Can you teach ‘Leave it’ to an 8 week old?

[Shamas mom]

Angel eats Everything!

I know, I know..it's normal. but wouldn't life be so much nicer if I didn't spend half the day fishing things out of her mouth instead of cleaning up? lol

She's absolutely taken with the little bits of paper left after shamas shreds a bag, and sheddings along the baseboard. This morning she ate a little bit of stuffing from Shamas' toy and now the vet's got her on a 48 hour watch in case it blocks anything.

 

[Ashley]

Yes you can - I started with Primrose the day she came home. Swap for a treat or a toy - don't chase her. I made it a game, and Primrose carries what she has to me and drops it - she will drop just about anything now (which is good, because I really did not want to touch the dead bird she found this morning). I use leave it for dropping things they already have (even a ball for retrieving) and wait for not touching things before they have it. But most people use "drop" or "give" as commands (I just happened to mix it up when Quinn was tiny and couldn't change my commands haha)

 

[Granca]

You can definitely try! I use ‘leave it’ for things that they are trying to grab but mustn’t have, but ‘drop it’ when it’s too late because it’s already been grabbed!

 

[Candy]

I think it took me about two years and it's not quite bomb proof yet.
She's still my GoodGirlJoy and the Best Dog in the World though and that's what matters most.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

She's still my GoodGirlJoy and the Best Dog in the World though and that's what matters most.

I love this.

I've taught Carbon both drop and leave it. In a training scenario, he's aces with both. But reality is that in daily life he's still a food-addicted Labrador and once I accepted that realised (like GGJ) he's the best dog in the world and that's what matters most, we do much better than when I was going out my mind over every bit of disgusting "food" he hoovered off the pavement.

 

[Selina27]

I've taught Carbon both drop and leave it. In a training scenario, he's aces with both. But reality is that in daily life he's still a food-addicted Labrador and once I accepted that realised (like GGJ) he's the best dog in the world and that's what matters most, we do much better than when I was going out my mind over every bit of disgusting "food" he hoovered off the pavement.

 

[M.F.]

Snowie will leave everything I ask him to leave. We started from the earliest days to let him know that he’ll either get it back or get something better. However… on a walk, if I say leave it, he’ll leave it, but if it’s too good to really leave, as soon as he’s off leash, he’ll hotfoot it back to gobble up. Unbelievable memory!!! It can be well into the walk when he comes off leash. It’s too dangerous to risk his running back into the road, so for example yesterday he found a deli container with a beautiful sandwich and chips (with a layer of rain water! It had been raining hard). I think the person must’ve dropped it as they got out of their car. I didn’t feel like waiting in the road for him to eat it, so I picked it up (he was totally ok with that) and carried it to the path onto the mountain. And then let him eat it there.