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Dogs have a great knack for teaching their teachers. Aside from making us wave hands and shout strange words, we often fetch treats and go after tennis balls. While this might seem funny, it really is in our pets best interest that they learn some basic commands and teaching a dog to stay is vital for his safety.

Getting your dog to stay will insure that you can keep him near you if there is a potentially dangerous situation. Also, it will make your dog a much better behaved pet and a pleasure to have out for a walk or while visiting neighbors.

A good first move is to train the dog to “sit” when told to do so. This is a key part of training and should be the basic command that any dog knows before you try to teach him anything else.

Then with the pup, teen, or adult dog in the sit, I thrust a hand in the dog’s direction, palm first, fingers raised, giving the voice command to ‘stay!’ Not shouting, just distinct and audible over other noises. Hand motions should be exact and unique to a certain command/behavior. Take a step back.

Your dog will most likely try to follow you. When this happens, repeat your unique hand gestures for the “sit” and “stay” commands. If your dog continues to follow you, there is a trick to get them to comply with the “sit” command. Hold a treat or one of your dog’s favorite toys in your hand. Slowly move this over your dog’s head until it is a little behind his eyes. Make sure that it is still in your dog’s line of vision. This movement will force your dog’s chin to move up. If your dog chooses to rotate around rather than just moving his chin, move the toy or treat over their head again until he does move his chin up and sits down. Praise your dog and try the “stay” command again.

Eventually your dog will “get it” and will stay, unfortunately your work is not done at this point. The next step in teaching a dog to stay is to get him to stay as you move further and further away. So, repeat the stay command and take a few steps away from him. Most of the time, the farther away you get the less obedient they will be. Remember, you are their master and they want to follow you.

One thing you can do to get around this is to put a collar and lengthy leash on your dog. Use a tree to secure the leash behind the dog and hold it in front of the dog. Allow your dog to stand up and step forward, gently pulling on the rope and using the standard voice command and gesture. Be careful not to jerk your dog too hard and upset his concentration. Your goal should be to contain his behavior, not punish him. If you prefer to use another person rather than a tree you can, but it may confuse the dog and he won’t know who is giving the commands.

Some dogs will lie down during the exercise, more so as you back away a few feet. You might have to train an ‘up’-'sit’ combo before mastering ‘stay’. Breeds and individual dogs may vary in how long – how many repeats over how many days – it takes to consistently obey, but nearly all pick it up eventually.

Have your dog stay for several seconds. Once this has been completed, tell your dog to “come” using a different tone and a unique hand gesture. Make sure that the gesture for “come” is something that you will be able to do without difficulty but that you will never accidentally do during everyday activities. Any gestures that you use for commands should be unique for each type of behavior you are looking for and should just be used when seeking these behaviors from your dog.

One thing you need to do when teaching a dog to stay his to remember to praise him generously when he exhibit’s the desired behavior. Repeat the exercise making the dog stay longer as he learns. If the dog stays when you go back into the house, that means you have succeeded completely. Remember to release him after a minute.