So you have a dog. He’s your best friend and is the hit of the neighborhood. The dog will join the family on a walk and alerts the household to any potential dangers during the night along with the Best In-Ground Dog Fences that will keep the intruders away. By all accounts, this sounds like the ideal pet. There’s only one problem. The dog simply will not stay. Training your pet to stay is not a difficult thing, but it does require a little bit of know-how and a great deal of patience. With some simple tools and a little bit of knowledge, that dog will be staying put in no time.
The first thing to remember when training your animal to stay is to make the dog understand when it is ok to leave. In order to do this, the dog should know what the “release” command is in addition to the stay command.
- Step One: Teach your dog an appropriate command to tell the dog to leave. Choose a word such as “go” or “leave” in order to get the dog to understand the idea.
- Step Two: If your animal knows how to sit, get the animal to sit in front of you. Have him sit in that same position for an extended period of time.
- Step Three: The most important part of the process is to get the dog to understand the idea of staying put for a reason. In order to do this, the owner should put his hand in front of the dog’s nose, leaving it with the palm open. At this point, command the dog to “stay”.
- Step Four: Positive reinforcement is the key to instilling good behavior in your dog. When he or she exhibits a good example of staying put, it is absolutely necessary for you to reinforce that behavior with the word “good”.
- Step Five: Remember the release command I talked about a little bit earlier? Now it is time to use that. After your dog has stayed put in front of you for a couple of seconds, use this release command to instruct him to go. If the dog succeeds in this, reward him immediately.
- Step Six: This step will probably be a repeat of step five. Most dogs will not understand this the first time or even the second time. If your dog does manage to show some signs of understanding what you are trying to teach, reward that inclination with a treat or unlimited praise.
- Step Seven: After your dog has learned to stay for a couple of seconds, you should try to get him to stay for extended periods of time. This will not be easy at first, but the animal should slowly grasp the concept and gradually improve as time goes by.
- Step Eight: Be sure to reinforce the idea of a release command. The animal will begin to understand this as they see it more and more.
- Step Nine: Continue this process in short increments until the dog begins to understand.
When trying to train a dog, patience is the key. Most dogs have it in them to follow instructions, but it will undoubtedly take a little bit of time. Follow these easy steps and your animal will begin to stay. After a while, he’ll be the hit of the neighborhood as he begins to master the different commands.
