Welcome to Pawprint Academy, your blueprint to
raising better dogs. My name is Ryan, and I'll
be your host for this journey. I've got my trusty
co -host here, Brianna. Hello. And together,
we're bringing you real -world training insights
built on leadership, structure, and proven methods.
We record this podcast with live clients on the
line in one take with live, unscripted questions
and answers. At the end of the day, this podcast
is a lot more than just teaching your dog to
sit or stay. creating calmness, and becoming
the kind of leader your dog truly needs. We do
that with our three pillar method of trust, obey,
and perform. Together, we'll show you how these
three pillars shape every step of training. Thanks
for being here. Let's get started. Hey there.
Episode 17. We are on a roll. That's not the
name of the episode, though. Drop it and leave
it. Stopping resource guarding early. That is
the goal tonight. Resource guarding. And resource
guarding is tricky. Yeah, a little bit. So, a
couple of news items before we start. So we are
in the process of trying to incorporate video
into the podcast. And that would be a lot easier
if I had any idea what I was doing. But I don't.
So it's a constant work in progress. And as you
may see little clips surface and eventually we'll
be able to upload like the whole thing to YouTube.
And eventually I would love to get it like. Going
live and I have kind of like a little video board
thing that I'm trying to incorporate and trying
to figure out, but I'm not the best at this.
So I would love feedback. I have a very thick
skin. And as you hear things, see things or otherwise,
uh, that are top dog training related or the
paw print Academy related, please, by all means,
I am always open for suggestions. So please.
Let us know what we're doing right and wrong.
All right. So for tonight, we're talking about
drop it and leave it. Two really, really important
commands to not to stop resource guarding in
its tracks, really, because once you have resource
garters, there's it gets real complicated. Yeah.
There are a whole bunch of. cues and timing issues
and variables and reasons why a dog learns resource
guarding. Resource guarding is not typically,
it is, let me say, let me back up for a second.
There are parts of it that are, some dogs are
genetically predisposed to be more likely to
be resource guarders. However, It's almost always
learned. We're not going to say it's almost always.
It is always learned. It's just some dogs pick
it up faster than others. Right. No dog is born
guarding their resources. It's always a learned
behavior. And so teaching your dog leave it and
drop it early can help to neutralize that and
also not reverse the process but prevent it.
We can really help to prevent it and slow the
process down, especially even in those genetically
predisposed dogs. Right. And just kind of like
reduce the conflict between you and the dog.
Right. Right. And we're going to do that tonight
in. the same way that we kind of break down everything,
every call that we do for our clients. We've
got clients listening in right now and we'll
open it up for questions. Anyone who's dialed
in or listening in, if you're in the Zoom app,
you can just chat. You can open up the little
chat and throw a question in there. I'll answer
it as we go. And if not, if you're just dialed
in like on the phone. then we'll give you a chance
towards the end to ask any questions that you
have. So let me open that little chat guy. Cool.
I am ready. So tonight, our main core idea behind
the episode tonight is drop it and leave it.
The commands, they build trust. in the dog because
it's a process where you're temporarily taking
away something from the dog but then you're showing
them that that's not threatening yeah so it builds
trust it builds safety because the dog is not
going to be like hey why are you taking that
away from me once it's trained yeah and then
it builds really good clear communication between
you And your dog. The two commands, drop it and
leave it, can help you prevent conflict. It can
help you prevent resource guarding. And it teaches
your dogs how to disengage from objects calmly
and in a more relaxed environment. Yeah. Rather
than, oh my goodness, I just lost something of
value. And that's an important distinction. So
early clarity. prevents serious behavior later
yep behavior issues later yeah um cool let's
talk about it so why if that description doesn't
explain why they matter then i think you missed
the boat so just rewind listen to it again but
let's break it down further so drop it and leave
it they prevent that conflict because we reduce
the risk of the dog Feeling a sort of like a
loss. Right. By teaching the dogs to disengage
on cue rather than rather than waiting for the
dog to just get tired of something of value.
Yeah. And showing them that giving up an item
or losing something is still valuable. Say say
that again. I'm sorry. I'm. Asking them to give
up an item or leave an item is still of value.
