The Stay Command
Prerequisites:  Leadership, Distraction Proofing, Safety Zone, Sit

Now that your dog is heeling and sitting, it’s time to learn the ‘stay’ command:

Remember, ‘stay’ means stay…stay until I come back and release you…no matter what!   
While your dog is just learning, ‘stay’ is about how long the dog will stay, not about how
far away you can get from your dog, or how many distractions the dog can sit/stay through.

Keep in mind the three D's...Distance, Duration, Distractions.  This week is all about building duration of the stay, and small distance increases...there should be NO distractions during your stays this week!!!

Don’t make the mistake so many handlers make by moving too far from your dog in the
beginning.  This will only increase the amount of time it takes your dog to learn to stay.


The Stay:

1.  Warm your dog up with some heeling and sitting.

2.  Give your dog the sit command.

3.  Tell your dog to stay BEFORE you step away.

4.  Step in front of your dog – but only at a distance of one foot.  

5.  Hold the position for 10 seconds.

6.  If your dog moves, correct it* and put it back exactly where it was.  

7.  Once the dog successfully holds the stay without moving, return to it, praise it,
followed directly by your heel command.

8.  Heel forward two or three steps and sit the dog again.  This ensures that it understands that stay means it must not get up and move, but the heel is the permission to move or release from the stay.  It also illustrates that the release is not an invitation to play, but rather a time to move into the next command (heel & sit).

9.  Repeat Steps 1 through 6, increasing the amount of time & distance by one foot and 10 seconds per day.  

10.  At the end of 6 days, you should be six feet away and the dog should hold the stay
for 1 minute.

ONLY when your dog is staying reliably for 1 minute or more should you move further away from the dog.

Practice the above exercises each day until you have a minimum of 10 stays with
no corrections.


*The Stay Correction:

Do NOT repeat either the sit command or the stay command.

Move QUICKLY, in a direction exactly opposite from the direction that the dog used to break the stay, with enough force to propel the dog back to it’s original position. You should silently get your dog back exactly where it came from in 3 seconds or less.

If necessary, give a sit correction to put the dog back in the sit, but do NOT repeat
the sit command.

Day One - Stay Video (1 foot distance, 10 seconds duration, NO distractions):  Sit-Stay with Lizzie