Stay
Teaching your dog to stay is a little tougher because of the three aspects of the command. The elements of duration, distance, and distraction all come into play for this command. It is important that you work on one at a time in the beginning and then move to multiple elements as your dog is ready for them. Stay can mean to sit stay, stand stay, or lie down stay. We like to start in a sit stay and then work from there.
Sit your dog, issue the stay command and simply wait for a duration of time. Don’t make it too long in the beginning before rewarding them. Once 3-5 seconds have passed say “free” and offer the reward. Increase the time slightly each time and once your dog understands they are supposed to sit there until you say free, you can begin to introduce some distractions like moving your feet or whole body.
Sit stay your dog and begin moving sideways or kind of side to side, just enough to create a distraction. You can also take out something that makes a noise like maybe a wrapper that makes a crinkly sound or a plastic bag. If your dog moves during this phase simply sit her back down and start over. After some time with this phase, when she can stay even with some simple distraction she is ready for you to try with some distance.
Sit stay your dog and then back up a step or two. Use the word free to release him for just a short time of staying and then reward him. Gradually increase the distance and time one element at a time) before release as your dog gets better at the stay command. Like before, if he gets up early don’t reward and simply reset him and start over.