Obedience training
How do you teach a dog to leave it?
Last updated 23 September 2026 · How we write and check this
Short answer
Close a low value treat in your fist and let the dog sniff, lick and paw at it without giving in, saying "leave it" once as they eventually pull back or lose interest, then mark and reward from your other hand. Once the fist version is reliable, place the treat openly on the floor, covering it with your hand only if the dog dives for it, and gradually work up to an uncovered treat on the ground. This teaches the dog that pulling away from something, rather than grabbing it, is what earns the reward.
Starting with a closed fist
A closed fist removes any chance of the dog actually reaching the treat, which lets them experiment safely with sniffing, licking or pawing without succeeding, and eventually giving up and pulling back. That moment of pulling back, however brief, is exactly what gets marked and rewarded from the other hand, never from the fist itself.
Moving the treat to an open palm, then the floor
Once the fist version works reliably across five or six attempts, switch to an open palm the dog could technically take from, ready to close it if needed as a backup. From there, placing a treat on the floor and covering it with a hand only when the dog lunges builds toward the goal of an uncovered treat the dog leaves alone on its own.
Rewarding from a different source than the tempting item
The reward for leaving the item should always come from a pocket or the other hand, never the exact treat the dog just left, since eating the forbidden item would undo the entire lesson about pulling away. This distinction matters even more once the exercise moves to real world objects like dropped food or something toxic on a walk.
Key takeaways
- Start with a treat closed in a fist so the dog cannot succeed at grabbing it.
- Mark and reward the moment the dog pulls away, never while still trying to get it.
- Progress from fist to open palm to an uncovered treat on the floor in stages.
- Always reward from a different source, never the item the dog just left alone.