Teaching the "stay" cue builds your leadership with your dog. It also builds your dog's composure and ability to cope with a wide variety of situations. Stay training can result in a happier dog with a more people-safe temperament when suitable training methods are used.

Equipment

To prepare for stay training, you need a healthy dog who is comfortable lying down and is capable of focusing on a task for a few minutes at a time. Puppies can and should begin learning the stay, but they will not be ready for longer times until they gain some maturity.

You can work on the stay with a dog who has orthopedic problems, if you separate the stay training from training to sit, down, and stand. The most comfortable position for the dog is lying down, and this is also the most stable position for stay. Do not give a dog a cue that will cause the dog to experience pain or fear. Doing that causes a dog to lose trust in you.

You can practice down-stay even with a dog who finds it mildly painful to change positions, if you do not command the dog into position. Either gently help the dog to lie down before you start the Stay practice, or wait until the dog is lying down already. Work with your veterinarian to provide pain relief. A dog in pain isn't going to enjoy life or feel cooperative with any training.

Besides the dog, you'll need a leash. The only requirement for the collar used in stay practice is that it's secure.

You'll need a long line as the training advances. This allows the dog to practice stay at a distance from you in a variety of locations. Ten feet is long enough for most practice, and a line any longer than 40 feet tends to tangle so badly as to be pretty useless. You can use a retracting leash for stay practice, if you carefully handle it so as to remove all tension against the dog's collar.

For many dogs, stay practice requires a soft surface, such as carpeting, grass, or rubber matting. This is especially true for dogs with orthopedic problems (which can include just about any growing puppy), dogs who don't have much fur, dogs with thin skin, and dogs training for competition that requires a fast drop into the down. If you're going to practice stay on a hard floor or pavement, make sure this will not cause pain to the particular dog, and don't require the dog to change positions quickly.

Pre-Training

You can prepare your dog for easier stay training by spending time every day gently restraining the dog. Do not release the dog until the dog has relaxed under your restraint. Cuddle, stroke, tickle, coo, or whatever else helps your particular dog to relax into this restraint. A dog is unlikely to be able to learn stay until the dog can hold still!

Jack and Wendy Volhard teach a leadership exercise that provides wonderful preparation for teaching your dog the stay. You can read the exact directions in their books, including "Dog Training for Dummies." A simplified version of their exercise works well to help you and your dog prepare for the stay:

Three times a week for one month, do a 30-minute down with your dog. This is not a down-stay because in a stay the dog shares the responsibility for holding the position. In this exercise, the handler takes the responsibility, and it's a perfect way for new handlers to learn their job in stay training.

Sit down next to your dog, on the floor if you wish, or on a chair with the dog next to you on the floor. Use a leash. It helps both you and the dog remember what you are doing.

Gently get the dog to lie down. If this is a problem, consult your veterinarian to make sure it doesn't hurt the dog and then work on the down separately.

One effective way to develop your dog's comfort with going into the down is to require the dog to lie down at each meal before you set the food dish on the ground. Assuming the down position for food takes on a different meaning for the dog, and removes any sense of being forced into submission. Practicing one down at a time a few times a day (convenient if you give your dog two to four small meals or treats per day) brings the training along at a nice pace without stressing the dog.

With the dog lying down, your task is simply to keep the dog there. Preferably, do this with gentle hands. If for some reason you can't use hands to help the dog stay down, you can use the leash. If you allow the dog just enough leash to comfortably lie down but not enough leash to comfortably sit up (while of course not cutting off the dog's air or jerking the dog around), the dog will eventually lie down. Dogs have a natural tendency to settle and go to sleep when bored, and it's well to make this exercise boring!

Aim to keep the dog in the down rather than the dog leaving position and you putting the dog back there. The idea is for the dog to form the habit of staying put, not the habit of getting up and being put back. Watching the dog and learning to notice "movements of intention" a dog makes before breaking position is important for the handler. This will make teaching stay much easier for you both.

If the dog falls asleep, that's fine. Gently awaken the dog when the 30-minute time is up to release the dog. Release the dog calmly, so that you don't teach the dog to explode out of a stay. That would work against the purpose of the stay creating in the dog the ability to deal with life with composure.

Two days a week for one month, have the dog do a 10-minute sit in the same manner as the down. That is, provided the sit position does not hurt your dog. Some dogs find it painful, and should not be required to do it. If the dog leans against your knee and dozes off during the sit, that's fine! You can also practice a one-minute stand daily using this same approach of you helping the dog hold the position rather than requiring the dog to take the responsibility of holding it. Don't start the one-minute stand until the dog is somewhat mature, and be sure that the dog is orthopedically up to it.

Even if this seems too simple for your dog and the dog is progressing nicely on the regular stay practice, continue this exercise for a month, doing three 30-minute downs per week. The Volhard instructions include moving away from the dog in stages, but for the purposes of this particular goal, you don't need to move away. By the end of the month, you can be typing at your computer with the dog snoozing at your feet during the long down-or you can be watching TV.

The dog is simply becoming conditioned to stay there "just because" and you're becoming conditioned to monitor your dog. The dog is, in some mysterious way fully understood only by dogs, learning to view you as a steady leader. This exercise alone won't achieve that if you are otherwise a rotten dog leader, but if you are a good leader, this will be a powerful aid to your dog's quick and calm acceptance of that fact.

Teaching Stay

Stay means stay. Simple, but it's a concept that most handlers and therefore their dogs tend to miss. Stay does not mean, "I tell you to stay, I leave, you leave, I come back and get you and then other stuff happens…." Stay means stay.