Right. Right. Because we can train that. We can
use that and then reward them for giving something
up. Yeah. Because if you think you're just going
to ask your dog to leave something and not give
them something in return, then you're not motivating
the dog to leave something alone. Right. And
I think a lot of people. This one's good. I think
that a lot of people. miss the boat early on
because they're thinking about the end state
too early and dog training really goes in phases
right you can't expect if your your thought process
on this is well i want my dog to just willingly
give this thing up that they find very valuable
because i said so that's a fine end state to
have but that's not how it starts right and that's
really really important is it's not how it starts
yeah it starts by rewarding the dog and giving
them something of more value because i've broken
this down a couple of times now but if you ask
your dog to let go of a a a 50 item you better
have 60 worth of something to give them right
at the beginning when you're first trying to
teach them this otherwise maybe like if it's
a 50 if you're offering 50 worth a treat for
a 50 item they might be like well i actually
really like the color of this one better right
like they're if they're equal what's the reason
why they really want to trade right and that
doesn't mean that you're trading the dog like
in a crisis when they're holding like your most
valuable like piece of jewelry or shoes or whatever
it is in your house of course it means during
your sessions when you're working on this because
they don't just know how to do it in that moment
right then you're practicing with those rewards
right because if if you are expecting them to
drop it or leave it without teaching them what
it is and teaching them the value of it, and
then you're expecting them to do it with something
that is valuable to you, well, then you're already
behind the power curve. So we're going to focus,
so that this podcast doesn't go for three or
four hours, we're going to focus in on how we're
going to train it and how we're going to start
with the dog. both your imagination and your
experience with your individual dog to build
on it from there so resource guarding often starts
with small victories at the dog's level right
where the dog is able to either scare someone
or something away or they're able to do they're
able to punk someone or something right right
they're like get away from me and then because
they won in that little situation they were able
to keep that resource that's a reinforcing event
right but does it even start with like aggression
or does it start with like the dog just being
able to keep something away from you a lot of
the time at like a little tiny level right so
if you're trying to get something away from the
dog even if it's a toy and the dog just starts
with the catch me if you can game is that where
it starts to some degree and i think that's where
it kind of goes with what type of dog do you
have from there whether it keeps being a playful
little game or whether it kind of transpires
into something different yeah i think that the
I think resource guarding starts at the point
where the dog takes ownership of a thing. Yeah.
Of a resource. But the resource, so I guess let's
define all the terms. A resource can be anything
that the dog finds valuable. Yeah. And we've
dealt with dogs that they are guarding toys,
food, water, shelter. like their crate or kennel
humans humans a love affection space rooms couches
beds right whatever it is that the dog finds
valuable or desires in that moment can be the
resource and that's why we call it resource guarding
rather than couch guarding or crate guarding
or whatever yeah um okay so we've defined that
and i think a hundred percent really by the definition
of what What resource guarding is, is it starts
at the point where a dog sees an item that they
want and decide to, in the slightest capacity,
keep it for themselves or reduce the likelihood
of someone taking it away. They have decided
this is mine or at least is mine in the short
term. I want this. Don't take it. At that point,
it can be really cute because it could just be
a puppy grabbing a sock and running around with
it. Now, that doesn't mean that just because
your puppy grabs your sock and runs around with
it and doesn't bring it back right away that,
oh my goodness, I've got to hire a professional
dog trainer because he's resource guarding. No,
no, no. But what we're saying is that those little
decisions, that's where it starts. Right. And
I think a lot of times, like I immediately go
to the thought of people trying to teach their
dog how to play fetch, but not on a leash or
anything. And so the dog learns really quickly
because they don't know how to fetch it and bring
it back to you, that they can just keep the ball
and then run away from you. that starts off like
a catch me if you can game immediately. And it
either stays. All dogs' favorite games. Right.
And it either stays fun and gets more annoying
for you or it turns kind of sour and the dog
is like, oh, well, I kept it away one time. I'll
figure out how to keep something away again.
And it becomes self -rewarding. Yeah. Right.
And at the point where the dog is rewarding themselves
for keeping something away, you are on the downslope
because now. The dog's just rewarding themselves.
And the more that they keep it away, the more
they win, the more they want to do it. And so
it just kind of circles on itself. All right.
Another reason that, so let me go back and stay
on track here. So teaching a dog to surrender
items early in their life, is going to help prevent
escalation into those more guarding behaviors
when the game kind of stops and it starts to
become a little more serious. So let's go back
to the puppy example. We are not saying that
you can't play catch me if you can. And we're
not saying that you can't play with a dog who
grabbed a sock and it's super cute and you're
having a great time. What we're saying is that
those decisions, if left unchecked, begin to
grow into more decisions. Yeah. And those bigger
decisions can sometimes, as the dog goes through
their maturity levels, sometimes they can then
be like, I'm a pretty big dog now. Right. We
do this with Dexter all the time. Dexter is our
Dutch Shepherd. He's like 100 pounds now. And
he's not quite that big, but he's a big boy.
And he does this all the time. He's just got
that working dog mind where he's like, Dad, I
know you've always been in charge, but I'm a
pretty big man now. I think I might be able to
run this place. Right. And then he tests things
and you're like, gosh darn it, get back here.
So when those happen and the dog inevitably kind
of pushes those boundaries and we don't check
them there, that's when they grow. And then they
grow and grow and grow until eventually you're
like, whoa, how did we get here? How did we get
to the point where my dog's showing teeth at
me? Well, that's just them communicating. It's
not always aggressive. It's not even the dog
being like, I'm going to bite you. A lot of times
it's just the dog being like, no, this is mine.
It's the same way they correct another dog. Same
way they communicate with another dog. They don't
communicate verbally. They're not going to speak
to another dog. They show their teeth. They put
their hackles up. They look at the dog sideways.
They give them that whale eye. There's a lot
of ways that dogs communicate just through their
body language. Right. Ear positions. I always
go to like checkers. And one of the little dogs
we're working with now, it's like you can see
like when they're uncomfortable, their ears kind
of like point outwards and like go halfway back.
But like you see Nala and people always think
like she's unhappy because she like as soon as
you start petting her, she like flattens her
ears all the way back. But she's not upset. She's
just like, yeah, I love that. That feels nice.
