I have found that repetition and patience work the best for a stay command. First, The dog has got to learn the ‘sit’ or ‘lay down’ commands.

I’m a large fan of using hand signals with dogs. A finger held up as sit, a hand held palm forward like a crossing guard for stay. I’ve actually gone as far as to train my dog to roll over, come, “give a hug”, jump through a hoop, bark, and shake without saying a word.

But I digress. To teach a dog to stay, it’s important to NOT have a treat in your hand. Put the treat on a counter by the dog, and have the dog sit or lay down, and repeat ‘stay’ with a hand signal as you walk away. If the dog starts to move or follow you, slowly and patiently take the dog back to the original location and repeat the process. When the dog does stay, walk back to the dog, take the treat and reward it. Do this only a few times with the dog obeying and then ‘release’ the dog. NEVER hit your dog with your hand, a rolled up newspaper smacking the counter loudly is enough to get the point across. NEVER give up in a training session, NEVER get mad at the dog. If you give up, the dog is only learning that it can walk all over you, and that it can frustrate you, and the dog is probably frustrated too because it doesn’t understand.

I make the dog sit and stay before going in or out doors, or going up or down stairs, and when I answer the door. This will keep the dog from charging out the door, and will keep the dog for toppling you down the stairs. It’s also useful for when strange people come to your door. (Think about it, having a dog patiently watching you like it’s just waiting for you to do something wrong- pretty intimidating) This needs to remain pretty consistant during the training phase, though I’ll admit, the dog knows my sister doesn’t care, just as she knows my grandfather will have a staring contest through the door until she sits before he will let her in.

Also, this should be one of the first commands you cover- try not to do too many at once. I do it in phases- sit, down, stay, come; then fetch and drop (if it hasn’t been already done); then the fun commands one at a time- shake, roll over, and jump through hoops.

Don’t be a bad dog owner- no one thinks your bad dog is amusingbut you.