Dog Training Mistake: Stay AND Come?!

[@spiritdogtraining]

Looking for more dog training information? We just launched a brand-new 7-day free course ... and you can customize it for your dog's training needs! Simply choose "Get Free Course" on our homepage and get started :) spiritdogtraining.com/

[@erinnorwood6124]

How do I stop my dog from jumping on the couch and trying to bite my hand if she knows i am going to remove her? Also, how do I keep her from stealing my blanket when we are lying on the bed?

[@kjhiker49]

Figured that out on my own when my dog broke the stay a lot to come before called. They are just too darn smart!

[@plusfc]

This makes a lot of sense and I have seen that the stay is not as good as it used to be. I will work on changing this!

[@spiritdogtraining]

Hi Joan, I am glad it's useful! Such an easy mistake to make ... but we can also easily fix it again by shifting the reward into the right direction :)

[@johntaylor3255]

Hi & thankyou for the logistics explanation - makes perfect sense. However, I have been trained (& hence my dog) that a STAY means exactly that - stay put & I will come to the dog- always, no exception. WAIT means exactly that, wait for my command eg maybe a come so the dog comes to me, which is perfectly acceptable. Really desirable to have the two different commands & ensure a STAY means stay & do not leave that position until released. Otherwise I love your videos & superb explanations.

[@spiritdogtraining]

Yes, some people like having separate commands for it for sure!

[@carolscott3398]

This makes so much sense! We have been working with Schnitzel to staynin various positions, in a sit, a down, standing. Upping the reward in the position will help.

[@spiritdogtraining]

Yes! Upping reward in position always helps :) Plus ... if you two train her together, have one person in front and one behind ... if they never know exactly where the release will be (like I show at the end) they're also less likely to "inch closer" :)

[@tammymencel8613]

Mahalo - I totally make this mistake! will work on correcting going forward. I appreciate your insight and training expertise. It has been very helpful with my doggos.

[@spiritdogtraining]

You're very welcome! I'm so glad to hear it's helping! 🐾

[@ClaireBarake]

How much sense this makes again!!

[@spiritdogtraining]

I'm glad you found it helpful!

[@kenbell5841]

Amazing how much sense this makes! I'll start undoing the mistake.

[@spiritdogtraining]

I'm glad it made sense and hopefully it helps! 🐾

[@mike.ying.personal]

makes sense! love the hack at the end

[@spiritdogtraining]

Haha yes, when we put the reward behind them then there is REALLY no reason anymore to inch towards us :)

[@teresaellis6666]

Thank you. You are always so clear.

[@spiritdogtraining]

You're very welcome! Glad it made sense!

[@rebekahbullock8903]

Great tip! Makes so much sense!

[@spiritdogtraining]

Thank you, I am glad it's useful :)

[@happyalmogela]

THANK YOU! This makes so much sense. We have a husky puppy - we've never had a husky breed before and they are smart! All our training that we used with past breeds don't seem to "stick" with our husky, so everything you've been teaching us has been helpful. Thank you so much!

[@spiritdogtraining]

You're very welcome! I'm so glad you enjoyed and have been finding things so helpful. :) Huskies are definitely smart dogs for sure!

[@kathywhite9013]

My 18 month old labradoodle is a constant barker. I do not know how I got in this habit, but when I tell her to stop barking she comes and sits at my feet for reward. It seems to me I am rewarding her for barking. She barks a lot at every little noise etc.

[@spiritdogtraining]

Hi Kathy, Sorry to hear that - constant barking can sure get on our nerves ... Can you tell me a bit more about what she is barking at? And in which situations this happens the most? Barking is just the "tip of the iceberg" - we need to know the underlying root cause to address this well!

[@kylecampbell6160]

@@spiritdogtraining Same thing with Kathy, our dog Scottie reacts to any little noise with barking. Also, if someone walks by our house, she is none stop barking. We would love to break this habbit

[@spiritdogtraining]

@@kylecampbell6160 Hi Kyle, Sounds like this is some noise sensitivity/perhaps some reactivity towards the passer-bys? I have an in-depth course on reactivity here: spiritdogtraining.com/tackling-reactivity/ Let me know if you have any questions :)

[@leannerusso6259]

Thank you! Changing my technique today!!

[@spiritdogtraining]

Aww I am glad it is useful!

