" LEAVE IT " - Page 1

I taught it with the food dish while the dog is on leash - this has worked with many dogs. Put a tiny bit of food in the dish, put it down and say "leave it." We'd start with a couple seconds, and work up from there, using a leash correction of the dog goes for the food. After a set amount of time (keep it really short to start with) give the release command - "okay."

If you pair a verbal correction with the leash correction (ours is "uh-uh") you can train the dog to respond to the verbal correction.
Don't do this procedure if the dog is food aggressive; try with a toy. The point is to get the dog to wait until you say it's okay. If the dog has learned "watch me," you can give this command to keep the dog's attention while he's waiting.

Now it works with birds, cats, other dogs, the kids' food, the trash can, etc. and I only need to use a verbal correction.

Opal

            Thanks I like the comments so far....This advise will work very well most of the time but what about when we are walking in the yard and he snatches up a pile of cat poop faster than lighting...Everyday we walk in the yard and everyday he snatches up piles of cat poop and grass cuttings etc. I know he knows better ,but he does it anyway and by the time I give the command it is too late. I feel frustrated because he is getting away with this behavior and it is becoming a nasty habit. 

                                                                         Ruger1

Wolfinbok.....you are very funny. Do you think that the command is too long???? Something shorter hmm???

Probably the command I hate most in the dog world and will NEVER, NEVER use.  Makes me cringe every time I hear a knucklehead use it and tells me they either learned obedience at some pet store chain (names withheld because I choose to) or from a book.

     Phil Behun,           \
  I am not fully accustom to the sarcasm on this site....Is this sarcasm? Are you calling me a knuckle head?
  
    I have never attended pet store chain obedience classes. As a matter of fact the obedience trainers that I have worked      with have one of the best reputations in the country and have the highest titled dogs in their training venue......so THERE!!!, Yikes.....please do not respond to posts that you have nothing constructive to add to. 

                                                        Ruger1

Soooo, Phil, since you hate 'leave it' so very much, why don't you share how YOU teach a dog to refrain from snagging a piece of cat feces, or pestering another animal, or chasing chickens at the wrong moment, or not scarfing up an ibuprofen tablet you accidently dropped while taking some for a headache?   In daily living, I not only want my dogs to release things they've got in their mouths, I also want to tell them I don't want them to put some things in their mouths in the first place, and 'leave it' works nicely for that.

Wolfinbok, better to save the 'aus' command for formal work, for the dumbbell in OB and the sleeve/suit/helper in bitework, and have a separate command that's used for situations like the ones I described above.   A sharply-stated 'leave it' has just as much snap to it as a firm 'aus'. 

Ruger, the squirt gun would have been a waste of time for my dogs--they think getting shot with water pistols, spritz bottles and the like is great fun, not a punishment.  I've always just taught 'leave it', along with 'drop it', as the opportunities presented themselves.  Yes, it meant that at times I was having to manually remove icky stuff from the dog's mouth, but I figured it was either that, or end up cleaning up icky stuff after the dog barfed it back up in the house.  Just keep reinforcing it whenever your dog tries to snag something you don't want him to have, or starts doing something you don't want him to do, and then praise him when he complies...even if you have to physically intervene to get that compliance.  He'll catch on with repetition and rewards.

Say pfui instead. Then everyone will think you know what you're talking about, and that's half the battle right there!