The Overlooked Command

written by Butch Goodwin
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Northern Flight Retrievers  

This past season, I spent many days hunting both waterfowl and pheasants. On several of these outings, I took along my one-year-old female pup so that she could get her first taste of real hunting, and to see if any of the training I had done was actually sticking. Like most youngsters, initially she had some trouble figuring out that she wasn't there just to go along for a walk. However, it didn't take long for her to discover that there were almost always birds at the end of those good smells and that if she went for a swim and brought back those other birds that were lying on the water, she was praised and told what an exceptional dog she is. 

But I had somewhat of a problem with her - something that I have been asked about repeatedly over the years. And I came to the realization that this problem is rarely addressed in many, if any, of the training programs or training books available on the market. It turned out that, as with most retrievers, she wanted to carry around or bring unwanted "stuff" to me. Now, don't get me wrong, this could have been much worse; she could have had little or no interest in retrieving at all; but if a retriever has that inherent burning desire to retrieve one hopes it has, retrieving unwanted objects can really turn into a colossal nuisance! 

Mealtime is a great opportunity to practice the "leave it" command.

As I recall, this past year, she brought me an assortment of rocks, several dead (long dead) birds, a collection of really nice sticks, and a variety of animal parts of suspect origin. And in each case, she was quite pleased with herself as she sat beside me to deliver it - just as she had learned in her training. Of course, I had no choice but to take the "prize" from her and then try to find a way to dispose of it so that she wouldn't find it and bring it to me again. 

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the three commands I used most frequently during this past hunting season with my dogs were "sit," "here," and "leave it." I don't have to continually tell them to "stay" because early on they are taught that if they are told to "sit" or lie "down," they are expected to stay where I put them until released. "Sit" and "here" (or "come" if you prefer) are among the first commands a youngster learns and have always been the foundational commands that every retriever trainer builds on. But I wonder why one of the commands I seemed to use almost as frequently is generally overlooked. 

If you think that you would never use the "leave it" command, consider all of the times your dog is sniffing and won't leave the spot where some other dog has done his "business." You would like to move on and try to find a bird to shoot at, but your dog has his nose glued to the ground and no measure of profanities seems able to budge him. And don't think this is a trait only of male dogs; females are just as bad. Both have the inherent canine necessity to "cover" where another dog has previously marked. 

The dog was commanded, "Leave it" when nearing the orange bumper ...

... but at the next one, was told to fetch. Performing this walking drill several times will solidify the "leave it" command, which will come in handy during the hunting season.

Also, think about the times that your dog has brought you a partially eaten, stinking bird carcass or petrified toad or whatever that he found - mine seem to find this stuff pretty regularly. But worse, remind yourself that if you are brave enough to take this "trophy" from your dog and then try to throw it in the bushes to dispose of, the game has escalated. After all, your dog is accustomed to you throwing bumpers and birds for him to retrieve - so, he thinks that since it is something you have thrown, it is his job to go and get it and bring it back to you again ... and again. .. and again! 

Okay, so maybe your first inclination is to think, I would just nick him with my e-collar to keep him from retrieving such disgusting things or to get him away from a spot that he refuses to leave. That would probably work well if he knew why he was being corrected. Remember, as everyone who has ever pushed the button on a transmitter has experienced, dogs have long memories. If you nick him for picking up a rotten duck, he might think it is the duck that "stung" him, causing him to avoid ducks. Likewise, if you nick him for continuing to sniff a particular spot, you might create what is called a "hot spot," and he will avoid that area in the future, figuring that something in the area "bit" him. Think about it from the dog's perspective before you push the button. 

