I Like to Leave It Leave It

I felt a bit creaky the other evening, and so set off for Tylenol.  As I popped the cap off the Tylenol bottle, one shiny red caplet escaped and made a graceful arc toward the floor. 

To some dogs, especially my dogs, anything that lands on, near, or within three miles of the floor, is F.O.O.D. (Fascinating Odorous Offering (that is) Devourable).  With a Tylenol caplet skittering across the floor, and two hungry wolves on patrol, it could have been bad news.  Human pain medication is not made for dogs and can be bad news if it lands in their crocodilian jaws.

Here's where the Leave It command comes in.  If you've taught Leave It, you can issue your command and swipe the offending caplet/object/food while your disappointed dogs, um, Leave It.  Having taught my dogs Leave It, I was spared the horror of watching them gobble something they shouldn't -- or alternatively, of having to fly across the room in slo-mo with "Noooooo" issuing from my twisting, gaping mouth.

But with Leave It, it's end of story ... not the end of your dogs.  I strongly urge you to consider teaching this command.  While your dogs may still forget or disregard the command and go for the goodie, they may hesitate a second, giving you time to step in.  My Lab mix, who will knock me down a flight of stairs for even the most minute morsel of anything edible, immediately stepped back for the "Leave It" that evening.  For that, he got praise and a compensatory treat popped into his willing gullet!

There are plenty of good dog training sites, books, and compassionate trainers to demonstrate teaching Leave It.  Consider looking into those resources.

Leave It increases the odds that you'll be able to stop your dog from gobbling up anything that could be dangerous (cleaning supply spills, clippings from poisonous plants, bad mushroomy looking things in your yard, etc.).

And don't be a dummy like me -- I should have opened that pill bottle over an opened drawer, so spilled pills wouldn't land on the floor.  Lesson learned. 

So Leave It is a great command.  Now, I just need to use it on myself when I'm near chocolate, ice-cream, or anything that is not a vegetable.  But it's hard to say the command, when one's mouth already has the chocolate in it!