Getting a rock-solid ‘stay’ can be one of the hardest things you will ever train your dog in. What many people find is that as long as they are standing by the dog, treats in hand, she will stay. But, as soon as they remove themselves and/or the treats, they have about a two second stay before the dog wanders off.
And, since teaching stay is about as boring for the human as it is for the dog, it can be one of those behaviors that we give up on. But here’s why you shouldn’t!
Why Stay is Important
Even if you are not planning on have the next champion obedience dog, stays are an important safety cue for your dog to have. To name a few of the things a rock-solid stay can save your dog from: running away; bolting out the front door into the street; getting into something dangerous like a burn pile. In addition, it can be helpful when you don’t want your dog tripping you up with an armload of groceries or attacking your grandmother with kisses as soon as she wheels herself through the door.
Adding Duration
In order to add duration, your dog needs to already know what “stay” means. He should have the basic concept that stay means to stay in whatever position you put him until you say your release word. Once you have done that, you can start adding duration.
TIP: Don’t work on distance and duration at the same at first. That makes is harder for the dog. And distance (how far away you are from the dog) is harder than duration, by the way.
Gradual Increase
One method of adding duration is to start with counting 1 second (1 Mississippi if you want), treat, 1 second, 2 second, treat, etc. The trick here is to release your dog before he breaks. This means you need to know your dog’s limit (how long he can stay).
If he breaks, just put him back where he was (ask for the sit or down again if necessary), wait a second or two, and then give him a reward.
TIP: Don’t reward him right away when you put him back in his spot (or if he comes back to you). If you do, you just taught him that the quickest way to a treat is to break his stay.
Once you have gotten up to counting around to around 10 seconds before giving a treat, you can start jumping up by 5 seconds (instead of 1 second intervals).
This method does take time.
TIP: Don’t always make it harder. Would you keep trying if every time you got a math problem right once, it got harder? Probably not. So, sometimes ask for that 10 seconds, and sometimes 2 or 5 or 1.
Double Minus One
Carolyn Wilki of Raspberry Ridge Sheep Farm has another method that can work as well, and doesn’t take as long. However, it works best with dogs that are naturally good at stay. If you have an impulsive dog, you may find this method harder.
Using a timer, you are going to start by just having your dog stay for 5 seconds, then click, treat and release.
Then, you are going to double that time, minus one, so a 9 second stay. At the 5 second mark, you will still say your marker word (‘good,’ ‘yes,’ etc),” but not dispense a treat.
At 9 seconds, you will say your marker or click, treat, and then release.
If your dog is successful 3 times in a row, double minus one the time again.
TIP: Never reward your dog after you release. Always reward, THEN release. Otherwise, your dog is getting a treat for “breaking” his stay. Don’t give him anything when he releases.
Now I found this method worked to get me up around the minute mark, without distractions. However, with my youngest, I found anything longer he started to whine (anticipating the reward) because we hadn’t built up enough variable rewards at that point. If your dog starts doing this, it means he is used to being rewarded more often and you either need to work on that (which you should) or make the length of time between rewards shorter while working on stay, which means the first method might work better for you.
Distractions
One last tip. Don’t start adding distractions until you have your stay looking the way you want. You can’t expect your dog to learn a 5-minute stay while kids and dogs are running all around him. Start in a low-distraction environment and get up to the length you want.
Then, start adding distance (how far away you are). Only when your dog can stay in a low-distraction environment with you out of sight should you start adding other distractions.
Start adding distractions slowly – things like you running around, ball bouncing, etc. Work up to whatever is hardest for your dog (and a bouncing ball might be for your dog!). Also, don’t expect that five-minute stay immediately. Go back and ask him just for a 30 second, or a minute stay, to make sure he is successful. If he stays a few times, you can up the length of time.
Remember, the best way to teach a stay is in such a way that your dog never breaks it. If you can continually set him up for success, you will both be successful.
About the Author
Based in Wilsonville, Ore., animal lover Kristina N. Lotz is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) and works as a full time trainer. She is the founder of A Fairytail House, a unique all-positive all-sport dog training facility that helps rescue dogs in her area and provides free seminars and training classes for the community. In her spare time, she trains and competes in herding, agility, obedience, rally, and conformation with her Shetland Sheepdogs. She smartly married a Veterinary Technician, who helps keep the fur kids happy and healthy, and provides a quick resource for articles.
