How To Train a Golden Retriever To Leave It

Suppose you’re walking in a park, and your puppy sees a dead bird. Its inherited curiosity will force it to inspect it, which can be dangerous. A simple “leave it” will prevent your dog from getting close to hazards.

This essential golden retriever command will also keep your dog from eating food on the floor, particularly human food that may be toxic to canines.

With enough discipline and patience, you will teach your dog to ignore anything laying on the ground.

When To Begin The Training?

The training success largely depends on a dog’s age. The best time to start golden retriever training is at about ten weeks old, when puppies already have a long enough attention span and are accustomed to the new home.

Training a younger puppy won’t be as effective because an eight-week-old golden retriever has an attention span and memory of a goldfish and won’t be able to memorize your commands.

When training a puppy, limit the commands to two or three at a time because puppies struggle to memorize too many commands simultaneously.

In contrast, there’s no upper age limit for golden retriever training. You can train a dog even at an adult age, but it already has an established personality and habits and may be hesitant to learn something new.

Set Your Dog Up For Success

Some dog owners unintentionally set their pets up for failure by picking the wrong time or environment for training. Mistakes take your puppy two steps back, so your goal is to set it up for success from the start.

Choose a familiar environment with minimal distractions, such as your backyard. Avoid public parks and any new environments until your puppy learns the command.

Don’t attempt to train your golden retriever while it’s bursting with energy. It’s an active breed that needs plenty of exercise, so play with your dog for some time before the training session. Otherwise, your puppy won’t obey your orders.

Don’t train your puppy while it’s full. It shouldn’t be starving, but moderate hunger will ensure that your puppy will be more willing to obey you in exchange for treats.

Make Your Dog Leave It

To teach your puppy to leave it, you should first make it interested in something. The easiest option is to use a treat. Show it to your puppy and put it on the ground, then close it with the palm of your hand.

Your puppy will try to get the treat from under your hand, but you shouldn’t budge. Eventually, your puppy will get fed up with licking, biting, and pawing your hand and give up.

Don’t tell your puppy “no” or otherwise try to make it stop attacking your hand. Your puppy should decide to leave the treat itself.

Once your dog stops trying to get the treat, mark the action with “yes” and give the treat as a reward. Alternatively, you may use a clicker – a small plastic device with a button making a distinct clicking sound.

You don’t yet need to say the “leave it” command – your puppy should first learn to resist its impulses. After some practice, your puppy will leave the treat as soon as you close it with your hand.

If your puppy bites your hands too harshly, you may first want to learn how to train a golden retriever not to bite.

When your puppy consistently leaves the treat, you can move on to the next stage of the training.

Make Your Dog Leave It & Give Eye Contact

The next stage of the training is pretty much the same as the first one, but before giving your puppy a treat, you should make it give you eye contact. This is necessary to teach your puppy to switch its attention from distractions.

Furthermore, eye contact strengthens the bond between you and your pet. When your puppy looks at you instead of their desired treat, it learns that the owner gets it what it wants, not barking and pawing.

Repeat the usual steps, but before marking your puppy’s action with “yes” and rewarding it, wait until your puppy looks at you in anticipation. Alternatively, make a noise to make it look at you.

Only after your puppy leaves the treat and looks you in the eyes, praise it and reward it.

Practice & Games

A fun, interactive way to learn the “leave it” command is by playing the peekaboo game with your puppy. Sit on the ground and put several treats in front of you. Let your dog inspect the treats, then cover them with your hands.

Your goal is to teach your puppy to leave the treats even when you don’t cover them with your hand. You can randomly open the treats and close them to make them more tempting to your puppy.

Don’t let your puppy eat treats from the floor but pick them up and give them as a reward when your dog leaves them alone.

This game teaches your dog not to eat anything it finds on the floor but only what you offer it. After some practice, you can move on to playing peekaboo while standing up.

The process is the same, but instead of sitting, you stand, and instead of covering the treats with your hand, you cover them with your foot.

This way, your puppy learns that it has to obey you even when you aren’t right in front of it.

Add Challenges

When your puppy learns to ignore treats sitting on the floor, move on to the next stage – drop the treats in front of your puppy and don’t cover them. If your puppy goes for the treats, cover them and don’t reward your dog.

If your puppy doesn’t react to the treats, mark the success with “yes” or clicker and give your puppy a reward.

This step may seem unnecessary, but it can save your dog’s life in the future if you accidentally drop a grape or something else toxic to dogs.

Then, practice with human food. Human food may be highly tempting to your dog because it’s novel, but your puppy should learn that the “leave it” rule applies to everything.

Repeat the familiar steps with a piece of bread or something else safe for dogs. After your puppy learns to leave anything laying on the floor unless you allow it to sniff it, you can try practicing the command at a public park.

Add a Verbal Cue

The right time to add a verbal cue is when your puppy leaves the treats every time. When your dog consistently behaves well, start saying “leave it” instead of “yes.”

This way, your puppy will start associating the verbal cue with correct actions. If you add the verbal cue while your puppy is still learning, it may struggle to draw connections between its actions and the command.

After some time, your puppy will learn what “leave it” means and will obey the command not only when it sees something on the ground but also when it approaches other dogs or jumps on people.

Mistakes in Golden Retriever Training

Before you begin the training, learn about the mistakes in teaching a dog to leave it to avoid setting your dog up for failure.

Don’t force your puppy to leave the treat. Your dog must decide to leave the treat itself to learn to control its impulses.

By pulling the treat away, you will teach your puppy only to leave whatever is laying on the floor by your command. This can be problematic because your dog may pick something up while you don’t see it.

Punishing the dog for not obeying the command is one of the most common mistakes in golden retriever training. Firstly, if you punish your puppy, it won’t want to look at you after you command it to leave it.

Secondly, if the punishment is harsh, your puppy may start despising you, which leads to behavioral problems in the long term. You want to build trust between you and your dog, not make it fear you.

Don’t let your dog get treats off the floor as a reward. If you do, your puppy will learn that it can eat food from the floor. Your goal is the exact opposite – to teach your puppy not to touch anything on the floor.

Not being consistent is another mistake hindering the training’s success. Always say the same verbal cue at the same moment, and never reward your dog for wrong actions.

If your reactions aren’t consistent, your dog won’t draw connections between its actions, command, and reward. Instruct everyone in your household to follow the same steps in training if it isn’t solely your responsibility.

Lastly, don’t give the “leave it” cue too soon. If you incorporate the verbal cue into the training too early, when your puppy only obeys you occasionally, it will learn that obeying your command is not mandatory.

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