Teaching Your Dog To Stay

Teaching your dog to stay may be a convenience (yours), a command for "Alpha Dog" training (you're the "Alpha"), or a command to keep your dog from getting hurt or into trouble. And, it's easy to teach your dog to stay, especially if she walks with you on a loose leash and knows some of the basic commands such as "sit" and "down".

To teach your dog to stay, when you take your dog for a walk, stop frequently. Every time you stop, say "stay" and say it in a commanding voice. You're not asking your dog to stay, your telling her to stay. Use your leash to stop your dog if you have to. Remember, it's not a "heel" command. When your dog stops, she should remain standing. And you must praise your dog when she stops. When you're ready to start walking again, give your dog a release command such as "free" or any other release word you use. It is important that you praise your dog every time she stops when you say "stay", even if you have to say it more than once or have to stop her with the leash. You can also use the command "wait", but whichever word you use, always use the same word.

I personally don't train dogs using treats, but if you have used treats in your past training, feel free to use them for this training also, when your dog obeys the "stay" command.

Once you know that your dog knows what  "stay" means, start using it in other situations, such as telling her to stay before she gets into your car, or before she's allowed to eat her dinner after her food bowl is put down, or before she can go through an open door. Remember that whenever you give her a "stay" command, always give her praise before you give her a release command.

Another good training exercise is to stop walking, giver a  "stay" command, and take a step or two away from her. If she starts to follow you, give her another  "stay" command in a more stern voice. When you have confidence that she will stay still when you walk away from her, you can do the same exercise, but drop the leash. The first time you do his, you should be in an enclosed area, unless your dog always responds to the "come" command.

In AKC Obedience Trials, you're allowed to also use a hand signal for your dog to stay. The signal usually consists of bringing your open hand down to, but not touching, your dog's nose with the palm of your hand facing your dog. You can use both the verbal command and the hand signal at the same time. It's one of the few times, in Obedience Trials that you can use two commands at once.

Once you can trust her to stay when you drop the leash and step away from her, you can give her a stay command and drop the leash while still walking. Since you should always be training your dog, do these and other training exercises at every opportunity.

Find out how easy it is to train your dog to obey your  commands every time. Click on Train My Dog Now

A trained dog is a happy dog and has a happy owner.