Teach Your Dog to Stay
2023-02-07
To Begin:
Stock your pocket/treat pouch with extra tasty treats without letting your dog see you do so.
Bring your dog to a quiet area they are comfortable in with little to no distractions.
Ask your dog to either sit or down.
Ask your pup to stay by either giving the verbal cue “Stay” or by holding up the palm of your hand about six inches to a foot in front of your dog’s nose.
Once your dog is in position, count to five. If your dog remains in position for 5 seconds, mark then give your Release Cue (“Okay!”) before rewarding your dog for staying in position. Make sure to give lots of praise as well!
Slowly lengthen the amount of time you are asking your dog to remain in position. Work in increments of seconds at first. Slowly increase to minutes.
Work on each piece of criteria separately: duration (how long the dog remains in position) distance (how far away you are from your dog) distractions (your dog stays perfectly still, no matter what is going on around him.)
Once your dog can stay for at least 30 seconds, practice getting them to stay under different conditions. Click and treat your dog for staying while you are sitting, standing, lying down, standing with your back to the dog, putting on your coat or shoes, looking for your car keys in your coat or purse, getting out your treats, and so on. Work on as many positions as you can thing of so your dog understands “stay” means “stay,” no matter where you are or what you're doing.
Now that your dog’s “Stay” is getting more reliable, start practicing the stay behavior in several different locations. Remember to “go back to kindergarten” initially in each new environment, and work on each criteria separately (duration, distance, distraction).
As your dog continues to progress, you can start asking your dog to stay while you walk one step away, two steps, and so forth. Do not say your cue more than once. We want to be able to ask our dog to stay, then turn around and walk away. Practice like it is real life. Do not say, “staaaaayyyyyy, staaaayyyyy!” while hunched over, moving away from your pet. You will likely never do that while in public. Keep it simple! Give your cue one time, then practice moving away. Remember to say your reward marker once your pet has completed their stay, then give your release cue before rewarding your dog.
To fade out the reward marker and wean off of treats, simply give your Release Cue once your dog has completed stay. Remember to always give lots of praise after the release cue!
Begin to use different rewards for your pup after giving your release cue. Now that Stay is a known behavior, the release cue is the reward! You can have your dog stay for toys, their meals, being let outside, or a delicious chew toy!
Training Tips: Be consistent! When you ask your dog to perform a specific behavior, make sure your dog does just that. For example, if you are working on sit/stay and your dog sinks into the down position, cue your dog to sit again, and get him back up on his feet by walking toward him. Never pull them up by the collar or scruff. Again, ask for a sit. If your dog is confused, break “sit” down into smaller steps until it is more reliable. Inconsistency reduces reliability in high distracting areas.
Click and feed at the end of the stay only.
Vary the amount of time you ask your dog to stay for.
To build your dog's confidence, ask him to stay with his back to a variety of distractions, for example, kids, other dogs, traffic, etc.
“Wait” vs. “Stay”- be consistent on which you use and when. “Wait” should only mean “Do not move forward” and the Wait cue can be used for entering a room or waiting to get a valued toy, object, food or treat. “Stay” means to hold a particular position, like sit, down or stand, for a set amount of time before being released.