So leave it, the command leave it, prevents fixation
on dangerous or off -limit items. And ideally,
it allows you a opportunity to prevent the dog
from getting to that off -limits area, item,
or whatever prior to them either reaching them
or taking ownership of them. Oh yeah, because
if you say leave it and the dog gets it, it's
like you're backwards. can disengage the dog,
you can prevent that resource guarding. Looking
at my notes here real quick. So we want to start
building cues. And we want to build those cues
in order to build trust in the dog's mind that
giving up those items first in the training session
leads to a positive outcome. And so that's where
those cues come into play. So I want to be like,
leave it. Dog leaves it. And then boom, throwing
or let me back up and boom, I'm rewarding the
dog. Yeah. So that the dog is getting something
of value that builds the repetition and the decision
in their mind that leave it is a positive opportunity.
Right. And then. working with drop it you work
a lot of the times we work with play with drop
because that's where you can kind of always start
with a dog where it's safe for the dog to have
something that they can drop but i think where
people go wrong without knowing is you ask them
to drop it and then when you're teaching that
it's super important to immediately give it back
to the dog as soon as they drop it yeah not making
them wait because they've done what you asked,
you immediately give it back. That's their reward
for dropping it is getting to do it again. And
that's what we're going to in just a couple of
minutes, we're going to break down exactly my
favorite way. And we'll talk about your favorite
ways of, of actually teaching this. But right
now we're just setting up all of the value for
why is this important to you? And the last one
that really goes along with that is that. We
want to build emotional neutrality to the act
of giving something up because that's really
where that resource guarding part comes from.
The guarding comes from the emotional attachment
the dog has to the value in their item, whether
that's food, a toy, a water bowl, a person, the
couch, the bed, whatever. when they're like,
Oh, I have this already. You're going to take
it from me. And that is, I'm going to lose this.
That's where that comes from. And so if we can
build early on in the dog's life, we can show
them that they can be emotionally neutral to
losing an object because another very valuable
object is going to come right in, but right behind
it, we can reduce the likelihood that we ever
get those resource garters. All right. I'm going
to go right into it because we have, we've set
this up. Now let's talk about how we do it. So
teaching the drop it without conflict or, Destruction
in the house. When we teach drop it, and I'll
try to frame drop it first, and then we'll talk
about leave it. So when I teach drop it, I like
to teach it in the middle of play. And so the
very first step I lay out in usually the very
first private lesson that we do with clients.
I lay out a game called, we just call it the
get it free game. This is a game where I'm patterning
the get it command and then I'm tossing like
a treat or a reward or a piece of food or something
across the floor. The dog runs to get it. As
soon as they get the treat, I'm queuing free,
which is our terminal reward marker. At that
point there. So they ran away from me. They got
the food and then I'm giving them free. They
turn around and they zoom right back to me and
then they get another treat. So you get a treat
on both sides. That is how I'm going to start
patterning eventually to incorporate like fetch
because fetch the game fetch is how I'm going
to initially. work with drop it so drop it or
i'm sorry so the get it game allows me to do
a couple of different things one i'm patterning
pushing the dog away from me with value because
when you first start training what you'll find
is that that dog is going to zero in on you because
you are the one who's continually giving them
treats And sending a dog away from you on command
is one of the most difficult things to train
a dog to do. Because the more that you train,
the more value they perceive in you. It's hard
for them to be like, why would I want to go away
from you? So that get it free game is a great
opportunity to start patterning that movement
away from you. All right. So we do that as a
foundation. Then first step. We build value in
the free. We charge up that marker so that I
can always have that terminal reward marker.
That's how I'm going to then reward to drop it
later. The get it part is what I'm patterning
in order to send the dog. And it's also the part
that I'm going to replace with leave it later.
So now second step, I'm going to adjust the game
a little bit. I'm going to teach the leave it
by one of two ways. I'm going to describe one,
and Bree has another way that she likes to do
it. So what I like to do for leave it, and I
know I said I was going to pattern the drop it,
but this is all kind of meshed together, so just
bear with me. The way that I'm going to pattern
leave it is I put the dog on a leash. I'm going
to take a treat. Or something. And I'm going
to calmly. I'm not going to zing it. Because
movement creates value. So I'm just going to
kind of drop the treat on the ground. Or off
to the side. Just a little bit. And I'm going
to pattern that. Leave it. Cue. When the dog
tries to get it. I'm just going to hold them.
I'm not correcting them on the leash. I'm just
going to hold them. In that same spot. So as
they go to get it. They turn on pressure. On
the leash. And as they relax, the pressure automatically
turns off. At the point where they leave it,
I reward with a terminal marker. Free. And then
offer them the reward in the opposite direction
of the treat that I had dropped. And then as
they get that treat, I reach down and I pick
up the other treat. What this does is it keeps
the dog from ever getting the treat that I said,
leave it to. Yeah. That's really important because
at the point where they get the treat that you
say, leave it, they, you go back five or six
steps. Yep. What's the other one that you use?
For leave it? Yeah. I think it's the same method.
I think it's just rewarding at me versus like
on the ground. Yep. Um, just because I try, especially
for dogs that are really scent driven, rewarding
on the ground, they get lost in the ground after
they get their reward. And even though you've
picked it up on the other side, a lot of times
if they're really scent driven and they like
to sniff, they're going to just go check over
there anyways. And then you're losing their attention
for a little bit longer. So just rewarding at
me versus on the ground. Gotcha. But still opposite.
