Now that she's gotten more use to the puppy and she's had some practice, I can start to call her to come from greater distances.
I evaluate every situation to figure out how I can set her up for success while still pushing her a little bit to expand her skills.
After a warm up, she does a really good job ignoring distractions to get the job done.
Even when those distractions are trying really hard.
It's one of the benefits of a food motivated dog and a good history of rewards that reminds her of all the good that come of responding well.
We keep adding more distance as she improves and now out of sight recalls where she has to search for me when I call her.
I still cheer her on as she comes running towards me.
More times then not, she lands with a paw on my foot...just to be close.
Or to pin me down to make sure she gets her reward.
When working on "leave it" with real life items, it's helpful to have her on leash until she is responding better. That way I can hold the leash in close to my waistline and keep her just out of reach of the item.
One clear, "Margot, leave it" and I wait.
As soon as she backs off or looks away, a high value reward.
I want her to realize she'll get something even better if she leaves it alone.
Then we can work on walking past with a "leave it" to make it a little more challenging for her.
I've added the low value treat to a low surface to help her learn to leave things alone on a table top.
As she progressed, I could uncover the treats.
If she tries to go for it, I say calmly, "No, leave it." If she continues to go for it, I cover it up. I'm not going to pull it away from her because I can't go around gathering up all the items that I ask her to leave. It needs to me Margot who does the work, not us.
But, if she backs off or looks away...
She gets a high value treat.
If she sees an item that she normally would try to steal and chooses to back off or look away on her own, I reward that well.
We definitely want her to be making those good choices on her own.
If there is a temptation on the table and I tell her to "leave it"
I'll reward her...
And redirect her to a better activity.
But I won't give her the item on the table. I don't want her thinking she'll eventually get the item that I've asked her to leave so she never gets the "leave it" item. "Leave it" means leave it alone and don't bug it again.
If she sees something on the table...
And makes a good choice...
Like offering a sit, then I will give her the item if it's something she can have.
The difference is that she asked for it politely. I hadn't told her to leave it alone.
It's a strong reward when she gets an item that she asked for politely.
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