I Said STAY! - Milton Ontario Dog Training

Stay is one of the most important commands a dog can learn, and also one of the hardest for many owners to perfect with their dogs.

Here's a few tips that we've found useful over the years to obtain a better, more reliable stay:

• Make sure your dog knows what's required, that means practice makes perfect - start in low distraction areas and from there start to build up on duration and distance
• Once your dog is getting good in low distration, proof your stay in all sorts of locations, different durations and distances (a long line helps with this)
• Don't try and hold your dog in place with your eyes - that direct stare is very inviting
• Don't call your dog out of a stay too many times - return more times then recalling from a stay and you won't get that anticipation
• If you're dog isn't looking at you, who cares, as long as he's holding his position - don't use his name to get his attention back on you, he's most likely going to think you want him to come back to you
• Once your dog knows what is being asked of him, make sure there is a consequence for breaking the position - a correction and a replacement back to where he was usually suffices
• Make sure you're using a release command such as "ok" so your dog knows when to move - no release means he can move whenever he feels like it
• Don't reward half way through the stay and expect your dog to keep holding it - "what's the point", they think, "I already got the reward" - reward after the release

A stay can mean the difference between life or death in certain situations, so having a rock solid stay is extremely important. If you need help training your dog, please feel free to contact us to set up an appointment at dogtraining101@hotmail.com and visit the website to see the classes and private training that we offer www.smartdogsk9.com.