There are times when we don't want our dog to sniff, lick, chase, or otherwise bother things in the environment. It might be food on the floor, a cat running across the street, another dog you are passing on the sidewalk, or the person who just entered the room who is a little nervous around dogs. There are also times when a dog has something in their mouth and you need them to readily drop the item. There are two separate commands for those two skills.
To teach "leave it," I started out with low value treats in one hand and higher value treats in my other hand (hidden from Ubu). In an upbeat voice, I said "Ubu, leave it." Then I waited. I waited for Ubu to try different things to get the treat (note: I started out with a closed hand. In this picture we had graduated to an open hand). I wanted him to realized pawing at it and nudging my hand would not work.
The second he backed off or looked away, I marked it with "Yes!" and gave him a high value treat from the other hand. Now he's starting to figure out that, if he leaves that pile of treats, he'll get an even better treat. As he improves, I can start to move my hand closer to the floor until I'm actually putting the "leave it" pile of treats on the floor. I can quickly cover it with my hand or foot if he dives for it (or close my hand if the treats are in my hand).
Once we've transitioned to our "leave it" pile on the floor, we're starting to teach him not to eat off the floor. This is an important skill for a Service Dog. It's not appropriate for a Service Dog to eat anything off the floor (imagine going to a restaurant and the dog is eating scraps off the floor...not a polite behavior when out in public and it could be dangerous for him if he ate the wrong thing). We can move beyond the pile of treats to every day objects and even things like cats and squirrels. When done in a happy tone with praise and rewards, you end up with a dog who is really happy to leave things when you ask him to.
It's no easy task when that darn cat starts to go after the "leave it" pile.
For those times when he has something in his mouth that we want him to spit out, we use the word "drop." We start out teaching this with toys. While he's playing with a toy, I can say "Ubu, drop" in an upbeat tone. Then I put a smelly treat under his nose until he drops the toy.
As soon as he does, I say "Yes," give him the treat, and put the toy behind my back. To make it an even more powerful reward, I give him the toy back. So he's starting to learn that dropping things really pays off well for him. He gets praise, a treat, and he gets the toy back. That's a pretty good deal.
So the reason we use an upbeat tone when we're asking him to drop is to foster a relationship built on cooperation rather than conflict. Using a harsh tone and demanding he complies could cause him to be more defensive ("Great, here she comes again and she's going to take all my good stuff"). We also don't want to chase after him when he has something we want him to drop. As soon as you chase, he will likely run in the opposite direction and he may think you have engaged him in a fun game of keep-away. Better to call him to you and ask him to drop. You are likely to get a much better response.
Treats make it worth his while to cooperate with you. Then he's happy to do things for you, which makes you happy, and improves your relationship overall. It's much nicer than the battle of the wills, which you are likely to win because you are bigger than him, but it doesn't leave anyone feeling all that great about the relationship.
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