April 12, 2021
I have 2 questions. Is there a difference between the “leave it” command and the “yuck” command? Also, I was watching your video of teaching Meru to swim and I noticed you offered a reward to have him release his ball instead of giving him a command. Was this because of his age?
Full Question:
Hi Cindy. Thanks for your videos. Exceptional! I have two questions:
I'm trying to determine if there is any distinction between a "leave it" command versus a "yuck" command. I've done some cursory research, but there is divergent information from sources that do not adhere to marker-based reward training. I trained my last Shepherd with "leave it" as a universal command to, well, leave it. So, is there a difference?
Also, I was watching your video training Maru to swim, and I noticed that you had him release his ball by offering a reward rather than a command. Was this just a function of his age?
Incidentally, wondering how old he was at the time, as I want to teach my pup to swim (she is 6-weeks old at this writing and will enter our home in 2 weeks) and am not clear on what age is best to begin water training.
Thanks so much.


There is no difference between YUCK and LEAVE IT other than the words we use. The meaning is the same. There are different ways to train it but when I say YUCK to my dogs they know it means leave it alone.
I trade puppies for items they have until I have a solid OUT, the age from one pup to another varies but I choose to do this so they are more likely to give up what they have. You can teach puppies to swim when they are small, if you have a place to safely do so. I took Meru to a facility where they do dock diving and booked some pool time to teach him and I think he was around 11 weeks. We taught an entire litter of puppies to swim at 7 weeks some years ago.
I trade puppies for items they have until I have a solid OUT, the age from one pup to another varies but I choose to do this so they are more likely to give up what they have. You can teach puppies to swim when they are small, if you have a place to safely do so. I took Meru to a facility where they do dock diving and booked some pool time to teach him and I think he was around 11 weeks. We taught an entire litter of puppies to swim at 7 weeks some years ago.
100% (7 out of 7)
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