Training "Leave It"

I am hardly a dog trainer. I was really proud when we taught our Great Dane to sit years ago. But as the handler of service dogs that go out in public, constant and continuous training is required to maintain sharpness in the dog, and to get the dog to fit your lifestyle. So we try and work some kind of obedience training/work into every single day.

We take these dogs everywhere with us, and most of the time, that means kids are around. The also means potential food being carried at dog height, food being dropped, toys, all kinds of fun things for a lab to grab. Perhaps your going out to a restaurant, and need to put your dog under the table. Is there stray french fries down there? Perhaps a half eaten churro at an amusement park? Or maybe something really dangerous to dogs like chocolate or grapes. Having a dog that knows "leave it" can make your life easier.



In this installment of "Frank's crappy videos", we see my daughter working with Raven. Raven is our much more impulsive dog, much more likely to pick up anything that happens to cross her path. Here, we have her on a sit/stay, and Stella has placed a small pile of kibble along the way. Raven watched it get placed, and I gave her a leave it, then Stella gave her the "come" command. Let's see how she does:

Major is much better at the "leave it" command, but I will start amping it up with him in an effort to make it very rock solid.  Other ideas could include a sandwich, a favorite toy, or rolling a tennis ball across the dogs path.

Team Blackdogsrule