Happy Pets

I am sure that you will find all the exercises extremely useful if only to teach your dog discipline and self-control, but there are other practical reasons for teaching them. I remember once when my daughter Kerensa was a toddler and I was taking Bracken, Mocha and Buttons out for a walk. Unbeknown to me Kerensa had pocketed a tennis ball on the way out and before I realised what was happening she was bouncing the tennis ball on the pavement, and it rolled away into the road. Kerensa ran after it. Instinctively I dropped the dog leads, told them to Sit and Stay and rushed after Kerensa. Needless to say, all was well. I was able to retrieve her without a scratch, secure in the knowledge that the three dogs were still sitting and staying on the pavement.

Since that time I have practised my Sit-Stays while I run after Kerensa, as dogs will often think this is a game and immediately run after their owner.

Sit-Stay

The Stay command is taught in the same manner as Wait. But Stay should mean to your puppy that he must not move off the spot until you return to him and give a release command. Do not teach Stays and Waits together. I prefer to do small exercises all through the day, never linking up two different things at the same time. I may teach a Wait and have a game with my puppy and a little later on in the day I will teach collar-and-lead work, and so on. In this way, your puppy will not be confused and he will enjoy his training. Remember, every new command you’re teaching puppy is a foreign word. You must give him time to understand. Only while puppy is interested in your training lessons will he learn. It is pointless to spend half an hour teaching him Stays. He will be bored and uninterested. A few minutes here and there is far better.

With puppy sitting on your left-hand side, give him a firm but quiet Stay command. Do not use his name. Remember his name is an indication for him to come to you and we don’t want that. Take a small pace to your right and then immediately return to your puppy, kneel down and praise him. Do not make the mistake of stretching your hand back as you return to puppy to give him praise. You will only be teaching him to be unsteady and to jump towards you as you return. Puppy must be taught from the very beginning that he must stay in the position you have left him until you return and physically stroke him and give him the release command. If your puppy moves, even if it only be a front paw in your direction, quietly put him back exactly where you left him and repeat your Stay command.

As with every other exercise I have explained, you must take into account your puppy’s temperament. A sensitive puppy will worry that you are going to leave him and, naturally, want to follow you. You must not be harsh with him, but calm. Stroke him when you’re giving him the command of Stay, to reassure him. After all, you are only taking one pace to the right and then returning to him immediately. This will give him confidence. The more dominant puppy will want to be off and do his own thing and should be treated accordingly. The dominant puppy will not require stroking when giving the command and if he attempts to move away from you, be very firm when putting him back into the Sit-Stay position.

Stays must be done on the spot with you only one step away. It is pointless to make a lot of distance between you and puppy. Once you are out of arms reach, you have no control over him. If you rush to the other end of the room, shouting at your puppy to stay and he gets up, you cannot correct him. This will give puppy the idea that he can be disobedient once you are but a few paces away and you will upset a more sensitive puppy by constantly shouting at him to stay. So don’t be tempted to rush this exercise.

If puppy lies down when you’ve left him in a Sit-Stay, don’t be tempted to leave him. You have given a command of Sit, so you must ensure it is carried out. Put him back into the Sit, gently. If he rolls and wants to play, just walk round him for a moment before putting him back into the Sit. Only when you know puppy has a grasp of this new command can you begin to extend your distance and time. When you can take two paces away at the side of your, puppy and count five seconds, you will know he is beginning to grasp the meaning of this new word. Then you can extend this to three or four paces to the side and ten seconds. You should begin to walk slowly around your puppy in the Sit-Stay. It is quite acceptable to repeat the word Stay, but do not use your dog’s name. This will be an indication for him to get up and come to you.

Once your circling has been achieved in the house, you can do your Stays in the garden, and next into the park where there’ll be the distraction of other people and dogs. Always keep your puppy on a lead so that you have full control and he cannot be disobedient. Only when your puppy is absolutely steady in the Sit-Stay in the park can you begin to extend your distance. But if you think that puppy will move, keep him on a lead so that you have full control. The worst possible thing you can do in this exercise is to scream and shout at your dog to stay or sit when he moves and you’re not in a position to correct him. This will only put him off doing this exercise and confuse him and you will then need to go back to the very beginning and start all over again.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 1:13 am and is filed under Collars, Dogs, Puppies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.