Don’t teach leave it

Most dog owners - even ones who have never trained their own dogs - have in mind a list of behaviors that they think all dogs should know. Sit, lay down, stay, and come when called are usually at the top of that list. Leave It is another core behavior that many trainers teach; it seems important, especially for the service dogs that I train, but it’s one that I almost never teach. And for good reason.

Dogs are inherently curious, and enjoy investigating everything, by touching it or grabbing it in their mouthes. But the human world is covered in things that are dangerous for dogs to touch or mouthe, or that are simply valuable to us. Leave It is often seen as a solution: trainers tell you that you should be able to say Leave It and your dog will stop doing whatever it is he was about to do.

But here’s the trouble with Leave It: it doesn’t tell the dog what *to* do. “Don’t touch that” doesn’t give the dog information about what you want him to do. And it doesn’t give you a specific behavior to reward when he does successfully Leave It. 
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​This is the essence of training: We give the dog a cue. He then does the one specific behavior that cue is asking him to do. When we see him do the behavior, we can reward him with a treat, or even just with petting and praise

Cue -> Behavior -> Consequence

Say “Sit” - the dog puts his tushie on the ground - we tell him “good boy” 

You and your dog will be most successful with training when you follow this formula, as you and the dog both communicate clearly about what you want and what he can do to make you happy. But if we apply this formula to Leave It:

Say “Leave It” - the dog *stops* - is that good enough?

​​Leave It expects the absence of a behavior. And the absence of a behavior can’t easily be rewarded.

And here’s another thing:

Let’s say you’ve trained Leave It and your dog knows what to do when you say Leave It. He knows that if he does the right behavior he will get a reward: attention from you, praise, petting, maybe even a treat. Well, dogs are smart and can figure out that if they want a reward, all they have to do is make you say Leave It. And how do they make you say Leave It? By doing the thing you don’t want them to do in the first place.

If he wants more “good boys,” he will jump on the counter again to make you say Leave It. 

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Jump on counter -> “Leave It” ->
​get off counter and get attention
Who’s training who?

What’s the alternative? Don’t reward when he obeys your Leave It cue? Guess how long he’ll continue obeying your Leave It cue if you stop praising him for doing so?

Instead of training Leave It, there are a couple of better options:

• Redirect away from behaviors you don’t want the dog to do, and toward behaviors that are better options. For example, if he’s jumping on the counter, instead of saying “no” or “leave it,” call your dog over to you and reward him when he comes to you. This solves the immediate problem of the dog on the counter, but you’re not done yet: now give him something else to do so that he stops thinking about the counter. You can take him outside, give him a chew bone, put him in the crate or on a tether, etc. Then praise him again when he chooses to do that good behavior. ​

This little guy has learned to stay on his bed in the play room, so that he doesn’t chew the kids’ toys!

• ​Train Incompatable Behaviors: think ahead to behaviors you want your dog to do that will make it difficult for him to go after a distraction. I like to teach dogs to do a down-stay when I’m in the kitchen, so that I don’t have to worry about them jumping on the counter. I encourage and reward service dogs in public to walk very close to me so that distractions are farther away and less tempting. Eventually the incompatable behaviors become second-nature and the dogs will forget about trying to get the distractions.

Click here for a demonstration of using the treat as a cue for eye contact!

• ​​​Use the distraction as a cue for eye contact: This is my favorite way of handling distractions but it does take the most training ahead of time. To start, show your dog a treat in your hand but don’t let him steal it out of your hand. Hold the treat and don’t say anything, just be still and wait and eventually he should look at you in the eyes. As soon as he does, hand him the treat out of your hand and praise him. He will learn that ignoring the treat and looking at you is the best way to get the treat. With practice, dogs can learn to give you eye contact whenever all sorts of distractions are around, which is especially important for service dogs in public! ​

Leave It can work for some dogs in some situations. But if you’ve been frustrated about your dog not obeying when you say “Leave It,” maybe it’s time to look at other training options. 

As always, feel free to contact Elizabeth at any of Alabama Dog Academy’s social media platforms, or click the Contact button below!  

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