Stay is one of the hardest commands that we teach our dogs. It’s also one of the most important to get right. Not only is stay a bit abstract for your dog to learn, but it can also be frustrating and boring for both parties involved. Stay is the only command that we teach that means to do absolutely nothing. It can be hard to relay to your dog that what you want from them is to stay completely still. Here are some common mistakes to avoid when teaching your dog stay. If these mistakes are avoided, you will be well on your way to teaching your dog a reliable stay.
1. Making sure your stay has a definite strong ending.
In order for stay to make any sense, it has to have a beginning, middle and end. It starts with the word “stay”. Then while they are staying still, I like to give some light verbal praise to encourage them to keep staying still. (Usually, I’ll say “good boy”or “good girl” in a soft tone a few times.) Lastly it ends with a release word. If that ending is a word that we say constantly, than you could confuse the dog by saying it accidentally. I personally like to use the word “free” as a release word, because it is a word that we don’t say all the time in our every day language. There are some trainers that will use “OK” as a release word, but I feel like we say that to commonly in conversation.
2. Going too fast too quickly.
Like I said before, stay is really hard. So in the beginning, if you move on too quickly from standing still to leaving the room, your dog will be very confused and think that every little movement you make is a cue for them to get up. You need to work in slow baby steps in order to have your dog understand that what you were asking of them, is to stay still and not do anything. I usually tell my clients for at least the first week of teaching a puppy stay, to not do any extra movement of their bodies. Just do short stays, where you don’t move and they don’t move.
3. Looking at the dog the whole time
When our dogs learn a new skill, they look at every single little thing we do with body language to see if there is a cue that they are missing. One thing that owners don’t think about, is their eye contact with the dog. If you look at your dog the entire time you’re practicing stay, they may think that you keeping eye contact with them is a signal to know when the stay is over. (You look away, they think the stay is over.) This is going to be a problem when you try to do something more advanced like turn your back on your dog or go out of sight. There is no way to keep eye contact during these more advanced stays. I tell my clients from the very beginning of teaching stay, to not look at their dog the whole time. This feels very awkward, but looking up and away from your dog while they are staying still, helps them not associate eye contact with the end of the stay.
4. Adding movement and distance at the same time.
Since our dogs look at our body language for any hints to what’s expected of them, if we add both movement and distance at the same time, it’s probably going to be too much too fast. They will inevitably get up too soon. I like to add one before the other. First I add movement while I’m still standing next to or close to the dog. This can be anything from doing side steps, step touches, or any sort of in place dance/movement. Once your dog is able to reliably stay still while you are moving right in front of them, then I will start adding some distance and backing up a few steps, or even starting to turn my back on them. As we discussed in mistake number two, slow and steady wins this race.
5. Getting frustrated.
Our dogs are already going to be a little confused that we’re not asking them to physically do something. So I like to keep training sessions for stay short and sweet, and If they get up in the middle of a stay, it’s no big deal. Just reset them and start over. The goal is to do short stays consistently, before moving on to anything harder. If your dog keeps getting up before your release word, then take a step back, and try to do a stay that’s slightly easier. You always want to end on a good note, so that you’re not just ending because you’re both frustrated. You want to keep training sessions positive and fun. Stay is hard, so if you let your frustration get the best of you, your dog will resist practicing stay the next time you go to do it.
If you can avoid these pit falls, you will be well on your way to a reliable stay. Stay is so essential for safety and for teaching your pup to have patients, and self control. (Not something they come with!) I have complete faith that you can train your pup to have an awesome stay. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!
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