A Tale of Two Stays

This is a story about two different dogs.  Both dogs were taught how to stay.  The first dog started her training as a young puppy.  She was cued to stay, and rewarded after very short times until she gradually worked up to longer times.  

She practiced her stays in a variety of locations, around the house, in the yard and away from home.  She practiced her stays around distractions - stationary toys, toys thrown in the air and at training class.

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Dog #1

​This first dog developed an excellent ability to stay.  She could hold a down stay for an hour in the middle of the room while a class went on around her.  She very, very, rarely ever got up before being given the cue that told her she was done.

The second dog was different than the first dog.  If you could see a thought bubble over the head of the first dog, it would have said "I'm doing my JOB" (she took her job quite seriously).  The thought bubble over the head of the second dog, however, would have said "Stays are Stupid".  She would rather have been moving, doing, performing.

Dog #2

The second dog also started her training as a puppy.  She also started with short stays, then gradually longer stays.  But, the rate at which the duration of the stays increased was not at her pace.  She was also practicing stays in a training class, and her owner was not good at going in to reward her before she got up.  Feeling a little (self-imposed) pressure to keep up with the rest of the dogs in the class regardless of the fact that her dog wasn't ready for that yet.

Whether through less practice, less work in different places with different distractions or just the fact that the second dog's personality was different and staying still just didn't come as easily to her, the second dog was not as good at stays as the first dog.

And all the times the second dog got up out of her stay before the cue that she was done - all of those times she practiced not staying.  That inconsistency in her ability to stay continued throughout her obedience career.

I would give a lot to be able to go back and do things differently with the second dog.  Yes, she was my dog.  So was the first dog.  And I had them in that order.  Did having a dog that learned stay so easily make me slack off in training the next one?  Or had I not noticed the difference in the amount of distraction training I did with them?  Or perhaps I just found stays boring to practice and subconsciously avoided doing it with the second dog.  I certainly didn't make sure that the second dog was successful at the majority of her stay cues before increasing the difficulty.  And I ended up with a dog that continued to randomly release herself from a stay.

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I tell this story so that you can learn from my mistakes.  So that you end up with a dog that responds to a stay cue more like dog one than dog two.  So here are the keys points:

• Start by teaching your dog to stay right in front of or right beside you.  Don't start moving away right away.  Wait until your dog understands the concept of still before you try to move.
• Increase the length of time that you ask your dog to stay gradually, and only when they are successfully staying almost all of the time you ask.
• If your dog gets up before you release them, you can set them back up and try again.  If they get up again, (so if they get up twice in a row), you need to go back to an easier step in your stay training.  Less time, less distraction, less distance.  Something.  Reward the successful stay, and gradually work back up.  Getting up before being released should be a rare occurrence. 
• Practice in different places.  Unless you only want your dog to stay in the house - but that's not very useful!
• Practice with distractions.  Again, start with easy ones and gradually work up to harder ones.  And, when you initially introduce distractions, keep the length of time your dog needs to stay short.
• Practice frequently, but don't drill so many stays in a row that your dog is so fed up with the idea of stay that they start avoiding it.
• Remember, your dog's response isn't directed at you personally.  It's information.  If they get up early, they are telling you something - it's too hard, I'm afraid in this spot, that distraction is too interesting, or even I'm sore/uncomfortable.  Don't forget to listen to your dog.

Happy Training!

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