# Teaching Stay



## Jennifer McClellan (Mar 7, 2008)

I am having a problem teaching CJ to stay. Any suggestions. I tried yesterday with a piece of ham which I was trying to put into his dish without being pounced. He would sit over and over but as soon as I made any movement he was up. What I don't understand is that he sits and stays at the gate to the yard while we go in and out without much problem.


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## Sasha2008 (Feb 19, 2008)

we had good success with clicker training teaching Bogart to stay, in the beginning I kept him on the leash. We would sit him , then teach sit stay first without me moving. Then I'd take one step backwards, if he didn't move click and treat, for one second, three seconds, 5 seconds. Then two steps back, stay for two seconds, four seconds, gradually getting longer. We just did it in baby steps, but it worked, at 6 months, he has no problem sit staying for a full 5 minutes...and I no longer use the clicker, just found it a good training tool when he is learning something new. When he hear's the click he knows he got it right


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## Jennifer McClellan (Mar 7, 2008)

Thank you. I'll have to get a new clicker, CJ chewed the last one.


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## Elmo's Mom (May 21, 2007)

I taught Elmo while giving Elmo his meals. I put him in a sit before putting his bowl down. Then, I said Stay. If he moved, I picked up the bowl. Then, I made him sit again and repeated the exercise. He learned stay very quickly. Then, I applied it in other situations like when I was going to open the door to let them out. If he moved, I shut the door.


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## Heidibu (Jul 22, 2008)

I introduced the stay to Heidi before she was 6 months old, but didn't have any expectations that she would "get it" until she was older. How old is CJ?

What I would do is put her in a sit then treat. Put her in a down, then treat. Then, after I said "good down", I would say "stay" and continuously toss my training treats between her front legs. As long as I was tossing treats, she had no reason to get up. I would do this for just a few minutes each session.

Again, at that young age, it was simply an introduction. I've heard trainers say that the "stay" isn't expected until they get a bit older.


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## GSDOwner2008 (Jan 19, 2008)

Both of my boys learned stay before six months old, and we did it the same way bsinghVA did it. Through meals, then applying it to everyday training. Everytime they get the stay, trying having them stay five seconds longer.


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## delicat (Jun 9, 2008)

Bailey is getting better at stay every day. We started after he had learned "down" and "come". I'd just put him in a "down" and say "stay", then back up a few steps and say "come" to release him, then treat him. When we started working on longer stays we would use two people. One would hold him in "down" while the other walked away. We did this all indoors on a casual basis until we were confident that he understood the idea of "stay". Now we practice it outdoors with him every night; we're at the point that we can turn away from him, walk 10+ paces, turn and face him and have a "face off" for up to 30 seconds before we say "come".

Bailey often takes three tries to get the stay right. First he doesn't stay at all, so we turn around and make a funny "muh-muh" buzzer sound to let him know he got it wrong. The second try he'll stay but as soon as we turn around and face him he'll come - he's trying to anticipate what we want instead of focusing on our commands. The third time is a charm and he'll stay until we tell him "come" - and he gets his treat and lots of praise.


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## GSD07 (Feb 23, 2007)

delicat, make sure you don't always call him to come from stay but return to him and praise and go away and return again and release. Otherwise he will always be unticipating a 'come' command anytime you put him in a stay.


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## Heidibu (Jul 22, 2008)

My thought too GSD07. I was coached to always return to the dog that was placed in a stay, then release when ready. "OK" is my release word. It might be confusing to use the word Come as the release.


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## vhowell7 (Jul 4, 2011)

GSD07 said:


> delicat, make sure you don't always call him to come from stay but return to him and praise and go away and return again and release. Otherwise he will always be unticipating a 'come' command anytime you put him in a stay.


Good advice!


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## valreegrl (Nov 11, 2009)

Stay has 3 parts, distance/duration/distraction. 
Start off in front and ask for the stay. Once that is solid and you have added duration then take one step to the side (not back, moving away in the beginning is too inviting to the dog to follow). 
Then step to the other side. 
Then once that is solid then take the step back. 

Also return to your dog in the beginning to release. Calling away can be built upon later but it's too confusing to start and creates a bad habit of breaking.


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## Packen (Sep 14, 2008)

Another approach is to not teach the "stay". The dog is supposed to maintain a commanded position till released. So if you command "sit" then only one command is needed till released, same with down or stand. I prefer this approach as only one command is needed (+ the release marker).


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