In like an opposite direction. Yeah. Yeah. Still
in an opposite direction. Of what you told them
to leave. Yep. Nice. Okay. So that's how we initially
pattern the leave it. Then as you get it more
and more brilliant in those, we always want to
be brilliant in the basics. So we make sure we
have that foundation. Then I can add in the leave
it just like the get it free game. But instead
of get it, I'm leave it. And. If the dog chases
that treat that you zing, then they turn the
pressure on. But a lot of times you'll see that
they don't even go for it because they've already
patterned this, right? They're like, oh, cool.
That's a leave it. That's a leave it treat. Got
it. Okay. I just got to wait. I just got to be
patient. And then there's a free treat. Yep.
At that point, you've broken through. Yeah. So
now you've patterned leave it. And then you can
start doing it with a toy. You can do it with
a favorite toy. You can do it with something
else of value, right? And now you're going leave
it. And then when they do, free. Make them fly
back to you. Go in the opposite direction. And
then the most important thing is you just don't
let them ever get what they're supposed to leave.
I think that's really important. There are some
trainers that just pattern the leave it off of
they pattern it based on I just want you to leave
it temporarily and then I'll let you have it.
Right. And I don't like that. I think that that
is much easier to explain to clients to just
teach a dog wait. Right. Yeah. Use a different
cue. And the reason I say that is because there
are some things, I think it's really, really
important to have a cue that tells the dog that
they are not allowed to ever have that. Because
what if it is a rattlesnake? What if it's a live
electrical wire outside in the yard or in the
park or somewhere where you're walking? What
if it's another dog or a rabid raccoon or something,
right? What if it is something that is dangerous
for the dog? Yeah. You can't just tell the dog
that, hey, I want you to leave this alone for
like a little while. You need the dog to leave
that for good. Yeah. And so that's why I think
leave it should be a permanence. type marker
yep you can follow that once you've trained that
you can change the word to a weight or or any
other word right dogs don't speak english but
give the dog a weight and teach them cool weight
means just be patient you're gonna get it in
a minute yeah because that's how we can do it
like with their food bowl weight free and then
they get their food yep Um, I have no problem
with that, but I think that you need a leave
it command that is no fail. So that's the reason
why we teach it that way. Okay. So we talked
about the leave it. Let's add in here. Now drop
it. So at the point where I've trained all of
these pieces up to this point, Now I can pattern
this with a toy and what I can do is I can throw
the toy, right? And I've can alternate between
leave it and get it with the toy. And as they
get it, I give them free. Excuse me. So I give
them free and they fly back to me nine times
out of 10. it will be with the toy because that
has value. And as they're coming back towards
you, I can do a one -for -one swap with the treat
because they're already patterned to come back
and grab the treat. And what dogs will more than
likely do is they'll run back with the toy. And
I don't have to change a thing. I don't have
to add any cues. I don't have to add any pressure.
I don't have to change anything. And I offer
them that treat and they drop what they had.
And they go for the treat. Yep. And as that happens.
I know there's a lot of steps here. This is dog
training, right? So as that happens and they
go to drop it, I'm watching that. And as they
do it. I hit him with the drop at cue. Yeah.
Right off the bat, I start naming the actual
behavior as they're doing it. So get it, throw
the ball. They run out there. They grab the ball
free. They run back to me. I offer them the treat.
I watch them as they. go to or as they approach
me right they get in that closer proximity then
they're starting to open their mouth i know they're
going to drop the ball i go drop it and then
offer them the treat that starts to pattern the
cue at the right appropriate time yeah once we've
patterned that what i want to do is I want to
re -engage them quickly. This is the golden egg
here because they just dropped something of value
and that's not going to be permanent. They dropped
it in order to get something else. What you need
to do is you need to retrieve it and you need
to make it come alive again and go right back
into the next repetition. Because they need to
see that, hey, just because I dropped this thing
of value doesn't mean that it's gone forever.
Yeah. It's just how we play the game. You reengage
them and you start all over. Okay. Now let's
talk about another way to do this. My favorite
way to reinforce, drop it. is after I've done
those things, my favorite way is to reinforce
it with tug because tug is a heck of a fun game
for dogs when they've learned it and when you
do it the right way. So one, we want to play
tug. We need to do a whole podcast episode on
just play. But when we play tug, we want the
tug, we want the toy to come alive. And the way
that we make it come alive is through movement
and through movement away from them. One of the
number one mistakes people make is they take
this tug toy and then they shove it in the dog's
face and they're like, get it, come on, get it.
And the dog's like, whoa, I don't, this is uncomfortable.
You got to do the opposite. You have to get it
and then be like, ha, ha, ha, here. And it goes
away from them. And that's how you get that dog
to ramp up. Because we've got to turn on prey
drive. We've got to turn on that fun, chase it,
I've got to catch it game. Because remember,
that's dog's number one favorite game. Catch
me if you can. You've got to switch it up on
him. So we engage him with that. They latch on.
We're playing. We're tugging. We're having fun.
I'm certain that there's some people listening.
