Stays with Distance

Last lesson, you and your dog began learning stay together, with both of you remaining stationary during the exercise. Now that you've built up at least 30 seconds between treats of duration by itself, you're ready to begin adding distance, one step at a time.

1. From a standing position, ask your dog for a sit or down.
2. Reward immediately, then say "stay".
3. Take one step in place, then immediately treat your dog.
4. If your dog showed any interest to your moving in place, then repeat this step until she is totally disinterested.
5. Take a half-step back with one foot and immediately rock back to treat your dog.
6. Take a full step back and immediately rock back to treat your dog.
7. Intermittently use your release word and toss a low-value treat.
8. Once your dog is remaining firmly and calmly planted with you taking a full step back, you can increase by one step on most repetitions but thrown in short, easy stays every few reps.