How to Teach a Dog Stay and Wait Commands

By MacDonald

Instructions

Things You’ll Need:

Treats
Toy
Six-inch leash
Flat collar

Step 1:
Start in a quiet environment with no distractions. Have a regular flat collar and six-inch leash on your dog. Ask him to sit, then tell him "Stay." Have him hold the sit-stay with you in front of him for a few seconds. Tell him "OK," and give him lots of praise. If you are using treats or a toy for motivation, give it to him when you say "OK." Once he has that down pat, have him stay while you take a step to the side. If he breaks the stay, put him back in the exact same location using the leash, and tell him to "Stay" again. Do this several times a day and always keep it short and fun.
Step 2:
As he gets better at understanding what you want, start varying sit-stay with down-stay. Work from stepping away from him to stepping behind him. Eventually you want to be able to walk all the way around him until you come to the heel position, with the dog on your left, before you release him with "OK." This is what you would do in formal obedience. Once he will hold his position with you walking around his back, start increasing the distance by walking away from him, then always returning to the heel position before releasing him. Eventually you should be able to go out of sight and have him stay until you return to heel position.
Step 3:
Once he is solid with the stay command, work around distractions like other people, other dogs and outside. Proof him by putting a treat on the ground, tell him "Stay" and move away. See if he will stay if you throw a toy in front of him. Use a different release word and see if he stays. You want him to stay no matter what you say or do until you say "OK" (or whatever word you chose). Always return to heel position before releasing and always use the same word to let him know he is free to get up.
Step 4:
Once he is reasonably solid with the stay command, teach him how to wait. Wait is very practical. To your dog, wait just means stop and stay still until I tell you OK. You do not have to return to heel position to release him. Wait can be used to calm him so you can put on a leash or collar, to have him stop at curbs, to stand on the vet's scale or submit for exams or grooming, to wait at doorways or when exiting the car, or just to stop if he is being rambunctious.
Step 5:
Start with something easy such as walking on leash in your house or yard. Stop and tell him "Wait." If he stands still, give him big praise. If he tries to move forward, put your leg in front of him so he can't, or hold him back gently with the leash until he stops. Tell him "OK" and praise again. He might not understand what he has done right at first but with repetition and praise, he will get it quite quickly. When walking outside, tell him "Wait" at every curb, just for a second. The tell him "OK," praise and move forward. Again, gradually increase the difficulty and distraction level. With repetition and praise he will eventually understand that when you say "Fido, wait," he is just to stop moving and wait until you say "OK."
Step 6:
This is an example of what the distinction is in formal obedience: On the stay command, your dog must sit or down stay, no matter what distractions are present, until you return to heel position and praise him. On the wait command, your dog waits while you walk across the training floor, turn, and call him to you.

Tips & Warnings

Always make it fun. Training should be structured play and incorporate toys, tug games and fetch in training sessions as well as a lot of praise.
You want your dog to learn by succeeding and being praised, not by "failing" and being corrected. Give him every opportunity to succeed.
Be very, very consistent with your commands.
Do not lose patience. If you do, praise the dog and end the training session so you are not getting mad and training him.
Don't be overly harsh with your dog if you think he is not learning fast enough. This is difficult for a dog to learn, be patient and kind to him.

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