Stay: I have not used a clicker for stay, I use just my voice, "yes" before I give them a treat and praise.
Stay means: Freeze in the position I put you in, Don’t move. They can move their head but not their body.
There are 3 D’s with stay: Duration, Distance and Distraction.
We do not use distance or distraction with this stay command in the beginning. This is only Duration with the stay. We must teach them what it means to stay put for longer periods of time. We build the time up slowly. They can move their heads, but not their body, but remember whatever a dog is looking at, that is what they are focused on. They do not have to keep eye contact on you at all times, also don’t keep staring at your dog, they may get nervous and want to move away, so don’t stare, but make sure they are reminded they are in a stay, (you can repeat the "stay" word for this, but don’t do a continuous run on, just one or two "stay" reminder’s is plenty) and they can not move from that position until you release them. Do sit at first, then after they get what "down" is, do the stay with down. Teach these cues first before you ask for the behavior, see the Factoidz on how.
Three rules to remember with stay:
1. Do not release them from a distance (a)
2. Do not release with a treat, (meaning: don’t give them a treat when you release them, and make sure they finish any treat you’ve given them before you release them). (b)
3. Briefly flash your hand cue at them. (Open hand, palm flashes briefly at them, like a traffic cop saying stop) Do not leave your hand there, flash it briefly at them then make it a fist and put it at your chest. Some dogs make your hand holding them there as part of the cue word and you will always have to keep your hand there, and doing duration you may get tired of holding it up, plus if you ever turn or remove your hand in the event of doing something else they will get up, thinking you released them, because the hand is no longer there.
How to teach stay
Put your dog into a sit and using the flat palm of your open hand, flash it at your dogs face and say "stay", remove your hand up to your chest, count 3 seconds then say "yes" and treat them, you can say "stay" again to remind them the treat is not releasing they are still in a stay, CALMLY say good dog and then Release them, make sure they finish their treat before you release them.
Once they don’t move at 3 seconds then ask for 4 seconds, then when they get good at 4 seconds ask for 5 seconds, and so on. Go slow don’t ask for to long and/or jump to longer periods, don’t ask for 10 seconds if they haven’t done 7 seconds yet.
They must remain in the same position (sit or down) and direction (north, south, east or west) you put them in.
If they start to move IMMEADIATELY use your Neg. Word Marker (uh-uh) and cue them back into position. You must correct them when they first start to get up, not after they take 1 or 2 steps. If they even look like they are going to move use your NWM (Uh-Uh) and repeat the "stay" cue word and hand signal.
Rules number 1 and 2 explained:
(A.) DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM THEM/or leave the house with them in a stay when you go to work. Releasing your dog at a distance, such as telling them to come, rewards the movement and the come not the stay behavior. Leaving them when you depart the house, they will not stay there, they will get up, destroying your stay, they move and release themselves. You want to release them, don’t let them think they have the option of releasing when they feel like it or sometimes you release them, other times they do it. Always release your dog yourself.
*Don’t use the stay to keep them from pushing around you to get out the door, just use a negative word marker and your body to claim the space in the door frame, they need to back off if you say so, as long as you have been using the "leadership" tips on Factoidz.
(B.) Releasing with a treat makes them think the treat is the release and they will not wait for your release word or they start to anticipate it because they want a treat. Treating them after you release them rewards movement not the stay behavior, we want to reward the stay behavior not the movement.
You will have a hard time getting a reliable stay if you release from a distance or with a treat. It can be done it just takes longer and is more work for you.
Once you have practiced stay and you have a 1-minute sit/stay and 1-minute down/stay, then add distractions.
Distractions:
Use low to high. A low distraction would be like holding their ball in your hand and telling them to stay, mark it, say "yes", give them a treat and praise, then release. When they can do this, up the level of distraction slowly. Then again ask for sit/stay and toss the ball from one hand to the other, then bounce the ball behind you, getting it closer as they stay, then the ultimate high level distraction would be to throw it while the dog listens and stays for you. Ask for sit/stay while outside and add distractions slowly. Anytime you add a new distraction you may have to back up on your duration and expectations, they may not be able to stay for a minute while you bounce the ball in front of them. Go slow and don’t ask for too much too soon. Set them up to succeed.
While standing front of them, take one small step to your left and 2 to the right, then take 1 step back to the left, go slow and you can get faster as they get better at it. Try to step to the side of them, then the other side. Some dogs may think you will step on them so be cautious, and go slow, tell them stay and move slowly to them, then step back to in front of them. This helps your dog understand you can move they can’t. As they get better jump around do a dance if you’d like. Also the highest level of distraction slap your legs like trying to get your dog to you, correct them and cue them back in position, if they don’t move have others help you, they can walk around the dog for distraction. Once you can do this, now you’re ready for Distance.
Distance:
Tell them stay and step one foot away for 5 seconds, then step back to them, reward and praise and then release them. Keep doing this until you can move a leash length away. Add duration to each distance step you do.
Always return to your dog to release them never release at a distance, we’ll use "wait" for that.
