# Leave It Protocol



## AlexinBK (Dec 11, 2017)

we are working on Leave It in the house with Emmy (19 weeks). What is the protocol for when she "leaves it" (say "it" is a treat or piece of paper we are training with on the floor) and then goes back for it? 

1. Do we treat the initial leave it?
2. Should we pick up the item immediately after she leaves it?
3. Should we not treat her initial leave it but wait her out instead?
4. If so, how long should we wait? 

Thanks in advance!


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

At my training place, we always taught Leave It as a slow progression. So first the leave it object is in our hands and we're C/T for the dog choosing to leave the object alone (we let him sniff, lick, etc until he moves back, sits, downs, whatever). We always treat away from the leave it object so the dog understands his job is to move away from the object. It doesn't take long for them to pick it up, and eventually they give the object in hand a cursory nose bump and then immediately move away or they just stare at the hand and then look at you (that's also when we introduce the cue word). Once the dog gets to that point, you move your hand down closer to the floor. Then rinse and repeat. Once you get to floor, cover the object with your hand and click/treat for the dog leaving it again. We always pick the object up after we click and treat. The benefits of starting with the object in your hand is that it also teaches your dog not to mug your hands when you've got something they want.


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## AlexinBK (Dec 11, 2017)

I should have been more clear. We have already taught Leave It with a treat in our hand. We practiced with a closed fist, open palm, covering it on the ground, then standing and blocking it with our foot or covering with our toe. She will look/walk away or sit and look at us, like you mentioned. She seems to have that down because she doesn't mug our hands.

When an object is on the floor and she "leaves it" on command we will give her a treat. Sometimes we pick the object up and sometimes we do not. This is because there is so much trash outside we want to teach that "leave it" is for good, and she shouldn't return to the object. 

The problem we are having is that she sometimes returns to the object. I can't pick up every single object she is told to "leave it" outside because then I would be single handedly cleaning new york city. 

How do we enforce that she should not be returning to the object?


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## GoldenMom999 (Apr 14, 2017)

Your goal when teaching a new behavior is to make your dog right all the time. That will help her understand faster and makes it more fun. So you would always at this stage reward the first Leave it and try to prevent her from making a mistake and going back to the item. Stuff on the floor can be challenging.

Let's say after the first Leave it you release her with a "good dog" and the object is still on the floor. Then she goes back to the object. That's not really her fault. You are correct she doesn't know yet that Leave it should apply forever. Below has worked for me.

Instead after she Leaves it the first time, give her a treat and a pat, but don't release her. Instead ask her to stay. Move the object to a new place, then heel towards it and ask her to Leave it again and reward her. Then stay...repeat...many places, many objects! Eventually she will learn that no matter where that object is you are going to tell her to Leave it. 

Once you are sure she understands (at least a week of practicing a few times a day) then try releasing her after the first Leave it and see if she goes back to the object. If she does then say Leave it with a little sterner voice..and no cookie for the second Leave it. That tells her that if she goes back to the object, that is not what you want. Then heel by it again and if she Leaves it without you asking...then she is understanding that Leave it is forever. If she doesn't then rewind and start again at the beginning!

And when you use treats I like to teach them the opposite of leave it...which is get it. Toss a treat, tell her to get it. They learn that pretty fast! Then once she has learned to leave the treat...you tell her to get it. Then Leave it is not always negative...there might be a fun game in there too!


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## AlexinBK (Dec 11, 2017)

This is _fantastic_. Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!


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## Julie Timmons (Dec 16, 2016)

One thing I wish I had done differently was to teach a leave it command and a wait command around the same time. 

Instead, I did leave it without realizing I was being confusing by sometimes letting him have the object after some point. So when I tell him leave it now, he does leave it but will fixate on it, waiting until he can have it. 

I’m not sure if it’s easier to teach both to a dog at the same time? Comments from the experts? 



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

I got distracted and forgot to answer, sorry. I also misunderstood your OP, I thought you were talking about leave it at home!

When Kaizer was a puppy, we lived in a really shady area with cig butts, beer bottles and rocks littered all over. Naturally, Kaizer thought the cigarette butts and rocks were the most interesting things in the world and would constantly put them in his mouth. Needless to say, I was pretty tired of sticking my fingers in his mouth every three steps and I was worried that if he got a rock or a cig butt when I wasn't paying attention, we'd have issues. I taught him leave it, to the point where he would leave something alone if I said leave it (in a training situation). Then when we were outside and he came across something I'd say "leave it" again and kept moving before he had the chance to put it in his mouth (probably moved faster) and then gave him some treats. It certainly wasn't the neatest way to teach it, but it did the trick.

Alternatively, inside the house you could put a wire basket over the leave it object and work on walking past that without Emmy going after it. You could easily switch up the object and work in different areas. It's similar to what GoldenMom999 said above, but you have the added protection of the wire basket (you can get rid of it as soon as she understands what you ask, but it's nice to have so she can't steal whatever is under it).


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Julie Timmons said:


> One thing I wish I had done differently was to teach a leave it command and a wait command around the same time.
> 
> Instead, I did leave it without realizing I was being confusing by sometimes letting him have the object after some point. So when I tell him leave it now, he does leave it but will fixate on it, waiting until he can have it.
> 
> I’m not sure if it’s easier to teach both to a dog at the same time? Comments from the experts?


My wait is drastically different than my leave it. Wait to me means "wait here for further instructions". It's like a stay, but the dog knows that there's more instructions that are going to be coming in a relatively short period of time - I'd ask for a wait at a door, at a crossroad, while I make his meal, before I do recall exercises, etc. It has nothing to do with my leave it.

I use the cue word "leave it" both for that cute trick where the dog poses with treats all over him and then is released to eat it, and for the "don't you dare ever touch that again". Usually the dog is in some stationary behavior (sit or down) for the trick Leave It and moving for the latter form of Leave It. When Kaizer was younger, I'd treat him for the moving Leave It and then ask him to do a couple more things. That helped stop any fixating behavior before it happened, he was too distracted to care. Maybe you can try that? Ask your boy to leave it, treat, and then ask for something else (a touch, heel position, spin, etc.) and treat after that.


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