hi all.

just to give you an idea of my b/c, she is 11 months old, not super drive by prey, but more food drive. I am having trouble with her stay. I have the basic puppy obedience dvd, i have followed it to the letter. in teh dvd during the place sessions,it leads way to increase the down/stay command, and to add in distractions. i am having trouble with maiya staying on 'place' inside the house for periods of time. outside with her leash on, i have her on the place, and my other half tries to play with her with a toy, given that she really isn't intersted in toys they don't work. outside i can have her in a stay for 10 odd minutes. when i walk away, i have to continuously give the stay command, this is harder for her to stay. inside the house, it is like she has ants in her pants, she sits on her place, 10 seconds later comes over for a pat etc.

what action can i take to reinforce the stay command for a duration a lot longer.
cheers

bret

 Quote: bret kennedy

hi all.

just to give you an idea of my b/c, she is 11 months old, not super drive by prey, but more food drive. I am having trouble with her stay. I have the basic puppy obedience dvd, i have followed it to the letter. in teh dvd during the place sessions,it leads way to increase the down/stay command, and to add in distractions. i am having trouble with maiya staying on 'place' inside the house for periods of time. outside with her leash on, i have her on the place, and my other half tries to play with her with a toy, given that she really isn't intersted in toys they don't work. outside i can have her in a stay for 10 odd minutes. when i walk away, i have to continuously give the stay command, this is harder for her to stay. inside the house, it is like she has ants in her pants, she sits on her place, 10 seconds later comes over for a pat etc.

what action can i take to reinforce the stay command for a duration a lot longer.
cheers

bret

I think maybe you are walking too far away for too long rather than building up gradually to it.

On lead, I give the command and hold my palm out facing the dog. I slowly walk backwards ONE STEP, saying "Spot, stay." If he doesn't move, I immediately mark, praise (a lot) and treat. If the dog moves, I just bring him back to the same spot and start again.

Next day I'll do two steps while I say "Spot, stay."

When two or three steps or four are very solid, I remove the leash and back up ten steps, still saying "Spot, stay." I am still marking, rewarding, etc.

Then I walk around the dog and reward if the dog doesn't move.

Then I increase the time between the command and the reward, by thirty seconds, one minute.

THEN I start outdoors in a fenced place. Finally, I introduce distractions gradually. (First distraction might be another person doing something in the area. Later it might be a person walking a dog past your dog.)

The place at home for me was harder too , but it's normal.It is actually easier outside at the park for them to stay then at home, why ? because at the park they can still see you but at home you go to the next room, move around and they don't like to be seperated or not being able to see you.At least that is the problem for most, I don't know that her"place" is in fact in a different room, can she see you?
What I did is when I was teaching my female to "place" I would put her on her bed and leave for just few minutes I would remind her "good girl" "place" walk away to the next room or even in the same room, I would keep coming back to her pet her"good girl" "place" leave again and so on.Until I could leave her longer and longer.I wanted her to know that Hey I am still here ,I am not leaving far, it's ok to be in your place.She would hear me in the kitchen(her favorite spot) and she would get up from her place, so I would put her back in place and go back to the kitchen and before she would brake her "place " I would go see her and give her a treat, and remind her "good girl" Place" that way she knew that she would not miss on a treat being in her "place" Does that make sense? That worked for me

I think that sounds excellent. I like that reinforcement and reminding (and praise, etc.) before the dog breaks the stay herself. I'll remember that next time I am teaching a dog.

yeah makes a lot of sense.

the break is when she can see us, like you said wants to be with us. i will work on the place a little more inside, rather than outside.

I still have to get her excited to do some training, she does and she doesn't, that is probably just me

thanks for the advice

bret

 Quote: Bret Kennedy

yeah makes a lot of sense.

the break is when she can see us, like you said wants to be with us. i will work on the place a little more inside, rather than outside.

I still have to get her excited to do some training, she does and she doesn't, that is probably just me

thanks for the advice

bret

High-value treats make training very exciting to a food-driven dog.

Also keeping it upbeat, short, and frequent is much better than one long sesson every three days.

I always start and end every session on a command that I know the dog knows and will be treated and praised for. And if you end the sessions before you or the dog really wants it to end -- then there's no frustration, no boredom, no negativity at all.

Obedience training can be one of the dog's favorite activities.

Patience, patience, patience in your training. You've received some great advice here. Baby steps with training, building foundation and truly teaching your dog.

One thing that jumped out at me from your post was

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inside the house, it is like she has ants in her pants, she sits on her place, 10 seconds later comes over for a pat etc.

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The comes over for a pat, etc. Did you mean pat and praise? IMO, you have inadvertantly started training her to release her own stay because she's getting that pat...etc. Like Connie said, just take the dog back and start again. At first, keep it short, sweet, and fun. Time and time again, repetition is truth in dog training. Have fun!

Practice 1st Duration, 2nd Distance, then 3rd Distraction for the stay/place commands. That will ensure a good foundation for the behavior. When you increase in one area, lower the other two briefly.
I also do not reward extravagantly on the release, only during the stay, so not to create anxiety for the release. This helps reinforce what I really want- they stay, not the release. If I make a big ordeal over the release, some dogs think they get rewarded on the break of the stay too and try it often. Then they find out they get a correction for the break, now they are confused and anxious. Both not good for the stay.

Alison Voore

I have a fifteen month old Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. Although she is the sweetest thing, she is bull headed. I have had many dogs in my 55 years, but none as difficult at Belle. I have tried just about everything-puppy obedience, choke chain, etc. She fights for the pack leader position everyday-everytime we do anything. I walk her about 3 miles per day because she is so high energy, and we play ball and chase. When I have her out for a walk, she jerks me everytime she sees a squirrel, a bird, a dog, a cat, a car, a person, the air. I have multiple injuries as I am not as strong as she. Now, with a little background-should I send her off to a training facility for a month or two? Will this change her personality-her sweetness. I want her behavior to change, so I am confused about this issue. Do they hurt the dogs with shock collars and other training methods? Any input would be helpful as we are at our wits end. Thanks