- Home
- How-to guides
- How to teach leave it
Leave it
How to teach leave it
Leave it is prevention: it stops the dog before the chicken bone, the dead crab or the dropped pill is in its mouth. It is a different skill from drop it, which empties a mouth that is already full. The method feels backwards at first, because the dog earns its reward by choosing not to take something, and it only works if that reward beats what it gave up.
Before you start
Before you start, stock two kinds of treat: boring ones to leave and better ones to pay
The whole game rests on a value gap. The item to be left is something ordinary, a piece of kibble or a dull biscuit; the pay is something better, cheese or chicken, delivered from your other hand or a pouch. The AKC's guidance is plain on this point: the treat on the floor is never the reward. If the dog ever gets the item it left, it learns that waiting politely is simply a slower way to get it.
You will also need a leash and a plan for your feet. From the floor stage on, the dog wears a leash so it cannot dive for something you miss, and you cover food with a shoe rather than a hand, which keeps you upright in the position you will use on a walk. Keep sessions to a few minutes and end with an easy win, because this exercise asks a dog for a lot of self-control.
- Low-value items to leave: kibble, a plain biscuit
- High-value pay: cheese or chicken, from your other hand
- A leash from the floor stage onward
- Sessions of a few minutes, ending on a win
The steps
Eight steps take leave it from a closed fist to a row of treats on the floor
Start with food in a closed fist held at the dog's nose level. The dog will lick, nudge and paw. Stay still and silent. The moment it pulls its nose away, even for a second, mark and pay from the other hand. Within a few sessions most dogs back off the fist on purpose. Then open the hand, ready to close it again, and pay the dog for leaving food it can see and smell.
The floor stage changes the picture. Put a treat down and cover it with your shoe; pay the dog for looking away or up at you. Lift your foot an inch, then more. Only when the dog leaves an uncovered treat without being asked do you add the words leave it, just before the food goes down. The final indoor test is a row of treats a few feet apart, walked past on leash, with pay from your hand at each one.
- 01
Hold a plain treat in a closed fist at your dog's nose and wait silently through the licking and pawing.
- 02
Mark the instant the dog pulls its nose away, and pay with a better treat from your other hand.
- 03
Open your hand with the treat on your palm, closing it if the dog lunges, and pay each time it holds back.
- 04
Clip on the leash, put the treat on the floor and cover it with your shoe; pay glances away and looks up at you.
- 05
Uncover the treat a little at a time, ready to cover it again, and keep paying the dog for leaving it.
- 06
When the dog ignores the uncovered treat, say leave it just before you drop the food, then pay.
- 07
Lay a row of treats a few feet apart, walk the dog past them on leash, and pay from your hand at each one.
- 08
Swap the food for a toy, a ball and then a sock, and repeat in the yard and on the sidewalk.
The beach version
On the beach, leave it is a leashed skill first, practiced on legal days and away from seals
The beach is the hardest room for leave it, so treat it as a new stage, not a test. At the time of writing, Gloucester allows dogs off leash on Good Harbor on even-numbered days from October 1 to March 31 and on Wingaersheek on odd-numbered days from October 1 to April 30, and the city requires that dogs always remain under their owner's control. Start on leash at the top of the sand, paying the dog for glancing away from the wrack line, and only later let out more line.
Wildlife needs leave it too. NOAA Fisheries advises keeping dogs leashed whenever seals are in the area, because seals can pass diseases to pets, and notes that gray seals pup between December and February in Massachusetts, in the middle of the dog season. Good Harbor closes to dogs from April 1 for nesting piping plovers. A leave it that turns your dog's head away from a resting seal or a plover fence is worth more than any trick.
- Good Harbor: even-numbered days, October 1 to March 31
- Wingaersheek: odd-numbered days, October 1 to April 30
- Seals in view: leash on, as NOAA advises
- Leashed practice at the top of the sand before the tide line
Mistakes we see
Leave it fails when the dog is paid with the left item, the cue is shouted or a stage is skipped
Picking up the floor treat and handing it to the dog teaches exactly the wrong lesson: wait politely and the thing comes to you. Pay from your other hand, always. The second failure is shouting leave it at a dog that has never practiced around that item. The AKC's advice is not to use the cue if you know the dog will not respond, because every ignored cue is practice at ignoring you. Manage that moment with the leash and train it later.
The third is jumping from the kitchen to the street. A dog that leaves kibble under your shoe has not yet learned to leave a pizza crust on the sidewalk; it needs the toy stage, the yard and a leashed walk past planted items first. Snatching things away or yelling mid-grab only teaches a dog to grab faster. If something dangerous goes into the mouth anyway, switch to a drop it trade, which is its own skill.
- Paying with the item the dog left
- Using the cue before it can succeed
- Going straight from the kitchen to the sidewalk
- Snatching or yelling when the dog grabs
When to call us
Call us when your dog guards what it finds or cannot look away from food outdoors
If your dog freezes, growls or gulps faster when you approach something it has found, that is guarding, not a missing cue, and it needs a different plan. Polished Pup, our 10-week Level 3 program, is designed for complex cases including resource guarding. For a young dog who simply cannot think around food outdoors, impulse control is a core part of Bright Beginnings, for pups from four months, and of the Dean's List Canine Campus, four weeks of hybrid day training with pick-up and drop-off.
The two-week Advanced board and train adds distraction proofing and real-world outings to the Foundation skills, then sends you home with two scheduled coaching lessons. Dogtown Academy days, $89 full or $69 half, include a training session with our trainer every day, which suits a dog whose leave it needs regular practice. Private sessions start from $94. Tell us what your dog goes for on the training form, and the team replies within an hour on business days.
At Dogtown
Impulse control, taught
Bright Beginnings, Dean's List Canine Campus, the Advanced board and train and Polished Pup for guarding, all force-free.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
Do I need both leave it and drop it?
Why can't I give my dog the treat it left?
How long does leave it take to teach?
Can leave it work for other dogs, people or cats?
Should I say leave it in a firm voice?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
- AKC: the leave it command
- NOAA Fisheries: share the shore with seals
- City of Gloucester: beach information
- City of Gloucester: dog regulations
Rules and dates change. We re-check every beach, licensing and ordinance page each spring and fall; the source above is the current word.
Keep reading
Next step
Look away, get paid.
Tell us what your dog goes for on walks and how it reacts when you get close. The training team answers within the hour on business days.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
