How To Teach Your Puppy To Leave It - Professional Dog Training Tips 

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"Leave it" isn't working! It feels more like I'm training the dog to "Do the thing that I know I will get a 'Leave It' command and then I get a treat". For instance, I don't want the dog to chew on the TV stand. She'll go chew on the stand on purpose in order to get a treat. She never looks at it and says "Don't do it", she looks at it and says "If I do it and they see me, I get a treat". Seriously frustrating.

have you achieved your goals

Agreed

agreed. my puppy just starts nipping and scratching my hands.

You have to get their attention first no matter what you're doing.

Ya it is funny all these training videos that use already trained dogs. Not a good indication of how difficult it can be to train a dog.

I’ve been doing this with my puppy the first stage when you close your hand he’s learned to not eat it until I say yes now I’m gonna move on to the second strange leaving it on the floor

Having a reliable “Leave it” is really important. Especially for a puppy! Nice job, Mya! Thanks for watching ~Ken

Yep. So many trainers use these dogs

Great! That is good timing. Happy Training! ~Ken

Great work, Alice! It’s a great skill to teach early. Remember to use lots of reinforcement for great choices and avoid over-facing him too much. Your “Leave It” will be a really helpful skill with your puppy training! Thanks for watching! ~Ken

Glad you found it helpful, lilyraelene! Thanks for watching ~Ken

Glad you found it helpful, Rachel! Thanks for watching! ~Ken

3 things. 1. Thank you so much! We appreciate you!!! 2. You should subscribe to our channel so you never miss our amazing content 3. We have online students in Poland! You should join us! Email onlinetraining@mccanndogs.com Happy Training! ~ Dan

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Thanks, George! Yes, she is pretty speedy for sure! Makes for exciting demonstrations😉. Thanks for watching! ~Ken

Great idea, kalanix51! Have fun with this exercise! Thanks for watching! ~Ken

Hey, Karla! Yes, the initial impulse control exercise is a good way to really build some value on you, while teaching the puppy that they get to "choose". It is important to do your best to not let the puppy take the item that you're working so hard to have them "leave". It's not going to ruin your training session, but it is going to make it more challenging for your puppy to be successful since they will see more value in that distraction. With that said, it IS important to work your dog on a distraction that they find IRRESISTIBLE once you have given them a solid foundation of understanding. These real-life challenges are things that you may one day have to face with your dog. And you need to make sure you have proofed even the most challenging distraction with your dog if you are going to call it a "life saving" skill. It needs to be 100% reliable, or it isn't reliable at all. That's a great question though!We do have some of our other skills saved in our Grade 1 Students Playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PL7BBgLulherklS42-x1r-a30DcpQhP3X2. We have several videos on the topics you mentioned, and when I get a chance I'll try to collect some of them into a playlist. We're almost at 500 videos on the channel now so it may take me a while to go through them all;) I will be sure to put something together for you though! Thanks for watching! ~Ken

I agree that most of these videos are amazing but this one isn’t an effective way of teaching the “leave it “ command. We should not reward the dog with the same treat that is on the floor. “Leave it” for the dog should mean he can’t get it at all from the floor. Treats should always come from your hand. So I suggest to treat your dog from your hand after he leaves whatever is on the floor. It worked with my chow which is one of the most difficult dogs to train. Try and let me know. Cheers.

Hoodiebird .My seven month old cocker spaniel is doing the same always finding things she should not eat often smelly and horrible 😭😭.

You can't.

I have the same trouble with my dog. After a few times you can sometimes tell when she is sniffing something other than the ground. Like her intensity is heightened. The other thing I am going to try is throw a piece of ham in the grass and do the above exercise. Walk past it a few times and do same in another area. Good luck with your dogs x

@@suebrook655 We did that the last couple months and the dogs now leave stuff alone when we're practicing near food, but will eat it once I don't pay attention on them anymore. Next step is to work on proofing the behavior with my back turned.

Managing their environment more proactively, shorter leash or no long grass... Or keeping eye contact and engagement instead of nose to the ground when walking through long grass. Preventable with super management and building YOU as higher value than anything else, with way higher value toys or treats 🥰

That’s so nice to hear, AliDu! I’m glad you found the video so your pup could get good information. Training is a lot less fun when your hand is covered in bandages.. 😉 Happy Training! ~Ken

same issue here, even if asking for leave it she will quicker eat that then leave it or spit out of her mouth...

Hi there, Denise! We do that intentionally. We make sure to show each step along your training. If you feel like you’re struggling with a step, move back to the last step. If you still feel like you’re having trouble then consider which one of the 3 D’s your puppy finds challenging. Distance, duration and distraction are all things that will make things tougher for your puppy. Spend the time to ensure success in each progression and you’ll get 5 weeks worth of training exercises in a 5 minute video. Let me know if I can help you with a specific progression in the “Leave It” exercise. Happy Training! ~Ken

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Glad you found it so helpful, Brenda! Thanks for watching! ~Ken

Good question, Gina! I only have a moment to reply, but I didn’t want your comment to get lost before I could answer it. There are some activities that you can do with your dog that will help them to have more self control in these situations. Here is a video that will teach your husky mixes to be more thoughtful before diving after something they think is valuable: A Game That Teaches Your Dog Self-Control - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-G6ixdBkqsWI.html You could do a similar exercise where the food is placed on the ground. Or a toy or a stick or whatever. When they show you the attention, and look to you instead of at the object you can “yes” and reward them. Be sure to have some control by keeping a leash on them while working the exercise so they can’t self-reward by taking the object on the ground. If you’re stopped and chatting you need to make sure your dogs have a job. They should sit and just relax while you have your conversation. They could even lie at your side while you talk with a friend. These are all simple exercises to work on by building longevity into your sit and down when you can focus on training, before you meet someone on your walk. All of these kinds of things will help your dogs to have better self control. There will be instances where their curiosity can get them into trouble. These situations can only be avoided by supervision and awareness. It is important to keep an eye on them any time you’re in an environment that you don’t know is totally safe for them to investigate without your supervision. Hope this helps! Happy Training! ~Ken

Glad you found it helpful, Corinne! Thanks for watching!

Cool, glad you found it so helpful, Hpfan! Thanks for watching! ~Ken

Thank you! Both were fun to create! That's so nice to hear that about Yuuki, you two are an excellent team! ~Ken

Thank you, Cass! So glad you’re enjoying the channel! ~Ken