How to Teach your dog Leave It and Take It - Safe and soft mouth

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Watch my Drop It video to complete the training!

Watch my video on the Four Types of Toys and How To Use Them for more tips on mouth control:

Check out the video from Dog Star Daily (Dr. Ian Dunbar) about Take It and Leave It (although he calls Leave It “Off”)

We're largely using kibble in this video, but we also use and recommend Pet Botanics Training Rewards:

We also use the Stewart Pro-Treats freeze-dried liver as a jackpot or super-lure

Covered Rally Bowl used in the outdoor practice:
*The covered bowl is a good tool because it prevents the dog from accidentally getting the food. As I said in the video, errors will set you back and erode your reliability. A cover helps you make it error-free.

Hungry for more in-depth training?

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Simpawtico Dog Training on the web and social media:

About this video:
In this video, Ian Stone from Simpawtico Dog Training shows you how to get started TODAY to train your dog to Leave It and Take It, two very important behaviors every dog should learn. Teach them to take things politely from you and ignore things they shouldn’t have. Use this as a gateway to toy training and a wonderful part of puppy training.

Affiliate Disclosure: Some links in the post above are “affiliate links.” If you click the link and purchase the item, Simpawtico Dog Training, LLC will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally that we believe will add value to our viewers. Your price is the same whether you use the affiliate link or not.

[mitchelloliver]

Just want to say thanks for getting straight to the point with these videos, other channels jump around and then want to sell you a book

[foxxiangel]

i’m literally obsessed w you showing us from the dogs POV what saying gentle over and over every time is like!

[ASMinor]

In my opinion, this is a vital skill for any puppy or dog to have. Not only is it for safety (stop them from eating things, or chasing things), but it also helps to build impulse control. And it's so versatile, to help with many different behavioral issues.

[Ephem]

With methods like these, I've been teaching my parents 7y.o. mini Australian Shepard to not snatch food from your hands and to not steal food from other dogs. The side effects of training like this have been amazing and the restraint she learned here has carried over into other aspects of how she conducts herself.

[lescocat]

Follow this guy, don’t waist your time anywhere else. His stuff works great.

[gomezkabuki]

I watch and apply your tips religiously. Thank you so much!
Perhaps adding a patreon or paypal at the end for tips from thankful subscribers.

[lindamerrill]

Thank you so much for this video! I have a 12 week dachshund puppy. I started hand feeding her lunch and dinner today. For lunch, I said "take it" with each piece (or pieces) from an open hand. She also had to be seated and look at me for each piece. For dinner, about half way through, I started holding my hand closed and saying "leave it". After several handfuls, she would just sit and wait for me to open my hand and say take it. She also had to look at me with each piece. It was amazing to watch her go from agitation (because she was so hungry initially) to calmly waiting for me to give it to her. Thanks for the step by step actions. I'll continue to do this and transition to her "leaving it" when it's visible in my hand or on the floor, etc.

[kimberleyh.]

Recently discovered your videos and you have a lot of great tips for dog owners! The only one that I found so far that I would challenge is the "Leave It". Personal preference only, I wouldn't let a dog take an item after telling it to leave it. If the dog was to have the item after, I would use 'wait'. Leave it is something I use for items that are off limits like dropped pills, chocolate, macadamia nuts, unknown items on the street that has caught their interest, etc. Wait means it will be allowed to have it eventually. Wait I use to teach a little self discipline / impulse control. Wait to go outside, wait to approach their dinner bowl, wait to get into the car and as a result, when I say wait in a dangerous situation, they stop and wait and it prevents accidents from happening. Leave it has stopped them from picking up tainted meat pieces in the dog park.


Look forward to watching more of your videos and have already been recommending them to people who have dogs or are in the process of adopting one!