So you watch your dog and help your dog to hold the stay. You watch for those movements of intention. You also watch and listen for things you know would distract your dog, and you use good timing to remind your dog in a positive way to keep staying in spite of whatever else is going on. Since you keep your dog on a leash and stay right with the dog for lots of practice sessions before you start stepping away, you're close enough to help the dog succeed. Practice success, not failure.

Once the dog has the idea at home in quiet, boring settings, move to slightly more distracting places. Remember your job of helping your dog, and don't let yourself become distracted! Look for safe situations that will not be scary for your dog. Gradually you can work the dog in increasingly distracting settings, but never require your dog to stay in a place that is not completely safe. If you become aware a spot is less safe than you thought, move the dog to a safe spot. Your dog will be well aware of this, and your status as leader will go up in your dog's eyes.

Time the stay at every practice. Build the time gradually. The first stays for a young puppy may be five seconds. Don't ask a puppy to hold a sit for longer than one minute, even after a lot of practice, because you can burn out the dog's ability and willingness to hold a position that's not comfortable. Many old dogs and dogs with orthopedic problems should never be asked to hold a sit at all.

Build time to a maximum of 10 minutes on the down-stay, five minutes on sit-stay, and one minute on stand-stay. Don't push the dog for too much time or increase the time quickly, or the dog will just give up trying. Stays are harder for dogs than people tend to think.

Practice one down-stay per day. If you are also training your dog to do the sit-stay and the stand-stay, you can practice one of these each day as well. Once a day brings the dog's training along without making it oppressive. This is not the time to cram for a test! The stay needs to be taught over an extended period of time, just enough each day, if you are to get really good results. Practice stay with your dog daily for several months.

Praise your dog and give treats DURING the stay, rather than afterward. You want the dog to be reinforced for the task at hand, which is the stay. If you reward afterward, you are rewarding the task of not staying!

Release your dog from the stay calmly. If you want your dog to have an "on button" for wild play, this is not the time to install it. Stability on the stay is often key for safety, and a dog ready to explode out of the stay can leap right into danger. A wild release also works against the function of the stay training in helping a dog develop the important life skill of composure when needed. This skill comes into play in a wide variety of situations, including medical care.

If you want your dog to enjoy petting by friendly strangers, remain alert for the approach of people who might want to pet your dog while practicing the Stay. Go to your dog and release from the stay before the petting starts. Rebuking the dog for breaking the stay while the dog is being petted can give the dog the message that strangers are bad.

If your dog breaks position before the time is up, remind your dog to stay, get the dog back into position, and restart the time. Dogs have a keen sense of time, and this penalty will quickly teach your dog that it's well worthwhile to just stay the whole time in the first place.

As you gradually increase the time on stays, resist the temptation to release the dog when you see movements of intention that the dog is about to break position. Unless there is a good reason for breaking position (a situation that would cause the dog fear or a person approaching to pet the dog), use this opportunity to help the dog hold the stay instead. Get close to the dog, speak to the dog, perhaps give treats and praise for holding position. Be your dog's partner. This is a team task! Do not ruin your dog's trust in you and in the safety of doing a stay by using punishment. Don't let other people punish your dog for breaking a stay, either. When your dog is doing a stay, keep your mind on the exercise the entire time.

The Next Step

Stay close to your dog for stay practice for a long time. This is one way your dog learns that stay means stay. Leaving the dog too quickly, even a few steps, is the major mistake people make. Practicing on leash and up close is always good stay practice, even with an advanced dog.

Before you add distance from the dog, introduce movements. Step around and let the dog get used to that. Go behind the dog, look away from the dog, and turn your body in different directions. Do a little dance if you want, but build up to it gradually so that your dog always succeeds. You are not trying to trap the dog into making a mistake. You are trying to help your dog learn that stay means stay no matter what silliness is going on.

For each release, return to the dog and stand next to the dog for about 15 seconds before releasing from the stay position. This helps avoid problems such as a dog breaking when you start to come back, or when you get back but have not yet released the dog. And it builds more composure in your dog.

Add distance gradually using a long-line. This will be simple once you've done good foundation work up close, but do not start it too quickly and for heaven's sake don't forget your dog! This is a team task, and it's your job to keep focus and be ready to help your dog succeed at all times. If the dog falls asleep, be sure to be watching and remind the dog it is a stay when the dog wakes up. Limiting the time to a maximum of ten minutes helps avoid that problem.

With good leash and long-line practice, you'll find you don't need much off-leash practice. The dog and you will have formed good habits that carry over when the leash is not there. Some dogs should never be off-leash in unconfined areas, and there's certainly no need to do that in order to master the stay. You can do a lot of out-of-sight stay practice on-leash, too.

To start teaching the dog to stay while out of your sight, play peek-a-boo! Position the dog where you can slip around a corner. Keep peeking back at the dog around that corner. Gradually increase the length of time between peeks. Do this in a variety of places. You can also look at your dog through a window or by using a mirror. What you want the dog to learn is that you are still there and you are still doing your part as a member of the team, even when out of view. Make sure that you do your part, to keep trust with your dog.

Life Skill

Practice stay in safe situations adjacent to things that might be concerning to your dog. Loud noises, strange sights and other things that bother your dog can become less stimulating over time when you practice the stay at the distance that keeps the dog comfortable. Gradually that sound or sight will become familiar and the dog will realize it's not a threat after all. In this way, your stay practice accomplishes more than one goal at the same time!

The stay will help with training your dog not to dash through doors or exit your car without permission. You can use the word "stay" in these situations, or you may decide to use a different cue word. The dog will quickly distinguish the difference between stay meaning "don't go through the door with my handler," and the stay that means "hold position until my handler returns." The time you have spent working on the stay will make this safety training go smoothly.

Stay is EASY to teach if you just put in the time faithfully. It's a nonconfrontational way to become your dog's leader. It will be time wisely invested in teamwork for long and happy years together.