When To Start Some Very Basic Stays

[OSoSwift]

Lewis my little bouncy boy is going very very well with his training.

I have had him since the start of November and he is nearly 10 months old.

He had had no obedience training prior

He has fantastic attention while heeling.

We have been working mainly on attention and hind end awareness as well as sits, stands, downs during heeling.

We do recalls - basically I wait until his attention is elsewhere and recall him. I do this thorughout the day as we wander around.

I have never done stays with him.

While being shown, my breeder found it hard to get him to keep his feet still for longer than a few seconds whilst in the stack.

My question is when/how should I start to teach him stays. We tried a "wait" today and I aimed for 5 seconds. He did it the first time, but only made it to three the second time. I got him to do it again and he lasted five but was starting to twitch.

Should I leave it a bit longer, he is quite mentally immature I believe - either that or life is just one big party.

Or should I continue to try for my 5 seconds until he is stable with that, then work up.

Basically I had him in a sit, asked him to wait(but did not move at all)counted to 5 and C/T. when he moved I got him back into position without saying anything asked him to wait counted to 5 C/T and finished it there.

I have trained a couple of dogs before but never one with so many antz in his pantz.

I just love his attitude to training, it is a delight to train him, he tries so hard to please.

I want to get it absolute right with him

Edited January 7, 2010 by Rommi n Lewis

[Nekhbet]

start with no more then 2-3 seconds and then extend by a second for the moment. Give him more chances of winning you will find he will be more compliant and eventually extending the time will be easier.

[megan_]

Does he have a release word? If so, stay is just waiting for the release a bit longer. I hate "stay" or "wait" - you have to keep on repeating it!

Start off with instant "sit, free" then build it up "sit........free" (or whatever release word you chose).

[OSoSwift]

Okay we will start with 2 to 3 seconds! Might take him to years to get to a minute - but he we have lots of fun

He does have a release word, but I haven't used it in that capacity, more to say we have finished a training session so you can now go and run around. If I don't he would work forever.

I also Clicker train, so I guess I could ask him for a sit and use the click coupled with my word, that would then mean the end of the exercise.

When he is stacked he tries so hard to stay still and sometimes he succeeds, but geez it is a struggle for him, I keep telling him he has restless leg syndrome.

Next training we will go for say 3 seconds and see how we go.

[Tiggy]

I release my dog after every exercise like you would do when the Judge says exercise finished. With the stays like the others have said set him up for success so if he can stay for three seconds ask for two and gradually increase it .

[persephone]

What do you do when grooming?

if you stand him up- what word/s do you use then to keep him there while you attend to him?maybe combine the two?

[Ptolomy]

We start stays by teaching steady feet - and we use this for both the sits and the stands

So the idea is to have the dog in a sit and we attempt to move a piece of food towards the dog - if the dog doesn't move its front feet it gets the food - if it does move the front feet then the food moves away and you start again. YOu can repeat the exercise over and over bringing food in at different speeds so slowing it right down and from all different directions (low, high, from the side) using the same principle - if the dog moves its front feet the food goes away if it stays still it gets the treat. Before you run out of treats you can free the dog off - have a play and then set the dog up in a different location to go through the process again.

It usually doesn't take the dog long to work out sitting/standing still is what gets rewarded.

[OSoSwift]

What do you do when grooming?

if you stand him up- what word/s do you use then to keep him there while you attend to him?maybe combine the two?

Well being a Whippet we don't do much, but usually he lays down on the grass and I attack him with a zoom groom, roll him over do the other side. When we are doing his nails he is upside down on my lap with his feet in the air.

He is great to do those things to him, just keeping feet still is a problem!

[OSoSwift]

We start stays by teaching steady feet - and we use this for both the sits and the stands

So the idea is to have the dog in a sit and we attempt to move a piece of food towards the dog - if the dog doesn't move its front feet it gets the food - if it does move the front feet then the food moves away and you start again. YOu can repeat the exercise over and over bringing food in at different speeds so slowing it right down and from all different directions (low, high, from the side) using the same principle - if the dog moves its front feet the food goes away if it stays still it gets the treat. Before you run out of treats you can free the dog off - have a play and then set the dog up in a different location to go through the process again.

It usually doesn't take the dog long to work out sitting/standing still is what gets rewarded.

That sounds great Ptolomy

I will definately give that a try as I know he is not steady on his stands and was wondering how I would manage to get that.

I really don't think he has a concept of keeping his feet still - I don't think he really thinks about them so it will be good to get him thinking about his feet a bit more. Good thing about that it I can do it inside after kids are in bed with zilch distraction in the beginning.

Hope your dogs are going well pats for Lara and Blaze - and your others that I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet

[Ptolomy]

Hope your dogs are going well pats for Lara and Blaze - and your others that I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet

Thanks Lara is now 13 and still going strong Blaize is now 9 and is still a bitch Can work when she wants to depending on whats on offer ARGH