perfecting the "stay" command with velcro dog

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

Does anyone have any good training suggestions for stay with a clingy dog? Sherlock (my 9 month old maltipoo) finished up basic obedience on Saturday. With the suggestion from my instructors, I enrolled him into the intermediate level I obedience course that started last night. Some of the dogs are repeating this class so already we're a bit behind. In order to pass this class and move on, Sherlock will need to perform a 1 minute sit-stay and a 2 minute down-stay, both with distractions. He knows the stay command but the problem is he gets so nervous just being across the room from me. The whole time he is staying, he looks like he's about to jump out of his skin. He is very trainable and excels at all other aspects (he was the only dog that could perform the "come" command with distractions last night, he is great at loose leash heeling and because he is so attached, his focus is on me 100%)

Because I live in a small apartment, I do most of my training outside - in the dog run, on our walks. This has been good for distractions, but I need him to relax on stay. He looks so nervous that I'm going to run away.

I welcome any tips on how you taught your dogs "stay" - thanks in advance!

[Adina P]

how did you teach him stay to begin with? what are the rewards/consequences?
what did the trainer advise you to do to help him ?
what distance CAN he tolerate?

[Adina P]

I don't know how much this will help you, I'm just sharing my experience:
When I first taught Rosco to stay it was using treats. he's pretty lazy and independent so he had no trouble with me being away from him when he learned this as a puppy. The laziness helped him to hold his position.
When we changed training methods, we did something that was similar to both of your experiences. The stay began while he was seated in heel position. Next, I gave the hand signal and herbal command and stepped out in front of Rosco. Immediately in front of him and facing him. His collar was up high on his neck, and the leash was held immediately above his head and I gave little tugs as I held the leash above his head ( these tugs were not corrections nor were they at all uncomfortable, but merely teaching him that he should not move even if there is a little tug on the leash when he is in a stay). on the second day, I stepped out 2 feet in front of him and continued with the little gentle tugs. Third day, 3 feet. And so on until I was 6 feet out in front of him. If he broke his stay at any point, he was corrected back into position, but there was no repeat of the command. Instead I would go back out as many feet as I was prior to his breaking his stay, and wait just 10 seconds or so (making it easy in case he was having a hard time) before returning to the dog and praising him and then releasing him. This gave him the chance to be correct and received praise for being correct so that he knew the difference.

I think repeating the command makes the dog think that he finished the first command is now having to do it again and doesn't necessarily realize that he did it wrong.

none of this answers your question *grin*

Perhaps, you will just need to make the distance between Sherlock and you shorter than is required in class and gradually build it up. This is a new class with new dogs, so he's not really ready perhaps to be so greatly separated from you. At the same time, he may just get better at this with time and practice as he learns that no matter how far you go from him, if he is in his stay he is safe and you will return.

[Adina P]

I think that the reason they are having you practice it this way in class is because that is how it would be done in an obedience ring for obedience competition. But, since in real life you will need him to stay regardless of whether he is already in a heel position, you might practice with some variation as well. Sherlock will hopefully be relaxed with time. Rosco is unusually relaxed. Once we were out playing together behind an elementary school in their very large field that was mostly fenced. When it was time to go Rosco would not come with me ( though I did not use his official command because he wasn't very reliable and I didn't want to waste it because I didn't have a way to correct him) no matter how hard I tried to entice him. So I just left.... I walked away. I kept walking.... I went out of the gate, I got in my car.... and only then did he start to consider coming to me. I started my car and moved it in the parking lot... and finally he decided he didn't want to be left behind and trotted on over. Insanely independent boy!

I used videos instead of going to class because there just aren't any excellent classes in my area. And my husband had experience with these videos and I was desperate!!! it was not easy at all, but I'm so glad I did it the way I did it. Remember, classes and books and videos all have one purpose and that is to teach us, the trainer, how to train our dogs. They don't actually do the training for us... so however you learn best is perfectly fine.

The one thing I would advise is to do your practice sessions in as many places as possible. That was the one unique thing of my training with Rosco. We did very little of it at home. Instead we did it in parks and Home Depot and downtown and anywhere that a dog was allowed to go. that helps the dog to generalize his understanding of commands and gives him confidence that he can do these things anywhere and that when he does these things he is safe. The downside of public places is that you can't really do off leash stuff... but you can buy extra long leashes for this purpose. When we began to do off leash work, I bought 100 feet of parachute cord (which is light and thin compared to the average leash). it's easy to cut to smaller sizes, if needed.

[Lynne B]

I am having an 'odd' problem. Beck is 5 months old. I have been working with him on sit/stay (as well as other basic commands) since we got him at 8 weeks. He's quite reliable with his stay, I can be out of his sight and he will hold it for about 4 or 5 minutes which I think is ok for 5 months. He also knows the difference between sit/stay and down/stay (or I thought he did)

But, yesterday at his puppy class the trainer asked me to demonstrate a sit /stay since she knew Beck was pretty adept at it. Everytime I would tell him stay (verbal and hand signal) he would flop down on the ground. The trainer tried for about 10 minutes with no success. She asked if I ever used 'lay' to mean 'down' (thinking that he was confusing 'lay' and 'stay' but we never used 'lay' for anything. I tried working with him last night after class and again this morning, he sits until you tell him to stay then he just lays down. Any ideas?