They're like, oh, my dog won't play tug. Okay,
cool. Well, there's some ways that you can get
them in there. That's not really the purpose
of this podcast. But hit me up offline and we
can discuss it. I'll give you some tips on that.
So dog latches onto the tug. Now I'm playing,
I'm playing, I'm playing, I'm moving around and
I'm also using my voice and I'm engaging them.
I'm like, yeah, yeah, good job, good job, good
job. And then I cue drop and freeze. The reason
I do that is because one, I've already patterned
the drop it. So I kind of understand it, but
now is where we really like make the breakthrough.
And at the point where I'm encouraging them and
pulling them around and we're having all this
fun and then suddenly I'm like, drop it. And
I freeze. They're probably going to keep tugging
on it for a minute. They're tug, tug, tug, tug.
Cool. I just hold strong and don't move. And
what ends up happening is the dog's like, oh,
why did the toy die? Why did this die? What's
different? Oh, all of a sudden this changed.
And then they start paying attention to the word
and they're like, Oh, this is, I'm supposed to
like do something here. Yeah. At the point where
they, so now you hold it in place and if they
just won't drop it, that's where you reach and
you introduce another reward of high value and
you trade them. And as you trade them, they let
go. You give them that treat, and you immediately
give them free, and now the game, I'm sorry,
now the reward is that tug. Yep. So free, and
they grab the toy again. And oh, good job, good
job, good job. Oh, we're having so much fun.
Drop it. And I freeze. It only takes a couple
of times for the dog to go, oh, if I let go of
this, then the game starts again. Right. Yep.
And at the point where the dog realizes that
drop it, the faster that they drop it, the faster
the game starts again, you're golden. Yeah. At
that point, you're good. That's when the dog's
like, yeah, tell me to drop it. Tell me to drop
it. Yeah. Because the reinitializing of the game
is more fun than the continuation of the game.
Because there's anticipation. Right. Yep. They're
excited to do it. Yeah. All right. So when a
couple of top tips. So when we say drop it, say
it once. Say it once. Say it loud for the people
in the back. And then just pause. Let your dog
have a chance to actually process and decide,
make a decision. to drop it yeah so many times
is the reason the dog doesn't do what you say
to do is because in every other decision that
the dog makes throughout the day you've decided
for the dog what they're going to do and when
they're going to do it and you never let them
practice making the decision Right. Or you've
told them 12 times. And so on the 12th time,
they've decided to do it. But by the 12th time,
you've given them body language and everything
else. So that's helped. Yep. So anytime we can
prioritize letting the dog make the right decision,
we have to do that. Yeah. Give the dog a moment.
to process, think about, and decide to do the
right thing. And you will be amazed at how much
better the dog listens on all the different things.
There's two dogs that I'm working with right
now, and the stare -offs that we have sometimes
are intense. And they'd be awkward if it were
a human. But it's just me and the dog, so it's
not as awkward. But sometimes we just stare at
each other, but I'm giving them an opportunity
to think through what I ask them to do and give
them that chance to do it. Yeah. Another tip,
reward away from the object, right? What we don't
want to do is rip the object away and make the
object come alive. The other thing we don't want
to do is rip the object away and then try to
distract the dog with something else of value
while you still have the other valuable thing
and they're very close together. Because that
builds confusion. So instead, at the point where
they drop something, maybe you put your foot
on it. Maybe you just let it lay on the ground
and you reward the dog away from it. Then you
scoop that thing up and you re -engage the game.
Another one, avoid kind of what I just said,
but avoid pulling the object out of the dog's
mouth because that's going to really ramp up
that drive. Right, and I think we've talked about
toys for a little bit, but like in the last comment
was like re -engage the dog, right? treating
the dog away from whatever you're taking if it's
not something of right if it's not something
that you can like re -engage the dog then you're
just rewarding the dog away from that item so
that you can pick the item up yeah and then also
with the pulling out of its mouth right we always
you know you see all these videos of just like
people like pulling shoes and towels and things
that dogs pick up just like out of the dog's
mouth and I always try to tell my clients and
people it's like just walk the dog away from
the item. Yep. All right. So let's give an example
of that. Dexter's another really good example
of this. So Dexter loves to go and grab the dog
towels. We have a lot of dogs going in and out
of the house sometimes, right? And sometimes
it rains. And so you've got kind of this like
pile of. You're not as nice towels down there
in the corner. And Dexter loves, especially first
thing in the morning, he is ramped up, ready
to go, choosing violence first thing in the morning.
And he runs over and grabs a towel out of that
thing and just bunches it all up and then just
prances around with it. Loves to have the towel.
Now, we have never... played with him with that
towel so nothing happens because there's never
there's never any like satisfying event that
becomes around this towel instead he grabs the
towel he goes on a little lap i stand by the
door and i wait then he comes over to me right
I put a hand on his collar, just like his flat
collar that he normally wears, and I don't put
any pressure on it. I just hold it. Now I've
taken away the ability for him to run around.