[@neilrerup9539]

Do you recommend using a release word instead of “Come” ? Because not all instances do you want your dog to come to you after a “Stay” or “Down”. As in your video, where you place the reward behind the dog while the dog was in a “Stay”.

[@spiritdogtraining]

Hi there! Release words are a great option! I would just make sure that we're still practicing fully returning to our dog before releasing them sometimes/make sure we don't always release them from a distance.

[@ambergordon2157]

Great video, Steff. Thanks for breaking it down in simple terms in a brief video. Makes sense!

[@spiritdogtraining]

Aww thank you :) So happy you enjoy it!

[@terrikelly5614]

You are amazing!! You break it all down very simply 💙

[@spiritdogtraining]

Thank you so much! Glad you found it helpful!

[@faithevolution552]

Great advice. Thank you

[@spiritdogtraining]

You're welcome! Glad we could help! :)

[@jillgrace0616]

Thank you for this lesson!!! I was going to ask this exact question-regarding when I have my dogs in a “place”(dog bed)- and I have them down/stay. I am working on building how long they will stay in the stay! But I often would say “free” or “come” and it seemed to contradict the stay. My question: what do I do when they have accomplished a great stay, but when I free them they don’t want to leave the place?

[@spiritdogtraining]

Hi Jill, Great job working on these behaviors! :) It happens quite often that we build so much value for a place that dogs will seek out to be on that place even when not asked to. Eg - some dogs have such a good reinforcement history for their crates and find them so comfy that they choose to go and take a nap in there with the door open. So if you release the dog in the sense of "your work is done and you can do what you want now" and your dog stays put, I wouldn't worry at all - just let them stay :) On the other hand, if you are releasing the dog because you want to e.g. switch to another exercise but your dog does not want to come, then I would work on building more value for the come to balance out the intense value the dog has for the place position. I hope this makes sense :) Let me know if you have any questions!

[@rodbender690]

Very good video! Just wondering if you have any tips or suggestions for traveling with a dog? We are taking our pupper hiking with us out west, and it will be a long drive. I'm thinking of taking a long line and playing fetch and tug in the doggie areas of rest stops. Maybe some basic trying stuff to exercise her brain as well?

[@spiritdogtraining]

Hi there, Thank you for reaching out! So one long day of driving should actually not be that big of a deal for an adult dog that's okay in the car ... I wouldn't even worry too much about exercising a ton at the rest stops. Of course you can do it, but personally I have done many long drives with my dogs and they handle one boring day of driving just fine :D Most important would be that your dog is generally comfortable in the car (not car sick, can relax etc.) One note: not sure how old your dog is. If she has not yet had all her puppy shots please do not let her out at the doggy rest stops! Too much dog traffic there of potentially unvaccinated dogs.

[@JouelletteFrenchCoaching]

Thanks so much!

[@spiritdogtraining]

You're very welcome! Glad you enjoyed :)

[@susandeichsel1709]

Hi again Steffi, logged into my account and all I found were offers to buy more courses. One was free, so I signed up for that, but since I paid for reactivity already, I want to address that first and I couldn't find anything about that.

[@spiritdogtraining]

Hi Susan, After your last comment our tech team sent you an email on September 6th to follow up on your login troubles. I will have them resend the email. Make sure that once logged in you use the URL: spiritdogtraining.com/dashboard/ to access your courses. If you have any additional questions, please email us at: [e-mail] We will be able to help better via email than here in the comments :)

[@bridgitgilmore]

The course you signed up for you have to look for in your profile. It's not an obvious place to look but it's there!

[@susandeichsel1709]

Steffi, I am confused by a number of things. I received an email in which there was a photo of a dog in the distance. There was some comment about long leads. it came with not instructions. I sent an email asking about it to your email address and have not received an answer. I signed up for training specifically targeted at reactivity. I haven't received anything about that yet. I have been doing what I find in the emails, youtube videos, etc., but I don't know if they are part of the reactivity course, or not. Please advise.

[@spiritdogtraining]

Hi Susan, Sorry for the confusion! If you have signed up for our reactivity online course, then you will find all content related to this course in the dashboard on our homepage. In one of the first emails we sent you instructions on how to access this dashboard and the courses - do you have this one? If not, we can of course resend it :) The YT videos are public videos that I make for different aspects of dog training ... the reactivity course is a step-by-step process for our online students. I see that we answered your email on September 1st. Did you get this response? I will have a team member get in touch again with steps to log in :)