That brings us to teaching the "leave it" command as a part of the dog's basic training. I start teaching "leave it" around the house before I ever use the command outside. When I have a youngster that I'm housebreaking and teaching manners to inside the house, I start "leave it" training at feeding time. Simply as a matter of establishing control, I teach my dogs to sit and wait to be fed. I put each dog's food bowl down and use the command, "Leave it" until I tell him, "Okay," which releases him to go ahead and eat. Similarly, if I have a dog treat, I drop it on the floor and tell the dog, "Leave it." It is not uncommon to have a dog standing there staring at the treat as if he is on point, drooling and waiting to be told, "Okay." 

Teaching this as part of the dog's early training manners inside the house not only carries over to the field, but can also help to avoid all sorts of other problems unrelated to food or hunting. As an example, not long ago a wet dinner plate slipped out of my hand and smacked the edge of the kitchen counter, disintegrating all over the floor into a couple dozen sharp-edged pieces. Hearing the explosion, three dogs came hustling around the corner to see what the commotion was. I hollered, "Leave it!" and all three dogs slid to a stop and never moved any closer until I got the broken shards cleaned up. Having taught each of them the command early on avoided the possibility of a simple broken plate escalating into a much greater calamity. 

Once a dog begins to understand "leave it" at feeding time and around the house, I feel comfortable beginning to use the command when I am teaching basic field training. This is an especially good command to have at my disposal later in their training when I want to have the dog look away from a bumper or bird they see lying in front of them and instead pick up a different one, or when I am teaching them to fetch on command after I have completed their forcefetch training. 

A little over a decade back, I , described a drill that I use after I have completed a dog's force-fetch training to reinforce his understanding of fetching on command. This was titled, "Teaching Leave It" in the "Training with the Pros" column in the June/July 1998 issue of RJ. I am going to repeat some of what I wrote in that column in the next few paragraphs to hastily describe the drill, but I would suggest that, to understand the drill in more depth, you read the entire column when you have the opportunity. 

It's imperative that your dog has either completed a thorough forcefetch program or that he will naturally fetch on command before moving ahead to this drill. Start by placing four or six white bumpers on the ground about three or so yards apart. Place them like railroad ties and spaced fairly evenly. Heel your dog right over the top of the bumpers and tell him to "Fetch" each one individually. He should enthusiastically fetch each bumper and come to the heel position holding it. (Don't worry if he skips over one and grabs the wrong one - the idea is to have him understand that he is to get a bumper in his mouth immediately when commanded.) 

After he's fetched each bumper and then returned to heel, drop the bumper back in its original position, telling him, "Leave it," and proceed to the next one. It is very important to have the dog fetch each bumper at least once because in the next step, he will be told to leave some of the bumpers he has just fetched; he has to understand that it is good to fetch each of the bumpers before proceeding. 

When this segment of the drill is solid, walk your dog over the bumpers as before (approaching them from either end of the line of bumpers), but this time randomly command him to "fetch" or "leave it" as you approach each bumper. If he performed the first step satisfactorily, he will likely want to dive for each bumper. Restrain him with the lead and command, "Leave it," and walk ahead to the next bumper. Since you're doing this at random, it is not necessary to alternate bumpers or follow any other pattern of fetching and leaving the bumpers; it is up to you. 

Often, after initially fetching each bumper, I will walk a dog over the entire line of bumpers, this time commanding, "Leave it" when stepping across each bumper; then, upon reaching the end, I'll turn and have him fetch ones that I choose. The whole idea is to have him understand that he is to fetch on command and only when told to fetch, and to leave the bumpers when told to do so. The configuration that you choose of fetching and leaving bumpers is totally your choice. 

After the dog is quite solid on the drill as described and will fetch and leave the bumpers on command, I step up the difficulty a notch by intermittently replacing some of the bumpers with both dead and live shackled birds for the dog to fetch on command. The test of your dog's total understanding of this drill is when he will unfailingly fetch or ignore whatever he is commanded. 

So, the next step with my young female this spring is to put her through a force-fetch program and the "leave it" drill. Then I will feel confident knowing that next season she will be ready to go into the field and bring me back only the birds I (hopefully) shoot.