I waited until he approached me. I've grabbed
the collar, and now I just say, drop it. We use
aus, which is the German drop it. And then I
wait. He drops it. and then I open the door for
him to go outside. But that is a process that
has been built by him understanding that I can't
go outside with the towel, and I actually want
both. So now instead of me using a treat to give
him to release the towel, it's simply the freedom
of going outside. Well, you can't take the towel
out there, so drop it. He drops it. Cool. Go
outside. Yep. That is an example. Another example,
real quick. We've had clients talk about like
TV remotes. That's been a thing. So TV remote.
Why would a dog go after a TV remote in the first
place? Because that is an object that the dog
sees. us interact with and so they perceive value
in it yep it's not because the tv remote ever
like did anything for them they're just like
oh this is this is a good thing yeah i want this
now initially the first time the dog goes and
gets it there's no value really there anyway
but the dog created that value because when they
get it Everything stops in the house and everyone
chases the dog or at least suddenly the dog goes
up like three or four levels in importance because
you're like, whoa, wait, no, don't grab that.
So we have to lower the value. And the only way
to do that, even though it's something that you're
like, oh, please don't destroy this. You have
to show the dog. That there's nothing valuable
there. You have to. And so you've got to stay
calm. You've got to redirect the dog. And in
this case, I'd go to the door and be like, cool,
let's go. Let's go outside. Cool. You want to
go for a walk? You want to do this? You want
to do that? Whatever it is. But I'm going to
redirect that dog's energy until they get close
enough that I can get a hold of them. Right.
My dogs wear flat collars, so that's just an
easy grab. And then now you have control that
that dog's not going to go anywhere. And now
you can just be patient. You can be like, nope,
drop. And at the point where they drop it, you
throw a huge party. You don't just go, all right,
now that crisis is over. How dare you? I can't
believe that you grabbed that. Don't you ever
grab that again. You can't do that. Because even
that negative attention is still a rise in your
arousal levels in the terms and the view of the
dog. And you reinforced how important that remote
was. And we've seen that with replace the remote
with anything, right? Slippers, shoes. Shoes
are a big one. Pillows. blankets, you know, it's
almost always things that we find valuable. It's
rarely like, oh, the dog went over there and
grabbed that encyclopedia with all the dust on
it off of the bookcase, right? They didn't do
that. You know why? Because they didn't even
know it existed over there because you never
look at it. Yeah. So it's always the things that
are valuable that the dog goes after. But that's
because they've watched you. Yeah. They're just
laying over there just watching you, figuring
out what is valuable and what's not. Yeah. All
right. I think we have crushed that. Yep. So
let's talk about the last point. So let's kind
of put it all together. So teaching leave it
prevents. Dangerous choices. Now let's put this
together with the guarding parts. By teaching
leave it early on and patterning it, you've built
value in the command. You've built value in the
cue. And you've redirected value of things that
the dog found valuable in the first place. But
you've shown them that it's not just the value
of the object, but it's the value of the relationship
that they have with you. Like, cool, you drop
it and you get a party. Yeah. You drop it and
then suddenly mom and dad want to play with you.
So often we don't do that. We don't follow through.
And so it's like, cool, I dropped it and then
nothing happened. They just walked away. Yeah.
And at that point they're like, well, I'm never
dropping that again. Yeah, I did not win here.
I didn't win. Yeah, there was no excitement.
Yep. So keep that in mind. Don't miss the boat
there. Right, and it's not just like the first
few times, right? You have to build that over
time with your dog. You can't just do it a few
times, do it for a week. You can't even just
do it for a month. You have to just make it a
repetitive thing that you're showing your dog
every time. They can trust that you have the
same response. And the same like stability in
what you're doing and asking them to do. Yeah.
So where we want to go with this is we want to
start introducing leave it with the get it and
the chase it type behaviors. Because that's where
you're most likely to actually use it. You're
most likely to use a leave it. A no fail leave
it when the dog either gets something of value
that they're not supposed to have or they're
chasing something. Yep. So remember that we always
tell everyone that you will be far more successful
teaching the dog what to do rather than what
not to do. And more often than not, when a dog
is chasing something, people go into immediate
panic and, no, no, we're not going to do that.
No, don't do that. No. And it's like, you're
fighting an uphill battle, right? One. In the
middle or the heat of the chase, it is too late
to get the training in. It has to be done beforehand.
Two, you need to always be prepared and have
a strategy and an out for when something unexpected
like that happens. Three, you have to, prior
to that event, you have to build value. in some
other behavior that involves them returning to
you. And it's not just recall. But by patterning
leave it with a huge reward and a huge party,
you now have the option of disengaging a dog
from something else of value in order to achieve
something that they perceive valuable. Instead
of just, cool, leave that $100 bill over there
and just come over here for nothing. For nothing.
For free. Yeah, for free. Right? Even humans
will be like, no, no, no, hold on a second. I'm
going to get the $100 first. Right. We don't
like to do stuff for free. No. So without motivation,
the dog's not going to listen. Even a competition
trained dog isn't going to listen without value.
It's just. the value changes with the more training
that you put in. So now the dog finds value in
the anticipation of the reward or they find value
in the relationship that they have with you or
they find value in how excited you are when they
do the right thing. Those things add up to the
amount of motivation that they need in order
to come back from something highly distracting.
