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Teaching the leave it cue on walks.

This would look like, when completed, the car passing the dog and you say your leave it cue on time. Which means the dog “leaves the item alone” and looks towards you for their treat for looking away and not reacting.

I’d also like to condition the dog to liking the stimuli (visual of car coming towards him) a little more to make his less stressed about the idea. The first impression counts and I believe as soon as he sees a car I would like to have some sort of yippee response even if it’s small since this is the first step of the sequence (dog notices car coming towards them. This would start with being away as far as possible to where he won’t react and having a helper and their car drive very slowly just about ten feet. Probably need to work in an empty parking lot or your neighborhood. No cues for this yet but as soon as your dog notices the car moving throw treats down before he even thinks about getting tense or moving towards car. Do this a few times still being far away. I was thinking of this before had to have the dog have some sort of association of seeing the car moving before the training begins.

Next teaching leave it on walks starts at home. Of course having the prerequisitethe cue learned already but taking it to the streets for different objects not being on the floor is different. I start at home with their normal walking gear on and having a handful of treats in hand. I walk a feet with the dog like normal ( treats behind my back) as soon as he’s not looking at me throw the treats far away in front of both of you. Hold onto the leash making sure he can’t get to them , don’t pull or yank it’s just a hold in place. Say leave it cue and wait for the dog to turn and look at you. As soon as he does run away in opposite direction reward him for doing so, also lots of praise and yippee energy and try this out a few times and in your back yard.

Following: practice leave it on walks with different stimuli (dogs, people,)

Then move to on cars but the distance being the main parameter to really concentrate on not pushing too far. Start off on a calm quiet area and a helper friend driving the past you. Be far away as needed to begin without the dog showing body language signs of wanting to react. Work your way up to closing in on the distance.

Also keep in mind you might have to say leave it a few times even as the car passes if he keeps looking back at it and until the car is far way enough to not worry about it. But only do this if he has succeeded in performing each time you said it. Don’t repeat yourself to get him to respond. Say it once and wait for him to look at you then reward. Sometimes the car can seem so long in passing that you might need another “leave it” as it’s driving away.

If you notice any barking or wanting to lunge be quick to turn around or create distance and try again or go back a step.

This is just a rough draft of thoughts on training. David did you mean a written out step by step training plan for this Part 2 ? I can also write that out if needed for this workshop. TIA