!
This skill can save your dog's life! Let's allow a few real-life events to remind us the "leave it" cue's importance:
1) Dog sees rabbit in yard, dog bolts out the door to chase the rabbit, the rabbit cuts across the street and so does our dog. Dog meets car, game over. Too late to make sure we teach our pup the "leave it" cue now.
2) There we were, just walking down the street. There appears a dead rat on the side of the road. Dog smells it and runs to grab it. It happens quickly, we say "no!" but instead, dog eats the rat. Dog ingests rat poison (which is what killed the rat). Dog meets anti-coagulant rat poison. Trip to pet ER, blood transfusion, 3 days in the ICU and $2,500 later. Wish our dog knew that cue better.
3) During baking, you drop a big chunk of bakers dark chocolate on the kitchen floor. There's our pup, who hasn't learned kitchen boundary manners yet, we say "leave it!" but it's too late, they gobble it up. Dog meets theobromine toxicity. Trip to pet ER, $2,500 later and a near-death heart arrhythmia experience. Sure wish we had invested more time into our dog's manners and boundaries.
Luckily, we can get ahead of this by putting the time and effort into this cue so we can rely upon it when it's really needed!
Introducing the "leave it" cue: This is only the introduction to the behavior and cue. There are more steps beyond this to really solidify the cue.
Start with your pup sitting in front of you, on leash or in a small enclosed room with no distractions.
Phase 1: In your left fist, should be a few pieces of dog food (tightly closed, your pup can NEVER have these during this exercise).
In your right fist should be about 10 tiny soft yummy treats, hide it behind your back.
Put your left fist out, about 2 inches in front of your pups nose.
Wait for them to lose interest (they may look away, stop sniffing it, back away, look at you, turn their head or ignore that fist).
As SOON as they leave it alone, reward them with a treat from your right hand, while taking away the left fist.
Reset and repeat until consistent 10/10.
*Don't move your fist! Ignore any pawing, licking or other attempts to get to that food
*Unless they're hurting you by biting or scratching, then take your fist away immediately and try again.
Phase 2: Repeat phase 1 but ADD the cue "good leave it!!!" at the time of the treat AFTER they leave it alone. This begins to tell them "Yes, this is the leave it cue and you are doing a great job with it."
Reset and repeat until consistent 10/10
Phase 3: Repeat phase 2 but instead of offering the fist, FIRST you will say "Leave it." and THEN present your fist.
Reset and repeat until consistent 10/10
Then, phase 4 gets more challenging! (Ask me about it)
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