So we're working on leave it. put dakota in sit then stay walk a few paces away and place a treat and tell him leave it. he won't stay in sit, he rolls over and wines and talks and wiggles and flops and tries to aproach the treat from differetn sides . after having to pick up the treat so he can't get it 2 or 3 times then he will sit and "leave it" for about 5 seconds then i release him so he can get it, or else he'd never get the treat. How long does it generally take for this lesson to sink in?

ummm your talking about a Husky here they KNOW what to do, the trick is to not let them slid when they start this up. i should get a video of Jack when i am giving them a treat of raw chicken, man does he go crazy when he damn well knows he is not getting it till he settles down! I just wait till he does

Also, a rule of thumb that's worked fabulously with Steele, don't reward with the same treat you're telling him to leave alone. He'll learn that the thing on the ground isn't as important as what's in your hand (since that's where the second treat will be coming from) and not only will it keep his attention on you, but you shouldn't have any more wiggling to get to the treat he can see once he figures out THAT isn't the reward anymore. That's just the object of 'leave it'.

I trained Steele this way and can quite literally call him off anything. A running squirrel. Another dog. People (because he just wants to love EVERYONE). Cats. Rabbits. Lizards. Everything. Why? Because when he hears 'leave it' he looks at ME for the reward and not the object he's been trained that he can get later when you release him.

Just a thought to chew over that might help you ;D

Yeah usually you don't want them taking the treat in the beginning of leave it, you'll want to reward with a 2nd treat. And "leave it" should mean forever until I pick it up and give it to you. That's how we've worked it

wow thanks guys. that makes total sense and i can't believe it didn't occur to me lol will be making some changes on our next training session.

Tyrion caught on within 2 minutes when I used this video. In his second session I kind of tortured him by putting some jerky treats on the top of his paws and told him to leave it. His look was priceless.

Of course, he got a better reward for leaving the treats alone

oh man I remember those days.....It was mostly with the command wrong. She get mad at us. lol

The way that Ava's trainer taught leave it was really simple and works great. Leave it means that she never gets it. Period. I'll give her something better if she leaves it alone and she knows to look to me for that.

I taught her a "wait" command that's similar to what you were doing. I drop a treat and tell her to wait, and she essentially has to leave it until I give her the release word. Maybe try differentiating between the commands that way?

since i started using a different treat from the thing i wanted him to leave he's mastered it as much as a dog his age can. last night we had chinese food and my plate had a bunch of spair rib bones on it. told him once to leave it and he didnt touch them. He complained he couldn't have them and gave me that sad eyes look lol but he didn't even try to take them. So proud of him granted i did not torchure hi long though i picked up the plate and gave him a bacon treat.... he was in heaven lol He loves bacon more than i do haha