StayDog holds position until you return and release them
Stay means 'remain here until I come back to you.' There are three separate variables (duration, distance, distraction), and raising two at once is what makes stays fall apart. Raise one, drop the others, and always return to the dog to reward rather than calling them out of it.
Also known as: Hold
At a glance
- Tier
- 1 · Basic
- Time to fluency
- 3–8 weeks
- Practice
- 5× per week, 8 min each
- Equipment
- Small soft treats, Optional: long line for distance work
Prerequisites
Your dog should know these words first:
How to teach stay
Hand Signal
Open palm held toward the dog
- Start at one second, standing right next to them
- Return and reward BEFORE they break. You are beating the failure, not testing for it
- Add duration first, then distance, then distraction. Never two at once
- If they break twice, you went too fast; halve it
- Always end with an explicit release word
Verbal Cue
The word plus the palm
- Say it once as you show the palm
- Walk backwards so you can see a break coming
- Reward at the dog's mouth, in position
- A release word ('Free', 'OK') is half of this skill
Success criteria
- Unlearned
- Breaks position immediately
- In progress
- Holds 30 seconds at 10 paces, indoors
- Mastered
- Holds 1 minute outdoors while a person or dog walks past
Common mistakes
- Raising duration, distance and distraction together
- Calling the dog out of the stay to reward, which rewards leaving
- Testing for the break instead of returning before it
- No release cue, so 'stay' has no defined end