Getting A Puppy To 'stay'

[koalathebear]

At present, we have been able to teach Elbie to sit, drop and wait for his food at meal-times. He also knows how to go and sit on his training mat. The big problem is that no matter what we do, we can't get him to stay while we take a couple of steps backwards. He'll wait for his food, but as soon as we try to step away, he'll chase after us. One of us trying to hold him doesn't work and neither does a leash. Does anyone have any ideas or is an 11 week old puppy just not capable of 'staying' on command.

Also, we are able to get him to return to a sit from a drop but haven't got the foggiest how to encourage him to simply 'stand'. Thanks very much in advance! Also, as to what motivates Elbie - he's motivated by food of course, but also by his favourite toys. We keep his training sessions very short - no more than 5 minute and he appears to love them.

Edited June 26, 2010 by koalathebear

[Dogsfevr]

Yes you are expecting too much .

He doesnt understand the command & you say food is his motivation.

You need to teach the stay without distraction & then after grasping the concept start to introduce distractions.

Remember when you teach many things you often sometimes lose the simple aspects & the pup can end up in brain overload & then going backwards .

teaching the stay with a teaser will re reinforce a fail with that word so use that word where it will succeed & that the distraction isnt so more over whelming at his age

generally with training a stay it is done on leash & turning directly into the face of the dog,very close without distance & steps are taking back only when the dog understands the stay command from the minute you move away.

Steps back means one at a time over stages & only when it has proving to understand the first stage which could be a few weeks,months

Edited May 6, 2010 by showdog

[Jetty]

Agree with showdog... also do not step back just stay where you are long enough (10 seconds to start with) then treat.... then extend the time and then you can eventually start stepping back.

[Stera]

Hi KTB,

I am far from a trainer, but I simply actually used food to teach my little Border Collie.

I let her smell the treat, I say sit.

I then hold my palm out and say wait... Take a few steps back and then say come.

I have managed to do this for meals and treats and can hold my hand on the ground and she will GENERALLY wait for the come call.

Worked for me! All the best!

I have noticed, that if you keep it short, follow up with a play and a few more sits and stays thrown in, its fun for all!

[Kempe]

Am not a dog trainer but gee it's only 11 weeks old, give it time

[sas]

nawww he's just a baby, lower you expectations a bit. He is capable of doing some short stays but you can't just expect him to know.

Will you be taking him to puppy preschool and obedience?

[Esky the husky]

You need to take baby steps.

Make Elbie sit and hold it for 4 seconds. reward him

Make Elbie sit and hold it for 5 seconds. reward him

Keep making those sits last longer and longer.

The you can make him sit, take a step to the side. reward him.

Make him sit, take two steps back.

Keep working on that until you get further and further away.

In my opinion there are 3 elements to work on when doing stays. Time- How long he'll sit for. Distance- how far away you can get. and Distraction.

As you work on improving one area, you have to make the other 2 easier so as not to overwhelm your pup.

So if your working on the duration of his stays stand closer too him and reward him for the increasing time that he holds the sit.

If your working on distance, that reward him for holding his sit even the shortest time.

And if your working on having him stay whilst there are distractions around, you have to go back to basics, just to remind him what he's doing..

*Sorry if that didn't make sense

[Stera]

Ensure that your words are different too!

I have 'sit' followed by 'waaaaiiit'... She does it everytime now without fail!

I can even distract her with a toy and she will not move... Thats with food! Without food isnt as successful!! ha!

Best of luck, seems he is doing alot of other 'tricks' well!

I cant get drop, give or puddles on command yet... Thats next goal!

[koalathebear]

Thanks to everyone for their responses. Elbie is now staying very nicely. He'll 'wait' for food even when we're around the corner and he can't see us and he will 'stay' when told with 'ok' as his release word.

We're still having some minor difficulties with fetch. He will race after the toy/ball and then hurtle back towards us. At first, he just wanted to play keepaway and wanted us to chase him around the yard/room We started clicker training with him this week and that's helped hugely and he's got to the point when he gets to within about a foot of us and drops the toy. We can't get him any closer, though.

I suspect that it's because he knows we're going to just throw it again and so he wants to position himself so that he can dart after the toy again. Elbie will perform tricks for toys, not just food but we did notice that when we asked him to 'drop' in exchange for a toy, he would see if he could get away with a half drop so that he could run after the toy quickly.

If he'd just get a bit closer with the toy we could click to encourage the behaviour but he keeps a cautious distance before dropping the toy. Even if we try to trade for a treat, he'll drop the toy a foot away and then come in for the treat. It also doesn't work if we try withholding the treat until he comes closer with the toy