To Stay or Not To Stay: That is the question

jess2416

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#1
As some of you know, Chloe and I will be attending some group manners classes in October, and I have been try to brush up on some of her commands.. We have "sit" and "down" 95% and we are about 75% there with a "down stay" and about 75% with "come" we havent worked on "sit stay" yet

I guess my issue is when I am looking at her and we have eye contact she will stay as long as I tell her too, BUT as soon as I turn my back to her or take my eye contact away she is up and following me...

any suggestions :)
 

SummerRiot

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#2
Riot was a follower as well. He was a MAJOR velcro dog, what I started to work on with him was telling him to sit, then "wait" or "stay" then just moving my eyes to his feet, then quickly back up at him, then back to his feet, then back up to him.
It gave him the satisfaction of whatever happens.. I'll always be back for him.

Once he got the concept of that, I'd move my shoulders so they weren't straight on against him. Dogs read our body language VERY well and understand any slight movement we make and try to interpret it.

Right now, I assume Chloe feels that any movement away from her means your leaving her. So just give her the reasurance that she is asking for by going back and forth with the contact.

Once she comfy with the body, just do back and forth movement with her on a sit stay. Face her, tell her to sit, stay, then just turn so your back is facing her, then turn back around.. gradually increase the away time, but always rewarding her for staying when you face back to her.

Then you can move on to placement - you moving further from her at a sit stay.

its all baby steps. The more you reinforce the sit stay with a positive experience, the more she'll WANT to do it :)
 

jess2416

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#3
Thanks Jenn :) I definitely do that tomorrow....:) because other than that we havent had any real issues with anything else, I have even started to throw in some "hand signals" :D :D
 

Zoom

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#5
Sit/stay can be a very hard one for velcro dogs. It was with Sawyer. Summer gave good advice, especially if you have the patience to take it in that micro of increments. I usually keep a slight bit of pressure on the collar when first starting this, to reinforce the idea that she is not to go anywhere. Then tell her to stay (give your signal if you have one) then slide in front of her so that you're still looking at her, but directly in front of her so that she cannot go anywhere. Only pause for a second, then return to her side so that the two of you are in the classic "heel" position, what I usually think of as "Neutral" for this exercise, and give praise/treats. I would not make it too effusive, as being calm and attentive works better here than happy and excited. Usually just a firm stroke on the head with a "good" and/or a small bit of treat.

Continue the pattern of "stay", step in front, wait a second or two, then return to neutral and light praise. Increase the distance between you and Chloe only as you feel she can handle it and won't be inclined to get up. It might take a bit, but I've seen very jumpy dogs pick up stay quite quickly with this method. As you get a couple of feet away, I begin to gently rock back and forth on my feet to get them used to the idea that even if you are moving, they still need to stay. Once they are used to this idea, then begin to gently play with the leash. Some dogs have a rock-solid stay until the moment they feel any movement or pressure on the collar, then they are moving towards you like lightening. Only add in distractions as you feel Chloe can take them! Set the dog up for success!

Good luck! and I hope this all made sense and I didn't leave out a bunch of important words.
 

jess2416

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#6
It did make sense :D you and Jenn gave me a lot to work with for tomorrow :D
 

Doberluv

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#7
Break it into the three D's. Duration, distance from you and distractions. Work on duration first....with you standing right in front of her. When she gets it that she should stay there for 1 second, then 2 then 4 etc....and she's getting really good at staying, start distance, 1 ft. away, then 2, etc. But lighten the duration criteria during this phase. 1 ft away and immediately return, 2 ft and immediately return. When she's ok with that...really good, then put both together....very short duration and distance, gradually increasing both. If she breaks the stay, you've gone too far too fast, go back. All this is in the most boring room of your house. Then gradually add distractions.
 

jess2416

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#8
What we worked on today

We work with distance and time...:)

Chloe did really well today, she stayed put up to the point where I was about 5-6 ft away and as far as time, she stayed for about 3 minutes....

and we also worked on staying while my back was turned... I got her to stay with my back turned to her, while I counted to 20 (she got that far without bouncing up and coming to look at me :lol-sign: ) and we did it slowly increasing my counting every so often..

I am sooo proud of her :D
 

jess2416

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#10
We worked on the same thing again to day, and she was a little more consistent than she was yesterday :D so we are making progress
 
C

cindr

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#12
Down stay long down stay

Hi everyone I you all have great suggestions with the long sit or down stay. I found that these avenues worked for me.

1) Place my dog in a sitting position. Walk out in front of her. Ask her to stay as I was staring at her. Dog stays go back reward.

2) Same sinario although this time I walk out in front of the dog ask her to stay then once out there turn my back on the dog for a few seconds. Turn and front the dog. Go back to the dog and happy praise begins.

3) same as no 2 but now I am taking large steps away from the dog again wait a few min's. Turn to the dog and go back Good Dog Now if in the mean time the dog has moved I go back to the dog and start again. I do not at any time bash it into the dog to do this job I just continue repeats after repeats and with that it has worked for me for the last 25 yrs.

We live on a 3 acre farm and if the dogs get out of straights with me. I will state my claim and sound the call the dogs will either fly like the wind in the recall or drop like a brick in a down. When they drop like a brick and I state Stay or Blibe boy do they do it. Now bashing and or aggressive training has ever worked and I really do like how all my girls work for me. So I hope this would help too
 

tac_1

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#13
Yay!! You go girlfriend! lol. I'm still working on the whole sit/stay and lay or down....Our progress is very slow.
 

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