Max is a typical 8 month old puppy. He loves to run, jump, and act wild. Chasing kids is pretty high on his priority list! In this video, a Suburban K9 trainer is working on Max’s stay command.

Max is asked to stay while multiple toys are thrown past him, a treat is tossed next to him, a dog walks by, and a child runs around yelling. After Max successfully holds his stay command, the trainer issues the free command and Max is allowed to go to the toys to check them out.

A dog will only become proficient at the stay command through practice, and practicing with distractions is crucial. It is important to choose distractions that the dog actually cares about. Figure out what distraction is most likely to make your dog get up and run after it and use that distraction. Ten minutes of training around a high level distraction is more worthwhile than an hour of training around a low level distraction.

At Suburban K9 we believe is training dogs to listen in natural home like settings to ensure they listen in their owner’s homes. That is why this video is shot in the backyard of one of our trainers.