But by itself, forget about it. It's not going
to work. Nope. All right. How, let's go through
a couple of questions. So what are, what are,
we talked about the early signs of some resource
guarding. What are some early signs? that are
good news right that the that show that the dog
understands disengagement um i think early on
it's responding to the like free and coming back
to you that's a really big one if your dog isn't
recognizing or like coming back to you at a fast
pace then they're not understanding that the
reward is there when they get back to you yeah
so one pitfall to watch for is right the dog
the dog that just like merrily trots back versus
the dog that's like, yeah, I want to get over
there. Yeah. That can be a telltale sign that
you're missing out on the motivation side. Not
all dogs are going to just run full tilt for.
a piece of free dried salmon yeah we love using
salmon and they we have a couple of dogs that
will that will jump through jagged glass windows
for salmon yeah and other dogs are like okay
yeah this is all right um so the reward's not
always going to be the same you got to find what
your dog is motivated by But the things that
we look for that we are on the right track is
when you can break the dog's concentration off
of an event. Yeah. So first start with something
that the dog kind of likes and break their attention.
Just their attention without even movement. Then
get them to come back to you rather than get
it. Then add movement to the item of relative
average value. Add some movement to it. Zing
that sucker across the room. And then call them
back. And then finally add in some other item
that's of even higher value. And then just build
from there. That's what you need to do. Let me
look. Wise leave it considered one of the most
important safety skills. This one's pretty easy.
Because of cars. Right. That's where I go to
immediately, right? Dogs that are off leash and
inevitably they don't look both ways. They're
just like kids, right? They don't look both ways.
If they are chasing a rabbit, a fox, a squirrel,
whatever, they don't care about anything else.
And unfortunately, we see it all the time on
Facebook of dogs that unfortunately, because
we live by kind of a big highway, they get hit
by cars. And so Leave It is the basis for strengthening
the recall. Yeah. Right. Recall is important.
We talked about recall, but in a previous episode,
but leave it is the part that disengages the
dog from something, even just temporarily so
that then your recall has a better chance. And
the follow on to that is. the reason why leave
it is so important is because there's dangerous
stuff out there that there's other dogs that
will attack your dog. There are snakes. There
are, I don't know. I always think of like you
dropping like human food in the kitchen that.
Dogs can't have their dangers. Cool. I was going
like way high up with that. But yeah, that's
also a good one, right? Let's go to more normal
things. Everyday life. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Name a couple. Oh, that was the only one I had.
Okay, so food. Yeah, drumming medications. Right.
You have a kid at home and they spill, you know.
or they drop food that maybe the dog's not even
supposed to have. Maybe they have an allergy
to it. Maybe it's a toxic food to dogs. All of
those things are reasons why leave it would be
super important. And unfortunately, a lot of
owners on that food trend, a lot of owners are
like, oh, well, we... When I'm finished with
my food, I just toss the other bits on the ground.
Well, when you're doing that, you're patterning
the dog to just get those because you're not
even using really a command for it. Right. And
whatever's on the ground is the dog's. Right.
And then that goes back into this whole other
thing. So if you're going to do that, make sure
that you're using some sort of a weight type
command so that you have control over that situation.
Yeah. rather than just allowing the dog to impulsively
get it. All right. So I've got listener projects
coming up here. I'm going to unmute the Zoom
call here and set up my little Jeopardy music.
If we have anybody with questions or... things
that either we talked about or stuff that's going
on with your dog that kind of relates to the
leave it and stuff. Now is your chance to unmute
and ask away. See if I can get my jeopardy music
on here. Does anybody who is listening have any
questions? Ah, got it. Hey, Therese. Is it okay
to talk? Yep, absolutely. I'll turn the music
down for you. As you know, Hiroshi learned the
leave it and take it command every time he eats.
Now, with that leave it, he's expecting to get
a reward usually afterwards, which is he gets
his food. Yep. Should I try and reverse that
then? No. Um, at the point where you've already
trained that maybe use a different command for
your no fail. Like you can't have this and, and
we'll never get it. Okay. Because at the end
of the day, right? Dogs don't speak English and
it's not even worth trying to re structure that
if he's already doing really well with that.
Um, Because I know that you specifically work
with him a lot. You work with him on like every
meal with that. And so I would just keep what
you've got. And then I'm struggling to think
up another word right now. What's another one?
I didn't think of any words, but I always, you
can use like. That's actually, you know what,
that works. Yeah. So I usually we use like no.
For for different things with the dog, but you
could just come up with a different frame frame
of mind for that and just use like. Right. It
can be a sound. It can be a word. I mean, you
can literally teach him that banana is the word
that means like he he can't have it. Right. And
so I would do the same thing that we were talking
about. Right. And the. So I know that he. Um,
I know that when he went through our program,
he learned leave it was, yeah, he doesn't get
this. Um, inadvertently we may have like taught
him kind of both. And so it's not a, it's not
a real big deal. I would, where you have, where
you have commands that are absolute and then
conditional will always error right down to the
conditional level. So I don't think it would
be fair to at the point where he's he's now learned.
Well, he's learned that like leave it is conditional
and is just like timeline based. You're going
to tell him that he can have it eventually. I
wouldn't bother trying to restructure his leave
it command to mean that it is absolute. I would
just transfer to another command and do the same
process. When you say that other word or that
other command or that other sound, whatever you
decide, he never gets it. Yeah. Okay. Does that
make sense? Cool. Yeah. Thanks. Of course. Anybody
else have a question? Hello, Ryan. Can you hear
me? Yep. I can hear you. Hi. So I have a question.
