Obedience / Attention

Thanks very much. I must say I am loving the response on here, by far the best source of info I have found.

Well another day and another question, I have been out with Cassie this evening in the fields, after work. She was doing great, although distracted initially sniffing at the numerous sent trails that the animals of the night have no doubt left behind she was recalling like a champ and has got a firm grip on coming to me and sitting when she arrives as a matter of course, which I am dead chuffed about.

She knows sit and lie down. I use 'lie down' for her going to bed and resting etc, so have tried to get her to learn 'deck' as a command for her to lie on her belly with all feet square on the floor (deck). She is getting to grips with 'deck' but still needs hand signals at the moment.

Now when it come to getting her to stay its a different story, as soon as I take one step back she comes towards me, I can't seem to get her to stay there.

Any tips or pointers?

Ultimately my plan is to be able to make her 'sit' and 'deck' when ever I say it regardless of where she is. At the moment when she is running about and I shout sit, she runs back to me then sits.

Any tips on getting her to sit on the spot when I shout. I realise there will be numerous steps to get to this stage, but as I said the drive and determination is there

Thanks again,

Richard

'What we do in life, echos in eternity'

[Stuart]

In answer to one of your earler questions first,..I always say that the most important command that you can ever teach your dog is the `leave` command,... you havent mentioned it yet, but you must do it, and teach it well.

It is probably one of only two commands that stands a good chance of saving your dogs life,..think of him picking up rat poison, or eating deadly plants,..its the top command for me

The other is something you are having trouble with,.. you are finding it difficult to make your dog stay,..well the other most important command in my opinion is the `down` command, [ think of your dog running towards the road ], this command, is not only good as a life saver but also might be easier to lean that the sit and wait

Many people find it easier because dogs often respond better to the deep sound of the `down` than to many others, use that together with lowering your hand [ with treat ], and your dog will follow your hand down, once he is down you may find that it is easier to maintain the stay,...again just a couple of steps at a time

[Jude]

If you are having problems with the stay you need to go right back to basics rather than trying to go too far away from her. Put her in a sit or down (on lead)by your side, tell her stay, I also use a hand signal, and step away to the side, not to the front, making sure that your first step is with the leg away from the dog - i.e. if the dog is on your left then step right leg first. Just take one step to the side and then step straight back and praise. Next time take one step and wait 10 seconds before stepping back. Build up on this until you can take 2 or 3 steps to the side and return without the dog attempting to get up and follow. If she does get up then simply go back to the beginning and start again. You should be able to build up on this quite quickly once she understands what you want but if you step forwards away from the dog there is often some confusion in the dog's mind as to whether it should follow you or not. You can build up on this until you can walk around the dog and only then should you attempt to leave the dog in a stay and move away forwards. Hope this helps.

[Sanke]

Just following on from Judes comments about moving off. From what I have learnt the dog is responding to both a physical & word command. So say for example we come to a road side, Sheba sits, then when I want to move off I say "lets go" & step off with my left leg first. If I wanted her to stay I would say "stay" (hand command) but move off with my right leg first. Just something to consider