Leave It

It can be incredibly frustrating to deal a dog that wants to check every little thing out on walk or in the backyard. Whether it be human food, roadkill, or a toy there are plenty of items we would rather our dogs not be quite so close too. This is where the "leave it" command comes in, "leave it" tells the dog to well leave it alone. According to Dog Commands it is also the basis of the treat balancing on the dog's nose trick.

In general, we deal with the most random stuff that we don't want our dogs to be getting into while out on dog walks so it's also the best place to start training. Grab some treats or a toy before you leave the house then wait for your dog to be distracted by something. When the dog is distracted and wants to go check something undesirable out, firmly state "leave it" then distract them with the reward. 

Petfinder details a more intensive version which involves several layers of training in the process of rewarding with the distraction along with some progressive stages. Another thing to consider is that they are defining the command as simply not picking up whatever it is the dog wants rather than completely not going near it.

Here's an interesting clicker training version from Youtube

Heel

There's a lot to be said for being able to take your dog for a walk and not have to deal with pulling or lagging. Towards the end of this post I'll include a couple photos of the now four day old puppies.

Training

When it comes to teaching your dog to heel I've found that it's all about practice. All one really needs to start the process is a leash and some motivating treats. Personally, I would recommend a chain collar and a non-extending leash because leashes that extend make no sense when you want the dog to stay by your side and the chain collar if you don't abuse it and hurt the dog is good for small corrections.

Given my background in AKC dog performance events I have the dog always on my left because that's just what is accepted. If your dog is a companion dog the side which the dog heels on doesn't really matter, just in my case I see no point having the dog heel on a side which I don't want them to in competition (aside from agility).

All you need to do is hold the leash in your hand (attached to the dog's collar obviously) with a little looseness. Think of the looseness as a little slack for the dog to miss a step occasionally. Some people with stronger dogs will need to hold the loose part of the leash in their other hand so as to maintain control while the dog is still learning.

Otherwise just reward your dog when they are doing what you want them to. I would do some figure 8s and turn a lot so your dog gets use to having to watch you for direction.

Puppies
My dog's great niece's 5 puppies were born Thursday the 10th. They're all spoken for and going to great homes.