Teaching a solid 'leave it' to a Lab who thinks everything is food — progress is slow
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jenna_ok·about 2 months·747 views
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Winston (10-month-old Lab) will leave it beautifully in the house with low-distraction treats. The second we're outside, the command doesn't exist. He'll charge at literally anything — dropped food, dead birds, other dogs' poop, random trash.
I've been training for 4 months and indoor 'leave it' is solid. Outdoor 'leave it' doesn't transfer at all. Is this normal for this age and breed? Is there a specific way to bridge the indoor-to-outdoor gap?
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priya_gsd· about 2 months
This is the generalization problem and it's extremely common — 'leave it' in the kitchen is a different skill than 'leave it' outside in a dog's brain. You need to re-teach from scratch outdoors but you can compress it fast: start in your yard with boring distractions, then parking lots, then high-distraction parks. Use higher-value treats outside than inside (real chicken, cheese) because you're competing with dead birds. Also — 10-month-old Lab is peak impulse-control disaster age. This will genuinely get easier at 14-18 months just from maturation.
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dan_runs· about 2 months
The management piece matters too while you're training: keep him on a short leash near anything gross so he can't self-reward by getting the thing before you can stop him. Every time he succeeds in eating the disgusting thing, it reinforces the behavior faster than your training can counteract.
