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  1. #1
    House Broken Kelly524's Avatar
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    May 2014
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    Teaching "Leave it"

    Leave it seems to be the one command Molly is struggling with. For that matter, I guess we are struggling with as well. We started working on it some before our puppy class, it was taught in class and it was the one item on her "final exam" that she lost points on.

    We've been putting a treat on the floor and covering it with our foot, then saying leave it until she stops trying to get it. (This is how it was taught to us in class.) Once she stops trying to get the treat under your foot, reward her with a different treat. As I said, it has been a struggle for us, if you don't get the treat covered fast enough, it's gone.

    She does pretty good if we're walking outside and she sees something she wants, I'll give her an "ah ah, leave it" and she usually does. If not, she does pretty good with "drop it" but it seems to only be outside, on the leash. Inside is a completely different ball game with her.

    Do any of you have any recommendations on how we can get better with this? Or have any different ways of teaching it? I know she's still young and still learning, and we're continuing to work on it. We are also signed up for the next level of obedience class, but that doesn't start until the end of June.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Halcyon's Avatar
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    I taught "leave it" by holding a treat in my fist. He was welcome to nudge, lick, smell and nose my fist but as soon as he backed off and left it alone, I clicked and rewarded. As his success rate improved to the near 93%, we progressed to holding it between two fingers. Rinse and repeat.

    Afterwards, it was the floor and I slowly built up distance. I also added in a "safety leave it" by dropping things randomly and clicking whenever he left them alone. However, I didn't use a cue for this as I wanted it to be an automatic response.

  3. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Halcyon For This Useful Post:

    Jollymolly (12-05-2014), Kelly524 (05-28-2014)

  4. #3
    Best Friend Retriever emma_Dad's Avatar
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    I did it the same way with holding the treat in the hand, and then had her back off and shape it so that when I gave her leave it, she back away and look at me.

  5. The Following User Says Thank You to emma_Dad For This Useful Post:

    Kelly524 (05-29-2014)

  6. #4
    Senior Dog
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    My husband works with Lilly in the morning when he give her her treats. Same as Halcyon, but he puts the treat on his knee. Lilly is getting to understand "leave it". I've been working with her on walks as well. Being diligent, seeing something on the ground that she's heading for, I'll give the command and a slight tug on the leash. She's really getting better at it. Not having to go from "leave it" to "drop it" as much.

    KAZ

  7. The Following User Says Thank You to ZRabbits For This Useful Post:

    Kelly524 (05-29-2014)

 



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