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"Leave It" command

Discussion in 'Sheltie Training' started by coopersmom, Mar 1, 2009.

  1. romeosangiovese

    romeosangiovese Forums Enthusiast

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    How do you train an emergency leave it? Is it any different? Or just a different cue? Kind of like an emergency recall?
     
  2. Caro

    Caro Moderator

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    Jan 14, 2009
    It is like a leave it with an emergency recall or emergency drop. We did this in one of the classes I went to and its really handy (when it works). The idea is to teach the dog in steps to back away from the item, then look at you for instructions, then to do a recall or a distance drop.

    Your dog needs to know how to back up first. Then you start with an object (I brought a cheap plastic snake), get them to go near it (eg wiggle it around) then make the sound and teach them to back away when you make the sound (mine sound is 'aaahhhh'). Once we mastered the snake we tried a variety of other objects so they didn't associate the sound just with the snake.

    When they learnt to back away on the sound we introduced more distance between me and the dog and taught them to look at me after backing away.
    Once they get that we added a recall or distance drop on the end (the distance drop we learnt seperately). Once we mastered all that we moved on to harder things like food and bones. It is actually pretty easy to teach - the sound alone usually gets their attention and makes them back off.

    I've used it to keep them away from spiky wild life, cooked bones and cars and it has worked well. Tried using it for skateboards but it hasn't worked. Only problem is to remember to make the sound and not just scream out "tully you little s***!" So pick a sound you would use in a panic.
     
  3. romeosangiovese

    romeosangiovese Forums Enthusiast

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    Thanks for the detailed tip!! The training steps are very clear. It does sound like a useful thing to train. I will work on this with Romeo too.

    Hahaha! That is a good point - pick a sound you would remember when panicking! (How people can scream "Yahoo!" as their emergency recall cue when they are freaking out, I will never understand!) I really should think of tattooing these emergency cues on my hand or something. I'm bound to forget!
     

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