Here’s how to teach your dog the ‘leave it’ cue, according to one trainer

One of the most important things you can teach your dog is to ‘leave it’. It’s a cue that’s very simple, but could go as far as even saving your dog’s life.

If your dog is eyeing up something that could be dangerous for them to eat or play with, teaching them the ‘leave it’ cue means that they’re much more likely to leave it alone, keeping themselves out of harm’s way – especially as they might get one of the best dog treats instead!

So, how can we teach our dogs this all-important cue? Expert dog trainer Juliana DeWillems, owner and head trainer at JW Dog Training & Behavior , has offered some advice in a recent Instagram post.

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“When I don’t want a dog to approach or consume something dangerous, like food on sidewalks or medication I drop at home, I use my ‘leave it’ cue,” explains DeWillems.

In the caption, she continues, “Safety is one of the many reasons why training your dog is important. I train a ‘leave it’ cue to intervene if my dog is approaching or investigating something I don’t want them to ingest.”

We think that it’s one of the most vital cues to teach – it’s one of our most important dog commands ! So, how do you train it? DeWillems advises going through the following steps with your pup:

Mark and reward eye contact anytime the dog looks at you.

Pair the cue ‘leave it’ with eye contact.

Practice cueing the dog to orient to you when you say ‘leave it’ without any distractions.

Add easy distractions, like boring (generally non-food) items.

Work up to more difficult distractions, like dropped food.

DeWillems explains in the caption that she uses eye contact as the behavior attached to the cue because if the dog is looking at her, they aren’t looking at or going for the item. She says, “Turning their attention to me is an incompatible replacement behavior to reaching for and grabbing something dangerous.”

She adds in her video, “In order for this cue to work around challenging distractions on walks, like those pesky chicken bones or someone’s lunch trash, I practice a lot and make sure I’m heavily rewarding the dog anytime they look at me and disengage from something when I cue ‘leave it’.

Training the ‘leave it’ cue isn’t difficult, but does require plenty of patience and positive reinforcement for long-term reliability. Put the hard work in now, and it’s likely to pay off further down the line! It could even end up saving your dog from getting hurt or becoming unwell, so it’s definitely worth it.

If you’re struggling with your dog getting distracted while off their leash on walks, meanwhile, here are 15 helpful ways to get your dog to come back to you on off-leash walks .

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