How to teach stand for exam/stack

I have *never* been able to do this. The only way I ever got my Labrador to hold a stand was by telling him to stay the moment he was in the position I wanted him to be in. And God knows I've never been able to properly stack a dog before.

I'd like to teach Abrams to hold a stand for exam to, well....stand for am exam. Lol I want to give him a command he can follow and understand when I'm trying to bathe him/dry him or we're at the vet. Stacking is just on the side to make him look good for pictures.

He kind of already does this to an extent when I'm bathing/drying him (I'll hoist him up, tell him to stand, and keep a taut line up behind his ears) but it isn't anything he "knows", more like he gets the situational context. Considering his brains tend to fall out more often than not, I consider this a success, but I don't want that to be our end goal.

An owner with a show bred Dobe comes in to the clinic and the dog may have poor behavior elsewhere, but when we have him stand for an exam/treatments he's an angel because he's so used to holding a stack in shows while being touched by a judge. I'd like to get Abrams to that point, as he's kind of "ew, don't touch me" in public if I don't have a cookie crammed in his face.

How have you suceeded in teaching a stand for exam? I am much more comfortable lure/rewarding than I am shaping (as is he), but I can shape if I need to.

I'm in for this.

I've never taught a stack, but I've taught stand for exam with reverse luring. I had him target a fairly small object with his front feet and pulled forward with the treat to get him to lean forward and put his wait on his front legs. Then opened me hand. If he shifted too much weight on to his back legs (so it looked like he might sit) I would close my hand. He caught on pretty quick. Eventually added distractions and other people touching him, including a few strangers at petco and then removed the targets. We had a terrible time getting rid of the hookworms he came to us from the shelter with so he was at the vet kind of frequently for awhile and I wanted him, the vet and the techs to be comfortable. After working on it for about 4 months he stood perfectly still for rectal temp and anal exam, which has to be super uncomfortable, without any visible reward.

I usually teach this as lure and reward and I honestly don't ever think I've see it shaped.

Start with just getting him to a stand from a sit or down position, and then slowly increase the duration to 30 seconds or so (without doing anything else), once he's got that pretty solid I'd add distractions like walking around him, patting him, and then move on to examining, grooming whatever.

If he starts to sit or anything just re lure him until he's solid in the command, then you just remind him if you see him looking like he's going to sit. Honestly I wouldn't expect any dog to really stand for an ENTIRE exam or drying session without trying to break at least once or twice, it's not a big deal to remind them. And if they're constantly trying to sit back down its just going to be a duration issue.

I taught Briz to stand by kicking his back feet out while leaving his front feet in place, and then told him to stay. We also worked on doing a stand stay while walking, both of those activities seemed to help him understand the concept of standing still and not moving or doing any other behaviors.

There's so many ways to go about it. Most recently I taught Gabby by teaching her to back up first. Her stand always involves taking a few steps back then planting herself. I did the nose into chest following food way of getting her to kick back then c/t for stationary feet. I have hers as a chin target (not sticky) and can ask for it from a sit next to me or in front of me. Lots of repetitions of me making tiny movements for distraction and duration. I tend to click and throw food as the read in he initial stages so I can reset more easily.

I'm having good luck teaching behaviors like this with the reverse lure that Amberdyan mentioned...any kind of stay, in fact.

I've also got this by playing with tossing treats versus luring, toss him a few while standing and then make the motion with your hand, he should freeze for a few seconds to see if you will throw it. Just build up from there. This works with throwing toys too if he has a little impulse control, wait until he stands still and then throw, and build up from there.

The main issue that I'm having is his down is his default to *everything*, so while his stay/wait is pretty solid, when he's uncertain or trying to get me to do something he normally just throws himself into a down. Standing is so foreign to him. I think the only time he's ever just stood without moving is when he's eyeing up squirrels outside or when I'm grooming him.

I'm having issues getting him to understand that standing up is even a position, let alone something he should hold. When I lure him up he'll follow the lure (or my hand) but I don't know if he fully comprehends he's being rewarded for picking his butt up, not just following my hand. Typically when I try to add in any form of duration he'll sit.

But, I'll keep trucking! Backing up vs stepping forward might be something to try.

Do some capturing if you think he's just following your hand! Just mark as he stands up and reward around the house!

If he lies down or moves out of the stand, I'd just turn away with him, remove the treats, and avoid eye contact so he knows clearly that isn't what you're looking for

I teach it just like any other stay behavior. Teach said behavior, which I did I think by luring from a down. For this, because we do show confo, I did a lot of my stay work on a lead practicing stacks and such. I did it sort of similar to a reverse lure, but not directly as I had canned food I set out in front to keep her pulling her body forward. I used a clicker and would mark for duration/body position I liked. I also found that doing "sit, down, sit, stand, ect, ect" really helped solidify the command one we were to that point. Backing helped as well.

Watch some youtube videos on gaiting and freestacks, surprisingly that helped work on our stand stay as well.

For stacks, I recommend practicing in front of a mirror so that you can see what body position you like. Then you can either use tape on the floor to mark where feet go or just remember based off of muscle memory.

I taught stand using targeting - Louis already had a "touch" command, so we just slowly reconfigured it to a stand signal. I started my marking a few "stands" with the clicker. Then had him "touch" my hand after he was laying down, and he had to stand to reach my hand. After he knew the game, I stopped telling him "touch", and just held my hand. Then changed my hand position to the new signal I wanted to use for "stand" (which is a closed fist), and marked and rewarded a threw a party when he immediately stood up when he saw the hand signal. He very quickly "got it", this way, and will "stand" from any position. I will work on having him hold it now.

In all, I'd say it took him about 5 minutes to learn "stand", though it sounds a lot longer when I typed it out above. LOL!

These videos are invaluable. This guy is GOOD!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYM6qIlOUdM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYM6qIlOUdM


http://www.doghandlingtips.com/