I found a great book at the library authored by Deborah Wood titled "Little Dogs: Training your Pint-Sized Companion."
She writes that to teach stay, first teach your dog to sit. Have the dog sit, back up 6 inches and give the stay command. Give your dog a treat after one second and say "good sit-stay." Don't wait until you release the dog from staying to give a treat, otherwise the dog will not connect the reward with staying.
Gradually increase the time between giving the stay command and rewarding -- one second, 3 seconds, and so on. Give the reward after each successful stay.
Deborah also advises to teach "stay" as a trick and not like it is a punishment. In other words, be joyous in tone when giving the command and praise for successful completion. |