[twitchiewitch]

I put my deposit on my baby right after his parents were bred. It's been months, I'm very close to bringing him home and the anticipation is killing me! I've always rescued adult rotts from rescues, this is my first baby. I've been watching & reading training advice for half a yr, I'm enjoying yours the most. You've answered most of my questions without having to actually ask them, which finding the answers to all my questions has been so difficult with so many different opinions and training methods. I've found that we're of like mind in approach. So I just feel compelled to say Thank you. 😁 Getting this puppy feels a lot like getting ready for a child. I'm so excited but very nervous too. I just want to do everything right! I've tamed and trained the worst of the worst adult rotts who've been abused and neglected, who could have easily eaten or maimed me....yet doing right by a baby frightens me more. it's strange.

[adams]

Your "take it" instructions completely informed my relationship with my Great Dane X. He was always very gentle, with a soft mouth, but your views on how to use it properly brought us closer together. Thank you so much for your insight, instruction, and care in this regard. I love your channel.

[jenniferjohnson]

We are bring home our first puppy on March 9th and I am beyond grateful that I stumbled upon your channel! This is just so much helpful information.

[asksash]

I just adopted a sweet rescue pup who is 18 weeks old. Your videos have been an absolute savior!!! Crate training is going beautifully, he is learning basic commands like sit, down, take and leave it (thanks to this video!). The one thing I am struggling a lot with right now is his nipping/biting my hands while playing with toys. He is extremely gentle with getting treats/kibble out of my hands but when we are playing with toys he bites my hands. I have read many articles on this and I know he is in prime teething mode but I would love to know the most effective strategies to discourage it. I have read that you should not take you hand away but instead make a high pitched yelping noise to let him know its too much. This doesn't seems to be helping very much. We also try to always have a chew toy on hand to give him (which he loves) instead of our hands but he still wants to chomp down on our hands too. More tips for biting inhibition during play time would be great!!

[Investigativebean]

The “leave it” command is one of the very first command I teach. Living in a city, there are all kinds of nefarious items left around. It is also useful for teaching your dog to ignore your kitties.

[IamKelly-anne]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You explain things so well!
Im so encouraged! We have An 11 week old English Bull Terrier and we began applying your advice on “what to do about puppy biting” when she was about 9 weeks and we have noticed a significant reduction in her intensity, she lets go very quickly when we let her know it hurts now and is mostly a lot calmer, one part there I couldn’t even walk around the house with shorts on because she seemed so fixated on biting everything that moved, but your advice seems to have changed this... i can see the energy we put in to her, is the energy we get back from her both in the long run and the momentarily... It seems she really is a reflection of my behaviour towards her in many ways, it’s very though provoking. Your videos have provided us not only with guidance on what to do but reason as to why it matters why we should do what we do, this makes a world of difference and I’m so grateful and so encouraged to put into practice what you teach! Thanks again you guys are amazing! 😊

[tammylane]

Ian, your teaching style rocks. We are training a rescued pitty jack to one day be my personal service dog. You are training US by explaining the “whys” behind the techniques. And they are working so well. THANK YOU!

[BMW_Boxer]

We hand fed our Boston/Pitbull puppy once with this method and he starting biting much softer towards the end. Excellent video!

[_lmng]

Randomly saw this. The attention detail deserves a sub for sure

[tylercat]

HUGE help in training for therapy dogs! Especially given chemicals and/or pills anywhere! Hats off to you! Ya, hand feeding... totally worth it.... make sure you carve out dedicated time :)
Admittedly had to hit rewind when you said that!

[georgehalet]

The way we teach "Leave it" at the shelter where I volunteer is not give a dog the item that they were told to Leave so that they don't get the impression that "Leave it" is temporary. This is relevant for toxic items.
Probably mixing it up is OK once the behavior is learned, but I'd be inclined to teach that once Leave it is used, that the item is not offered until it has left their mind.



You pack a lot into these videos and I am very grateful for all your awesome tips. Many thanks!!

[sassysally]

The little puppy is vibrating with energy! I truly appreciate your videos- they are informative, instructive, and doable. Thank you!