How do you get a dog to leave?

Teaching your dog to drop things, or to leave it, is the most effective way of getting them to let go of anything they’re not supposed to have. Teaching your dog to “drop it” is much more effective than chasing them or trying to take things off them by hand. Chasing a dog who has something in their mouth will turn this into a fun game and they will learn to run away from you instead. You can teach your dog to “drop it” using a portion of their food or some of their toys, depending on what motivates your dog the most. If your dog doesn’t drop the toy, don’t try and take it from them, instead, stay calm and try to distract your dog with food instead. Some dogs may prefer toys to food and therefore are unlikely to drop them in exchange for a food reward, if this is the case with your dog, you will need to trade one toy for another. This is a great exercise for dogs who like to run away with toys, your dog will eventually learn that without you, the toy’s much less fun, so will be more likely to bring them back. Once your dog is consistently dropping the first toy when you show them the second one, you can introduce your cue word, “drop”, to start, practice as before, and say “drop” as your dog lets go of the toy. Keep doing this, and when your dog is immediately letting go of the toy when they hear the word “drop” you can move on to asking them to simply “drop” the first toy without using a second one.

To teach your dog to leave something, start with a toy and encourage your dog to play with it for a few seconds. Place a handful of super tasty treats on the floor next to them and let them make the choice to move from the toy to the food on their own. Once they have finished their treat, let them play with the toy again and repeat this a few times, making it a fun game that your dog enjoys. When your pup has hold of the toy, say your fair-trade cue and place a handful of tasty treats to the side, once your pup releases the toy for the treats, tell them they are good and reward them. To help teach your puppy not to pick an item up, you can teach them how to 'leave it' by holding a tasty treat in one hand and a boring ‘leave it’ item in the other. Hold the hand with the item out, let them sniff and wait for them to look or move away from it, when they do, mark this and reward them with the tasty treat from the other hand. Say “leave”, hold out the ‘leave it’ item out, then as you pooch looks away, mark and reward them. If at any point your dog is struggling to leave it, go back to a stage where they were successful and progress more slowly. If your pup gets hold of something they shouldn't, remember to use your fair trade to swap it for something better.

Wait for your dog to back off from your hand, even just slightly or for a moment. As soon as they back off and there's a small gap between your hand and your dog's nose, open your hand, release the treat and give them lots of praise. Once your dog is consistently moving away from the treat, you can start to add in the cue word 'leave'. Say this in a gentle tone as they back off and then open your hand to give them the treat and lots of praise. Place a treat on your open palm so that your dog can see and smell it. Ask your dog to leave it by saying 'leave'. If your dog stays away from the treat, reward them with lots of praise and a treat from the other hand. If your dog goes to take the treat from your open palm, simply close your hand up and wait for them to back away. Give them a treat from the other hand when they successfully manage to leave the treat in your open hand.