Teaching Your Puppy To Stay

Before you begin teaching your puppy to stay, you will need to have taught it to sit. Start with your pup in a sitting position, then take a step backwards and say “Stay” before quickly stepping forwards again. It can help if you raise your palm up to your puppy as you give the command. If your pet didn’t move, reward it with a treat and some praise.

Once you have done this a few times and your puppy is getting the hang of it, go back two steps and say “Stay”, again with the hand signal, then return to the dog as before. Reward your pet if it didn’t move. Then gradually increase the distance that you step backwards and the length of time that you ask them to stay. As your pup gets more confident, switch between sitting and lying down as well as varying the distance.

Practice in short bursts but do it frequently so your puppy gets used to the behaviour without getting tired. If your pet gets up and follows you, simply put it back into a sitting position and try again, perhaps reducing the distance a little. With plenty of practice, your pet will learn to keep still even if you leave the room.

Check out our dog training tips page here.