Frustrated with stay command
I have been working on the stay/wait command with Becca for what seems like forever. I have to keep reminding myself I've only had her for four months. She is smart and can pick up a new command with only a few repetitions if she thinks it it fun. Stay doesn't seem to be fun...
In class we are working on a stay where you can walk all the way around your dog. Becca will stay if I am in front of her, but scoots her butt around to face me if when I get to her outside shoulder. She will also stay on command for me to lead out to her jumps outside, and when I send her out to her mat. I am in front of her on both occasions. Do you have any suggestions on how to progress? I have emailed our trainer as well.
Ludi, thanks for your previous suggestion on teaching her to move away to work on her recall. It has worked well.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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How old is Becca? Anything under 12 to 18 months will be tough to get a longer stay for most young dogs.
If she is below that age, just do short stays with you standing pretty much right in front of her. Practice only a couple times a week; dogs don't like stay work.If she is older, you need to move incrementally and frequently mix in stays of only a couple seconds so she does not know when the release will come.
For your particular problem, assuming she is old enough, what you want to do is put her on a stay, reward her. Put her back on a stay, move one step to the left, back to center, reward her. Repeat to the right. Done for the day. Hooorrayy Becca! GOOOD girl! Treat her IN PLACE before you release her so she doesn't learn that "getting up is when I get the treat."
Next day, just do short stays in front.
Next time, try taking one or two steps back, then move towards her and reward her. Then do the steps right and left again. Hoorrayy Becca, praise party, done for the day.
The next time, try turning around in place.
Then try moving towards one of her shoulders, REWARD, back to center, reward reward reward reward release. YAYYYY Becca!!! Huge praise party, don't do stay work for a several days.
Next time, just do short stays in front.
Next time, do the one step toward her shoulder, reward, go back to center, reward. Now try two steps, etc. Only increase by one step at a time, and go back to where she succeeded if she fails.If even moving this slowly does not help, you may need to position your hand so your hand with the treat is in front of her face while you move around her.
She's not being disobedient. She has learned to watch your face and/or hands while training to see what you want and she is graciously moving to accommodate her silly human who went and moved right out of her line of vision! Or at least that's what it probably seems like to her. She's being a Good Dog by keeping an eye on you for cues.
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Permalink Reply by Bax & Zigs & Rosie on
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This is exactly what my suggestion would be. Basically just keep practice circling her doing only a little bit of a circle at a time. Maybe do a quarter circle around her to her shoulder and if she doesn't move her body and only moves her head then praise like crazy. If she doesn't get that and starts to scoot her boot, then reduce the amount of movement around her. Keep working on it though. It is very difficult to master. I had issues trying to teach my 16 month pup with this in rally training.
Also, try not to have treats in your hands when you do it. That can be very distracting to her. It might be a good idea to try it at home without a leash as that can also add distraction in the leash movement as you move around her.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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So let me clarify this, you are working on both the stay and the wait command? Are you also using hand signals? If she doesn't do what you are asking I would take her back to her original position and try it again...and if she gets up again take her back and do it again(no treats till she gets it right). Start out shorter with someone holding her for the wait and the hand signal then when you call her the person should let her go...when she runs directly to you bring her treat in close between your legs so she knows where to come. The stay would be maybe just haveing her stay a few feet and then when you come back and release her she gets a treat for remaining there and not moving....hope this makes sense.
I should have asked(like Beth) how old is she????
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Permalink Reply by Marcie on
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Becca is 12 months. I called it stay/wait in my post because some at class we picked which command to use for the same thing. (I use a command with a hand signal.) She is fine with a front stay, we are working on lengthening her time for it. I want to do rally with her and need to be able to walk around her. I have been working my way around her, increasing the amount a little each session. I just can't get past that shoulder.
Our trainer emailed me back and will be showing me some stay games on Monday. We are taking today off on the stay command. She teases to do her "homework", so we will stick with the fun stuff. "In the hole" (go sit on your mat) is her current favorite.
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She's still young and you will have to work on this for awhile to get it perfect. Sage was about 18 months before she really did it well. You need to consistantly decide which word you will use though. For Sage stay means "stay " and don't move until I come back and release you.. Wait means "sit or lay" until I call you. They are both important words since I might want to check out the situation and then if it's"ok" I will call you to come. Hope this makes sense.
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I'm not sure if this can be read by anyone else. I've been having a heck of a time where I type out a comment, hit "add reply" and all that shows (for me) is the first letter.
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Permalink Reply by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on
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All I can see to your first comment is I, but I can fully read the second comment about how much can be read!!
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Ugh, why does that keep happening!
Anyway, what I said the first time was that if it were my dog, I'd let it go for a few months. Jack would not hold a stay around that age if I ducked out of sight behind a wall, even if I was not that far away. I stopped practicing, went back to it a couple months later, and he instantly got it; it was just a maturation thing.
To the dog, stay means "sit in front of the human looking at her and don't move" so when you move around her, she is just assuming the position she associates with the word. You want to accustom her to you moving around while she stays, but don't keep drilling on the problem area. Try stepping from side to side, jumping around a little, maybe waving your hands so she realizes that stay means stay even if you are not directly in front of her. After a couple months away from it, then try again and you may find the problem has resolved itself. If not, try walking around her in a tight circle with your hand in front of her face til she gets used to it.Maddie had trouble with this too, though Jack never did. They all interpret what they think we mean by a command slightly differently. And almost guaranteed it's not quite what we intend it to mean! Say "sit" when your dog is across the room and chances are she'll run up to you first and then sit; she thinks sit means "go in front of the human and put your but down." Say "sit" while she's lying down and unless you've practiced heavily, she will NOT sit up because she does not think of "sit" as the posture, but of the action.
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How are you holding the leash/ If I remember correctly I made a small circle with holding the leash directly straight above Sage's head so even if she did move she really couldn't move far and then the circle was close to her. Eventually moving further away as she got "used" to the concept.
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