Kroki

Question · Puppy

How do I teach my puppy to stay?

The short answer

Ask your puppy to sit, wait just two seconds, mark and reward while it is still sitting, then say a release word such as “Free!” and invite it to move. Build up slowly: first a few more seconds, later one step away, and only then small distractions, never all three at once. A young puppy is doing well with a few seconds. Kroki, a reward-based training app for puppies and dogs, teaches a short wait of about five seconds, released with “Free!”.

How to do it, step by step

  1. Teach the release word first

    Before you practise staying, teach your puppy what “Free!” means. Toss a treat a short distance and say “Free!” as it goes after it. Soon the word means “you can move now”, and every stay has a clear end.

  2. Start with two seconds

    Ask for a sit, count “one, two” in your head, then mark with “Top!” and give the treat at chin height while your puppy is still sitting. Then say “Free!”. If it gets up before you mark, the wait was too long; go back to one second.

  3. Add time in tiny steps

    Over several sessions, move from two seconds to three, then five. Mix in easy ones too, so it is not always getting harder. For most puppies under six months, a calm wait of a few seconds is a real success.

  4. Then add a single step away

    Only when a few seconds are easy, go back to two seconds and lean away or take one step back, then return, reward and release. Always go back to your puppy to reward it, so it learns that staying put is what pays.

  5. Then add small distractions

    With the time short and you close by, try one small distraction, such as shifting your feet or holding a toy still. Keep only one thing harder at a time. If your puppy gets up, make the next try easier.

  6. Keep sessions to a minute or two

    Waiting is tiring for a young brain. Do three to five stays, end with a game and stop. You can also practise in daily life, for example a two-second wait before the food bowl goes down.

Teaching a grown dog instead?

A grown dog can usually build up to longer stays, and you can practise in parks, on walks and at the door. Many adult dogs have learned to break a stay because they were called out of it, or to wait only until you look away. The page for grown dogs covers longer stays and how to proof them.

Why puppies learn stay best in small doses

Staying still is hard work for a puppy, so the structure of your practice matters more than the amount. In a study with 44 beagles, a single training session worked better than three sessions back to back, and dogs trained once or twice a week learned faster than dogs trained every day (Demant and colleagues 2011). Those dogs were adults, but the point applies to puppies too: rest between short sessions is part of learning.

Another study found the same pattern: dogs trained once a week needed fewer sessions to learn a task than dogs trained five times a week (Meyer and Ladewig 2008). For stay, that means you don’t need to drill it daily. A few calm repeats, spread out, build a better wait than a long session that ends with a frustrated puppy.

Rewards also make stay pleasant to learn. A review of aversive methods found that they can harm a dog’s physical and mental health, with no evidence that they work better than rewards (Ziv 2017). Scolding a puppy for breaking a stay teaches it that being near you is unpredictable; simply resetting and making the next try easier keeps it keen.

How long can a puppy stay?

  • In the first weeks at home: one to five seconds sitting still, with you right in front of it.
  • After some weeks of short practice: up to about ten seconds, or one or two steps away, but not both at once.
  • Long stays, stays out of sight and stays in busy places belong later, when your puppy is older and the basics are solid.
  • Every puppy is different. Watch your puppy, not the calendar, and go back a step whenever it struggles.

Common mistakes

  • Calling your puppy out of a stay. It mixes up “stay” and “come”. End a stay by walking back and releasing, and practise recall separately.
  • Forgetting the release word. Without it, your puppy decides when the stay ends, and soon it ends early.
  • Making time, distance and distractions harder in the same session. Raise one, keep the other two easy.
  • Holding up your hand like a stop sign and repeating “Stay, stay, stay”. Say it once and use the reward to show what you want.

When to see a professional

Stay is a calm exercise. Talk to a professional if:

The help pages list services in Germany, Austria and Switzerland only. Elsewhere, ask your vet practice who they recommend near you.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between stay and wait for a puppy?

Many owners use “wait” for a short pause before something happens, like a door opening, and “stay” for holding a position until released. For a young puppy, both start the same way: a few seconds of calm, then “Free!”.

Why does my puppy get up as soon as I step back?

Your puppy is not ready for distance yet, or the stay is also too long. Go back to staying right beside it for two seconds, then take half a step and return at once.

Do I need a release word for stay?

Yes, a release word such as “Free!” tells your puppy clearly when the stay is over. Without it, your puppy guesses, and it usually guesses too early.

Should my puppy stay in a sit or a down?

Either works, but many puppies find a down more comfortable for longer waits. Start in whichever position your puppy already knows best.

At what age can a puppy learn to stay?

A puppy can learn a short stay of a few seconds from about eight to ten weeks, once it knows sit. Longer stays come gradually over the following months.

Should I give the treat before or after the release?

Give the treat while your puppy is still staying, then release. That way the reward goes to the staying, not to getting up.

Sources