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How and when should we utilize Leave It?
We know that teaching Leave It is important for our clients, but are there specific parameters for leave it that we should be discussing with our clients? Here’s a short clip of client of mine working with her German Shepherd Dog who gets very excited by car movement. When he sees other cars he reacts by pulling towards it and at times will bark and lunge.
Can you find one thing she is doing well, and one thing that could use a little work?
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24 Replies
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I think it’s good that she has the dog on her left side and she’s keeping the leash short so that her body is able to block the dog from the passing car a bit. I would probably encourage her to next time try saying the command just once and instead of slowing down to just keep walking so the dog doesn’t have a chance to get triggered.
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@marcybel great observations. Using her body as a visual/physical barrier is a definite consideration.
Can you expand on your thought about giving the cue once?
For all of you, do you feel like the dog was able to offer the behavior (leave it) in this particular situation?
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Thanks @AmyMc . She should only give the cue once otherwise the dog may learn that the cue is “leave it, leave it, leave it, leave it” instead of “leave it.”
As far as him offering the behavior in this particular situation – he didn’t bark and lunge, which is good. However, he did move towards the car and it looked as though he could have reverted back to reactive behavior. That’s why I suggested she continue moving forward so as not to give him a chance to practice that. If while she’s moving forward, he continues to remain more “interested” in the passing car, she could lure him forward with a treat or play “go find it” and scatter some rewards on the road.
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@marcybel i LOVE the suggestion to keep walking/keep moving as I agree that while he is not barking/lunging he seems very focused on other trigger and there may be some hyper arousal (staring, body tension).
Can I keep it going since all of your suggestions have been so fantastic? If this were your client, how would you have kept him walking along? What skills would you have suggested?
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Of course @AmyMc – thanks for keeping me thinking!
Instead of slowing down and allowing the dog to get in front of her, I would have her stay in “moving mode.” If need be, she can move her body in order to block that space he’s trying to move into. In the video, you could almost feel her holding her breath hoping he would make the right choice and I’m sure he felt that too. That’s why it’s so important, like @Jenz said, to keep that tension off the leash.
If she has taught him a “touch” cue, she could try something like that to get his attention focused on something other than the car. She could also try a pattern game like “1-2-3-treat.” I have a dog who used to be reactive to pretty much everything on our walks. If I could catch her before she had a chance to show any inkling of a trigger, cues like this could work. However, if she was already showing signs of being triggered, cues like this would be tuned right out. In that situation, I would hold treats in front her mouth, using them as a lure, and then pop them in her mouth the second the distraction went by. When all else fails and I’m ill prepared, I say “go find it,” throw a bunch of treats in the other direction and hope for the best lol.
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@marcybel YES!!! Your suggestions for options to keep him focused on his handler while moving along/away from the trigger are excellent! I absolutely love pattern games and 1-2-3 is one of my absolute favorites.
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In my opinion, she starts off nicely with her arms appearing relaxed until she knows the car is approaching, then stops her own movement and tightens the leash. I would keep the leash loose, for several reasons. To name one, to give the dog the chance to make the right decision, on his own, with no tension on his neck.
Thanks for sharing!
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Great point about the tension on the leash @jenz . How do you think this might have affected his response?
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@AmyMc
My first 2 thoughts watching were;
1. as she stops and pulls the leash tight, tension is added and that perhaps the dog is sensing her possible stress/anxiety or sense of anticipation. The dog could simply be responding to her stress. “If she is concerned about this, maybe I should be, too”
2. Opposition reflex
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@jenz exactly!!! That tension can definitely “travel down the leash”. Great points.
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She had a good start. Kept dog on the side, handler acting as a barrier. Kept not so tensed leash. Praises and let’s go.
I would do the same, but ask ‘leave it’ once and reward. Always carry treat pouch on walks. I also would have kept moving forward and not let the dog walk past me to the other side when car drove past.
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@rads two really good things I like and want to stress about your observations:
1. Always taking treats!!
2. Giving the cue once and then reinforcing if he “disengaged” from the car.
More to come on this topic tomorrow!
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This is another leave it video. The antecedent arrangement is different (no moving cars) but I want you to look at it and tell me what is different about the sequence of events as opposed to the initial video.
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Hi Amy- I am so glad we are talking about this topic. This is the #1 issue I see with most clients. In this video you toss a treat and the dog starts to go after it, then you are cueing the dog to leave it and when the dog responds by halting movement towards the treat you give two more cues for behaviors the dog knows and completes before rewarding, then you reward the dog with the “leave it” treat.
