"Leave It"

Last night at puppy class, the lesson was “leave it.” That is a lesson that has worked well for Rudy. He is pretty good about leaving anything dropped on the floor if he is told “Leave it.” Not perfect, but pretty good. Last night we cooked up another chicken hot dog and went off to class. The number of dogs was down by one. There was a shepherd in class last week that was very aggressive and pretty out of control. The trainer decided to do some private lessons with that dog so we were down to five dogs in the class.

Emme did pretty well with “leave it” but we have lots more practice time until she gets it completely. We started with a piece of treat in our closed fingers. We presented it to the puppy and said “Leave it.” We continued to repeat “Leave it” as long as the puppy continued to nibble for the treat. As soon as she looked away, we said “Yes” and gave her a treat from the other hand. As soon as the puppy learned that from one hand, we switched hands. When she got that figured out, we went to the floor. We put a treat on the floor, said “Leave it” and blocked the treat from the puppy with our fingers. As soon as she gave up trying to get the treat, we said “Yes, take it” and gave her another treat. Emme is persistent and didn’t lose interest in the “leave it” treat quickly but eventually she did look away and got rewarded.

It takes many repetitions to have it really sink in, but eventually she should be able to leave a treat put on the floor in front of her without a second thought. This could be a life saver if medicine or something dangerous dropped on the floor. It is an important lesson and she doesn’t know she is learning anything. She thinks she is playing the “leave it” game and she gets lots of pieces of chicken hot dog for doing it right.