I don't know if I should correct my dog for something and wondered what you guys do:

Should I be correcting him if he breaks the stay command under these type of circumstances?

1) Gunnar's in a sit or down/stay and a little smoke begins to come out of the oven. He got up and started barking at the smoke.

2) Gunnar's in a sit/stay on first floor. I went to the basement and unfortunately walked into what was a spider hanging right in front of my face(gag). I let out that freaked out/ startled sort of 'yelp' some women are known for, OK all women . Gunnar got up and ran to the basement to check out what happened.

3) My 19 year old son can look rather just like a burglar when he's got his black hat and coat on in the dark, when I'm not expecting him to be home and he's suddenly coming around the corner!! Another yelp out of me, another break of the sit by Gunnar.

These examples leave me never knowing what the right thing to do is. My intuition tells me not to correct him, especially in the scenario of the smoke. In fact I praised him on that one.

He's a pet and not trying to train for schutzhund or PP work or anything. I just want to keep his skills as sharp as possible without confusing him in the process.

So is breaking the stay sometimes OK with you guys? How strict are you/would you be with these type of scenarios?

Excellent question Judy, I've been wondering the same thing.

In your case, I guess Gunnar's smart enough to react to your sudden anxiety. Sounds like a valid reason to break a stay. I know I wouldn't want my dog to maintain a sit-stay if my house was on fire and I wasn't there to release him!

Maybe you could test him by calmly making strange noises while he's staying (but without the anxiety ) to teach him that just because you make a noise doesn't mean he can break.

Then again, I was training the down-stay at the park yesterday with my pup when I slipped on the ice and fell on my wrist. I said OUCH pretty loudly (it hurt) and my pup immediately broke his stay, came running over and licked my face while whining softly.
I did praise him... I was touched by his concern

Maybe that was a mistake??

I'd definitely be interested in hearing other's opinions on this!

I wouldn't correct. I'm not after a robot dog. That being said, I'd make sure that a LARGE percentage of the time the dog holds the stay and has no reason to break it!

That sounds like a very good response from the dogs in all cases. No way would I correct!
Barking at the smoke thing is fantastic! Dogs are amazing sometimes! Did he save your dinner?

These are some of the reasons I have a GSD puppy on the way!

Judy, I'm guessing you know the "how" of training at stay (as that was not your question ). But for me if the scenario is something that I would want my dog to break a stay for, i.e. dog stay -- handler gets jumpped by a mugger -- dog breaks stay to attack mugger; I'd be ok with. If your dog perceived these scenarios as ones that he were expected to break a "stay" for then I wouldn't worry. (Others may disagree.) Look at it this way, to verbally say 'sit' is a command, to give a hand signal is also a command; the dog is reacting to a stimulus (in this case a verbal one and a visual one), also a drug dog that is taught to sit for odor is reacting to an olfactory stimulus. So, in the case of my "mugger imagery" the dog would be reacting to environmental stimulus.

In an atempt (and probably a feeble one ) to paint a better mental image... If I tell my dog to "stay" then I tell her to "come" I expect her to break the stay. If I tell her to "stay" and i start to roll around on the grass then I expect her to remain in place.

However, if you mentioned a scenario in your OP that you do not want your dog to break his "stay" then you need to set up the exact same scenario again and proof the dog's stay under those same circumstances.

Well, I don't want to stir the pot but in my case I am training for competitive obedience and I want my dog to stay until I release - Stay means Stay - period. Yes, I would like my dog to alert me to smoke etc... but not during a stay (well, he could bark but not move..LOL) Where do you draw the line so to speak? (I know this won't come out right since I don't write very well... ;-) Smoke, falling down, postman?

When in competition - I don't care if someone screams - I want him to stay. When I practice stay I am setting him up to succeed and although we are not at the out of site phase yet, I don't want the doorbell to make him break or anything else. If, I saw a big hairy spider and was startled I don't think I want him breaking - it could happen in competition and I'd be kicking myself! Now, as for protecting me - I don't plan to practice in dark alleys or in unsafe conditions so if I was attacked during practice the first thing I would do was give him his release word.

When training, I proof with all sorts of things, balls, applause, knocking etc... I walk away and purposely trip so if it happens in competition the dog will not break his stay. If I fell and broke my leg I probably wouldn't care if he got up so I wouldn't worry about it at home either...

does any of this make sense?

Hey Judy,
I think that if Gunnar is pretty good on the stay in other circumstances, its you're choice if you want to correct him.
I wouldn't, personally for those instances you posted about.
I would like to know that if I have Tucker in a down-stay in the park and someone came up behind me he would break the stay, and not just look on as the stranger got closer & closer.
Just remember to keep it consistent and try to not confuse the situation. Just remember that your cry of disgust at the spider and your cry of loud laughter may sound almost the same to him. Thats where I think the problems might set in. If your laughing or talking loudly he may perceive it the wrong way and break his stay to see whats going on.
Its a thin line I think.

Judy,

After rereading your OP, here is my direct answer...



Would I correct;

1) No

2) Yes

3) No

Red, I think you said it best..