Leave!!

No not you!... I was teaching Rocky the leave command After reading GSDLovers blog, and how he is teaching Blondi the leave command, I thought I would try it out on Rocky.

Essentially it boils down to:

See his blog entry for more.

So with treat in the palm of my hand, I lowered it to his level then watched him try to get it, soon as he got close to the hand, I snapped it shut and said leave (in a calm gentle voice).

After about 7 or 8 repeats he got the idea, and then instead of going back to get it from my hand, he would sit there and 'leave' it (at which point you give him the treat and praise him for 'good leave').

I then progressed to dropping a treat on the floor and again, saying 'leave' whenever he went to get it. After a small while he soon got the hang of things and when he did as commanded, and left the treat on the floor I would give him the treat that was in my hand.

I also followed the advice not to let him have treats of the floor, so always the treat he got was from my hand.

I am surprised at how quickly he has learnt this - well done Maz and Rob for sharing your tips.

[ps, his previous leave command was basically a 'come here' which was more of an aversion tactic, but worked none the less]

Well done Azz & Rocky.... now try it with your dinner... go on I dare ya hehe....

Great stuff

Excellent, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's been pinching the training tips lol

Well done Rocky, I think a good leave command is essential and ours learn it while still very young, they frequently lay on the floor with a treat between their front paws waiting for the o.k

yes your visit from Rob did us All a favour I think, I too am copying the tips from your blog - so keep 'em commin'.

We have taught Harley the leave command and he is great with it indoors but not so good when it comes to "leaving" horse poo. Please tell me I don't have to pick some up and do the hand closing thing with that!!!!!!!!!

Nice job Rocky!
I'm so glad you are blogging all this Azz, as its lovely to hear of Rocky's progress. Well done

Well done both of you

My three are very good with the 'leave' command. I have known to put a treat onto a table, and then ignored it. They sit there for ages, waiting for me to tell them to take it. I do put them out of thier misery however lol.

Unfortunatly it doesn't work with Luca when it's on the kitchen worktops lol

I am teaching skye it at the moment and she seems to be doing well. Storm, Jake and Star were brill at it but when they had left for how long i wanted and i told them to "go on then" Storm and Jake would take theirs while Star still sat looking sad at his treat, which normally led to it being "stormed"

Its amazing how quick they learn the leave command. Finn was taught it at puppy classes before he learned anything else. Works as long as someone is there to say leave to Finn.

Well done x