Wait is short for: "Wait a minute, and pay attention; I'm going to ask you to do something”.  The hand signal for WAIT is a moving signal. With the dog sitting in a heel position on your left hand side, use your left fingers pointed down, palm facing the dog.  Move your arm from right to left in front of your dog’s face saying: WAIT.

The easiest way to teach this command is at a feeding time.  Allow at least a half-hour for the 1st few times.  Place the dog’s meal at counter height; put your dog in a sitting position at least 6 feet away.  Give him the “wait” command & signal.  Step off with your right leg as you move towards the dog’s food on the counter. (chances are that this is as far as you will get the first time)  If the dog moves, say “wrong” & place the dog back in the sit position.  Repeat the command & signal, and try again.  It'll take some time until you can get to the counter without the dog moving.  Next, feed your dog its meal saying “take it”.  After 2 or 3 days the dog will begin to understand the command and know what's expected of them.

Now you can take this one step further.  When you reach the counter, tell your dog to “wait” as you slowly lower the food to the floor.  If they move towards it (& they will) say “wrong” and place the food back on the counter.  Return the dog 6 feet away in the sitting position and start again.  The object is to get the food dish to the floor without the dog moving until you say “take it”.  As your dog improves, only use the first “wait” command & discontinue the second.

In less than a week, your dog should be a PRO!  Begin to use WAIT going in & out doors and up stairs - especially if you have small children or people who may fall, if the dog accidentally knocks them down.  Use WAIT to start a “recall”.  Leave the dog in a “wait”, walk a few feet away & call the dog to “come”.  May your Dog(s) always WAIT patiently. Jean

The first thing to teach is the name game or the "WATCH ME!"  You'll need alot of treats (small pieces) that your dog likes to start.  Say your dog’s name, and when he looks at you...bring the treats up to your eyes & make eye contact with him.  If you are a Vocal trainer say YES or Great!  If you're a Sound trainer use a Clicker or clap once.  A Signal Trainer?   Use a THUMBS UP and reward with a treat.  Wait until your dog gets a little distracted then repeat the exercise.  Do this 10 times in a row, rewarding each time for eye contact made.

After repeating the process of the name game, the dog will start coming towards you to get his/her treat - and the message will become clear that you are rewarding eye contact when calling the dog’s name.

For all dog training exercises, always start with no distractions so your dog will succeed and be rewarded.  Move onto increasing distractions slowly. When you start the name game, start in a quiet place with just the two of you.  Then add a few people, move to a different location, or be around other dogs - always rewarding eye contact.

In the training world eye contact is called “focus”.  You will always want your dog to focus on YOU before he/she does anything.  It's like the schoolyard game called “Mother may I”.  Haven't played it before?  Ask your parents or grandparents to explain it, and: "May your Dog(s) always look at you with great FOCUS!" Jean

What should the COME command look like to a Dog Owner?  On hearing the command, the dog stops what they're doing, runs as fast as possible to its owner, and sits!  Ahem.  Now that RARELY happens in real life.  Why?  The trust between the owner & dog has not been built & rewarded.

If you call your dog to come only to give him a bath, a pill, eardrops or cut nails, he may be reluctant to come if he's never been allowed to expend his energy with lots of exercise.  Should he get loose, or if you take him to the park, and only call him when it’s time to go home - he may not come if he thinks fun's over!

When teaching the “recall”, always reward the “come” with either a favourite treat, a game your dog enjoys, petting and/or lots of praise.  In the beginning a tasty treat works the best.  Let the dog get the scent, then say “come” & back up a few steps, as the dog approaches you ask him to sit; reach for the dog’s collar slowly & then reward with the food. The reason to reach & get a hold of the collar is to prevent the dog from taking the treat & then running away (known as a fly by).  Do 10 recalls in a row, rewarding each one with food & 10 seconds of praise!

Practice also before each meal.  Take 10 kibbles from his dish, do 10 recalls.  Then let your dog eat his meal.  You can also give 5 treats to each family member (or friends) and have them spread throughout the house or in fenced back yard; take turns calling the dog to come between the people.

These training tips will work on all puppies & young dogs.  If you have an older dog or a rescue - and they've learned to ignore you or run the other way, you may have to change the command word “come” to “here” or “front” and start retraining as you would have with “come”.  May your Dog(s) run to you, with much speed & happiness!  Jean

What's the difference between Wait and Stay?  Wait is short for wait, and pay attention; I'm going to ask you to do something.  STAY means: “hold your position, but relax, I'll return & tell you when you can move”. WAIT is usually a short duration of time - 2-or3 minutes at most.

The stay command is longer ie. “stand – stay”  5 minutes, “sit – stay” 15 minutes & “down – stay” 30 minutes. With a lot of training your dog should hold a stay even though you are out of their sight.

To teach your dog the stay command, have your dog in heel position (sitting on your left hand side beside you, facing in the same direction you are looking); use your left hand, palm facing the dog’s face, fingers pointed towards the ground, command the dog to “stay”. Step directly in front of the dog, facing him/her; step back to the heel position & if the dog is still sitting & hasn’t moved, say “okay” (the release word that tells your dog it’s okay to move). Take a step backwards as you reward with praise petting or food. The idea is to teach your dog on a “stay” never to move forward. If the dog move’s at any point say “wrong” & replace the dog back in a sit & start over.

Repeat the sit-stay in the same spot 2 or 3 times, then move to a different spot & repeat 2 or 3 times always rewarding each time. The sit-stay should only last 3 to 5 seconds in the beginning, slowly leading up to the goal of 15 minutes.  If you find you're always correcting, you've gone too far/too fast. The dog should be being rewarded more often than not.

As your dog improves at STAYING, slowly start to increase your distance from your dog, a step at a time. Increase the time the dog must hold the stay from 5 to 10 seconds; work slowly adding time and/or distance one at a time.  Once the dog understands the sit-stay you can begin to teach the down-stay; start at the beginning & go slowly as dogs do not generalise well thus making it is a new exercise for them to learn.  Always say the stay command once, don’t keep repeating the command “stay, stay, stay.....!”

The last point to remember, if you left your dog in a sit-stay & the dog lies down, it is NOT okay, it is wrong even if most people are happy with the fact that the dog is at least staying! Tell your dog “wrong” & then reposition the dog back into the sit position, tell him to stay. Good luck and "May your Dog(s) STAY wherever you tell them to!" Jean