{"id":252,"date":"2012-04-24T20:13:06","date_gmt":"2012-04-24T20:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/?p=252"},"modified":"2012-04-24T20:13:06","modified_gmt":"2012-04-24T20:13:06","slug":"leave-it-by-dr-jessica-cooper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/leave-it-by-dr-jessica-cooper\/","title":{"rendered":"Leave it!  by Dr. Jessica Cooper"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dogs are pack animals. \u00a0You do not need to \u201clet them be their own person\u201d and \u201cexpress themselves.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not good for them.\u00a0\u00a0They feel much more comfortable knowing where they stand in the pecking order of the pack, which needs to be below you. \u00a0<strong>I don\u2019t care if you teach your dog any other command besides \u201cleave it.\u201d<\/strong> \u00a0<strong>This command can save their life.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>What it needs to mean is: stop what you are doing and look at me. \u00a0Leave it.<\/strong> \u00a0Stop chasing after that squirrel into on-coming traffic. \u00a0Leave it. \u00a0Don\u2019t growl at Aunt Bertha or that little kid. \u00a0Leave it. \u00a0Stop sniffing at that rat bait. \u00a0Don\u2019t pick up that huge piece of dark chocolate I just dropped on the floor. \u00a0Leave it. \u00a0That skunk doesn\u2019t want to be your friend. \u00a0And neither does the porcupine. \u00a0Or the copperhead. \u00a0Leave it. \u00a0I think you get my drift. \u00a0When you say \u201cleave it,\u201d all other aspects of your dog\u2019s life need to cease and they need to be 100% focused on you. \u00a0You are the pack leader and you may be sensing danger or you may just need their attention. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t matter what your reasoning may be, they cannot question it or doubt you. LEAVE IT.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do you know if your dog is trying to be the leader of your pack? \u00a0<\/strong>They are ignoring your command to \u201ccome\u201d and refusing to eat what you give him so that you offer him something else. \u00a0Who would eat Pedigree when you can get steak? \u00a0Small dogs pester until they are picked up, can choose to jump on\/off furniture or even crawl under the blankets on people\u2019s beds. \u00a0Larger dogs might paw at you until you pet them or jump up on you. \u00a0Sure, some of the behavior I\u2019m describing sounds cute. \u00a0And it sure is funny when our new puppy growls at people when he\u2019s playing, right? \u00a0When your dog barks at you, is he being cute? \u00a0When you tell him to stop, does he? \u00a0If he continues barking, he\u2019s just yelling back at you. \u00a0Trust me, I know first-hand. \u00a0One of my dogs does that and it\u2019s annoying and it\u2019s a learned behavior that I have not been able to break him off since we\u2019ve been \u201cyelling\u201d at each other for over 5 years now. \u00a0But you know what? \u00a0<strong>When I tell him LEAVE IT, he does.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dogs are pack animals. \u00a0You do not need to \u201clet them be their own person\u201d and \u201cexpress themselves.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not good for them.\u00a0\u00a0They feel much more comfortable knowing where they stand in the pecking order of the pack, which needs to be below you. \u00a0I don\u2019t care if you teach your dog any other command besides [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,31,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to","category-pet-health-wellness","category-you-your-pet"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Leave it! 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