Why You Should Stop Telling Your Dog "Stay"

That's like me telling you to "bugaboo" and thinking you know exactly what it means. In fact it's a nonsense word. Which is the same exact thing a dog who does not have a grasp of the English language thinks about the word "stay". It's a nonsense word.

If you're like a lot of dog owners, you are constantly repeating yourself. Constantly. To no avail. Yet you keep hoping that at some point it will sink in.

Here's why. Dog's think and learn in pictures. When you name something consistently in their mind, they've got it. Again, their definition of the English language did not get taught to them the way it did to humans. So honestly, when you tell your dog "stay" and she gets up and after a couple of seconds and runs around and you start in with, "No, stay, I said stay" your dog has no idea what it means. In fact, you've repeated this scenario so many times your dog is certain "Stay, no stay, I said stay" means to sit for a couple seconds then get up and run around.

You can try to explain stay all you want to your dog, but I've got news... Your dog doesn't understand logic. They understand demonstration. Then you name it. Simple break down. Don't try to explain to your dog what to do. Show your dog what to do, then name it.

My clients think I'm brilliant on this one. I'm simply just thinking like a dog.

Tell your dog to sit. Pretty basic. Probably the most practiced action item in "dog training". It's simple. It's stationary. It's do-able. It's rewardable.

The moment your dog even thinks about getting up, you tell her "sit".

Fundamental at it's core.

You keep doing this until you want to release your dog to something else.

You just trained stay.

This is the hardest thing for the logistical human. You think your dog should figure out complex problems.

Your dog has zero interest or capability in complex problems.

You dog does like to please you, for the most part however.

So here's the deal on stay....

Keep your dog in a sit for extended periods of time. Reward.

The longer your dog can hold a sit, the better at stay you dog will be.

Example: You tell your dog sit.

He does.

He starts to get up and you tell him sit.

He does.

He holds that sit longer. It's an action. Stay by the way isn't a physical action, it's an idea to your dog. Your dog can't figure out ideas....

You go back to "sit" every time your dog even thinks about getting up. *action easy to demonstrate versus explain

Your dog starts holding extended "sit".

Then and only then you can name it stay! 💡

Demonstration over explanation wins every time with a dog.

*Bonus: it works with people too!

I'm a dog life advisor. I developed a 30 day Experiment where I teach you how to lose your anxiety and have more fun with your dog so that you can get back to living the life you had planned on enjoying... join me here: Dog Life Unleashed