The leave it part. So Bubba is still, as you
know, very energetic. Yeah. Most of the time
he goes in the kitchen and we tell him to leave
it. But he would stop for like a second and then
he would go back when what he wants to do. And
as you know, he's very food driven. So even if
he leaves and I get him a treat, he's good for
life. In milliseconds. I gotcha. So for him,
so it's going to be important, right? We're talking
about a five month old puppy. And so when we're
talking about, you know, a young dog, we're going
to want to teach him that leave it on a leash.
And that leash is going to give you the accountability
to prevent him from getting whatever it is that
you're talking about leaving. And so what is
the object? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.
I think we've got a little bit of a delay. But
what is the object that he is not leaving in
your example specifically? Shoes is one of his
biggest things. He loves to take our shoes and
tear them apart. Aw, dang it. We lost you. But
I think I can kind of answer some of that. So
one, with puppies specifically, you're going
to kind of want to keep a drag line on so you
have some frame of control over the dog, right?
So that the dog can't necessarily grab something
and run away. So a drag line or like a leash
is always kind of recommended, especially for
five -month -old puppies. um relatively young
so we will just buy like a super cheap like flat
leash from like the dollar store or wherever
and cut the handle off so they don't get snagged
on anything um and just let him drag that around
that way you have some control like if he gets
the shoe it's like okay let's go and like let's
go outside kind of that redirection ryan was
talking about but you have a leash to where you
can kind of show him where you want him to go
because he's so young he's not going to know
all of those cues probably right off the bat
so giving him some body language and just picking
up the leash and kind of redirecting will probably
prevent him from At least he'll either drop the
shoe, which a lot of dogs do. If they think they're
going somewhere, they're like, oh, I'll just
leave this then. I don't care. Or it gives you
the ability to then be able to get the shoe and
then work on that trading. Because he's so young,
you're definitely going to have to work through
a lot of patterning that trading where you're
giving something of a higher value to him than
what that shoe is worth. Okay, amazing. Thank
you. You're welcome. And then with the kitchen,
I know like we usually teach boundaries like
for our kitchen where it's like if the dog steps
past the cabinet, it's like, nope, out. And we'll
just kind of give them some pressure and walk
towards them. And eventually the dog will learn
like the cues to look for and the space to know
that they can't like cross that boundary. Or
if they do, then you just redirect them and give
them like an out command is usually what I use
for that or go. yeah i usually use that and then
he just runs out because i'm just like no kitchen
yeah and the more you do that the more repetition
like repetitions you get in with that and your
consistency of where he hits that line and you
tell him to go um building that pattern by the
time he's like a year old he'll be like oh okay
i'm not supposed to do that but we always are
like fair to the dog right and it's like cool
they walk past the kitchen and it's like no go
Like our dog will want to come into the garage
sometimes when, when I'm in there and I want
her to stay out. And she knows like now if she
walks past there and I'm working in the garage,
I tell her to go and she backs up to the door
and she'll lay down like right inside. So just
being, being really consistent with patterning
that will, will help him by the time he's like
a year, really be consistent with it. I will
be sure to do that. Thank you so much. Yeah.
Yeah, of course. All right. I'll give it. A couple
of seconds here. Anybody else have a question?
And then we'll go into listener projects. All
right. Okay. Project number one, the drop it,
trade it game. So offer your dog a toy, allow
light engagement, play with them. Scoop around,
make it come alive, and then say drop it once
and pause. Everything freezes. Trade calmly with
a treat or something, right? A treat, trade him
another toy, trade him something of value. But
reward away from the object. Repeat five, ten
times. Use that calm energy and really reinforce
the calm energy. Project number two, the basic
leave it drill. So place a low value item on
the floor, maybe like some regular food or something
like that, and ask the dog to leave it. Keep
them on a leash so that you can enforce accountability
in leaving it. This will backfire if you say
leave it and then the dog is able to get to the
food. That will backfire every time. So instead,
keep them on a leash. And when they go for that
food, it just increases. You hold your hand exactly
where it is. You don't have to correct them or
anything, but they'll turn the pressure on themselves.
And when they feel that pressure, they know that,
okay, something changed. When they yield to that
pressure, that's when we reward. So when your
dog looks away or backs off, Mark with your yes
or your free and reward the dog in the opposite
direction. If we're teaching a hard line, leave
it where the dog should not ever get that item.
Then I need to remember to then reach over and
pick that low value item up so that they don't
get it gradually. increase the engagement with
your dog by doing this repetitively. All right.
That concludes our call for tonight. Thank you
for, uh, for dialing in and for listening and
for downloading and for all of the support that
we've gotten from the, the, from the community.
Um, super, super appreciative. Like I have said
before, I, I'm not a professional podcaster,
not a videographer, not even a geologist. So
I really, really would appreciate comments, constructive
ones. I mean, I'll take whatever. I got a thick
skin. But if you've got some ideas on how we
could do this better or how we could do it more
efficiently, I am all about it. But for tonight,
we're going to say goodnight. Goodnight. Goodnight,
guys. Thank you very much.