I’m so interested in this chain. Are the cues for known behaviors self rewarding? Does this sequence strengthen response to the leave it cue? I’m wondering how since the reward is so far removed from response to the leave it cue. Thanks for the video.
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In this video, she waits for the dog to sit, then tosses the treat away. The dog is in motion when she asks for the “leave it”. The dog has made the choice to “leave it”, indicating to me that the dog understands the cue. In the video with the car, the dog is physically held back and asked to “leave it”.
Once the pup here “leaves it”, she then asks for a sit, then a touch before rewarding. Is she intentionally creating a behavior chain with this?
Thanks!
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@abbie and @jenz thanks for your astute observations.
When my girl Gemma is given the leave it cue and stops her forward motion to interact, I immediately cue sit, then touch. I was not trying to create a chain (although that is a good observation), those are just 2 of many behaviors she knows well and loves to offer. I will popcorn different behaviors, and actually avoid cueing any in the same order. The number of behaviors cued can vary, as can which behaviors I cue. The important thing is that I give her additional behaviors to offer rather than repeating “leave it” or leaving her in limbo, unsure what she CAN do after she ceases movement towards the object.
As @marcybel suggested, for the German Shepherd in the first video, a pattern game, nose target or watch me could’ve all been used to keep him moving and keep his focus on his owner. I always recommend to my clients that they can and should use leave it, but then encourage them to cue additional behavior/s immediately after to give the dog something else to do and avoid frustration or anxiety.
You all did an amazing job of breaking these videos down and offered some wonderful observations and tips. Fantastic job!!
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Wahoo! What a lovely learning opportunity and discussion you all engaged in, here! Thank you, @AmyMc for bringing these great samples and for leading the discussion. @Marcybel @Abbie @RADS @Jenz – you all added so many great insights to this discussion. Look what you all did, together! This is why we built this community. I’m so stoked to see you all engaging and learning together. Thanks, each of you, for your contributions!
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good that she had dog on far side of her. Practice with cars going really slowly (will probably have to set this up with neighbors/ friends). Use leave it command just once and treat immediately as soon as dog focuses on trainer. if they do not leave it, no treat. Distraction would also work, lure them to the left, in a left turn circle to distract from the car so they can be successful.
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@HollyJMartinez I love that you mention what to do if the dog is struggling, using what I call a treat magnet to move the dog along and keep its attention. Management is key in those situations. Great point!
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I agree with giving the cue once. I would also encourage practicing the “leave it” command with lower distractions to help establish your expectations when you say “leave it”. Lower distractions, verbal praise, and high value rewards are likely to reinforce the behavior you want with your dog. Once your dog is successfully practicing “leave it” in the house, try setting up different distractions in your yard. While keeping your dog in the yard, move him to an area that he can see the cars go by. Before your dog feels any tension about the approaching car, get his attention by verbally praising him. When he looks towards you, toss him a treat while continuously praising him.
Playing the look game without the cars helps to build the association of your “praise phrase”(that’s catchy, isn’t it?) with good treats. He hears your praises, looks at you (the new distraction), and gets the treats or toys.
The dog willingly walked away with the owner so there’s already a positive foundation started to build upon.
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@Lis woot woot!! Looking for the positive (the dog DID walk away) is so important to recognize.
“Praise phrase”…..I like it!!???? Can you elaborate on what that process looks like? He looks at the car and you say the same phrase each time? Do you then begin to use the phrase as a car is approaching or is it always in response to them looking at the car?
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As the car approaches, you begin repeating the same “Praise phase”. Eventually, through the repeated exercises of conditioning this behavior of calmness and not reacting, he will look to you for the reward, instead of watching and reacting to the cars.
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I agree with the other responses about given the verbal cue once and she was holding the leash properly. Also she could of attempted to block the dog’s view. I did see her turning the dog toward the car vs turning the other way away from the distraction especially if she knows the dog will pull and lunge. The owner or dog handler must try and see what’s coming before the dog, BLOCK and or turn and walk the other way way and redirect and then turn back after the car drives by. I also have had people have their dog sit by their side and WATCH performed with providing several treats and lots of praise for a well -controlled and calm dog .
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All these great comments. I’m trying to catch up again. We enjoyed some time with family. But I’m learning so much from all of the great things I can read in here.
I definitely need to work on advancing the “leave it” behaviour for my dogs.
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