Seven works on "Leave it" - Part 8 of Training Time

Seven and I are having a great time in class!  We recently started working on "Leave it" and Seven is quickly catching onto this game. 

 

Had I known how easy this is to teach -  it would have saved me a lot of trouble with Catty who can be a walking vacuum cleaner on walks!

 

It's a pretty easy process.  You start out with holding the item (food) in your closed hand.  The dog will nudge to get at the food and when he stops and begins to look away from your hand with the food -  mark and reward that behavior.  AND make sure to reward with your other hand - never the hand that the food is in.

 

Seven figured this out quickly and he looks at my hand and then looks at me.  I mark and reward him with my other hand.

 

Next I put the food on the ground with my hand over it.  Same thing - the dog may nuzzle it but when he looks towards you mark and reward.

And then you can see the next step.  Good boy Seven!
 

 

 

And the smart boy has figured the game out!  I toss in some easy "touch" and we are all done for this training session.

 

All of this took under ten minutes!

 

Seven and I will continue working on "Leave It", eventually practicing it in different environments.

Stay tuned as you well see "Leave it" again because I'm going to teach this to Catty!