# teaching the "wait", "stay", etc command



## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

curious ... under what situations would a well trained dog need this command ?
(not talking about a beginning or fairly well trained house pet)

i'm asking for two reasons :
1. it was recently mentioned in another thread
2. i have always felt it is almost never needed and used too much (as a "back up" command for a dog that wasn't yet proofed on the command given b4 the "wait"), so i discourage anyone i'm working with to use it if another command would get the job done even if they are just starting out with their dog


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

rick smith said:


> curious ... under what situations would a well trained dog need this command ?
> (not talking about a beginning or fairly well trained house pet)
> 
> i'm asking for two reasons :
> ...


I don't use "stay." 

Whatever command the dog has been given lasts until it's over.


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## Courtney Furgason (Jun 18, 2012)

When I say "wait" it means they will moving out of the position for a recall or retrieve and not settling in like they would for a long stay. 
I do know people who use it all the time as you described. And don't think it has anything to do with the command itself but their use of it as a sort of verbal correction.
I don't think it is a necessary command but its one I like and use in trial and in every day life.


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## James Downey (Oct 27, 2008)

Just used it last night, 3 dogs on a walk, 2 mals and mix. the mix goes after a feral cat. Tell the mals to down....go chase down mr. retard, get him, after a short meeting with mr. hand. I return to 2 Malinois in perfect down stays.


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

Connie Sutherland said:


> I don't use "stay."
> 
> Whatever command the dog has been given lasts until it's over.


Same here, and I don't use "wait" either. Platz means platz til I say otherwise.


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## Matt Vandart (Nov 28, 2012)

I use wait alot as it goes,will have to stop relying on it now I spose if I am going to succeed in sport.
I usually use it as a quickcorrection as above if I think the dog is gonna break position.
As it goes it was quite handy the other day as I was attempting to teach Becca to stand in motion and just said wait, and she did, lol


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## jamie lind (Feb 19, 2009)

rick smith said:


> curious ... under what situations would a well trained dog need this command ?
> (not talking about a beginning or fairly well trained house pet)
> 
> i'm asking for two reasons :
> ...


I use it when I'm leaving the kennel or backyard and I want the dog to stay inside.


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## James Downey (Oct 27, 2008)

Matt Vandart said:


> I use wait alot as it goes,will have to stop relying on it now I spose if I am going to succeed in sport.
> I usually use it as a quickcorrection as above if I think the dog is gonna break position.
> As it goes it was quite handy the other day as I was attempting to teach Becca to stand in motion and just said wait, and she did, lol


I use stay or wait, while teaching. Something has to bridge duration. Also I do not have a slave/master relationship with my dog, so it's not platz means platz till I say otherwise with me. Platz at first means go from being on your paws to being on your belly. I use stay, to tell my dog to hold positions. It's not the same as platz for me. Because I do not want to associate platz with a boring behavior like staying, I want to associate with the active behavior of laying down from a sit or stay to the platz command. One is a passive behavior, one is an active behavior. In the dog's mind, though I cannot prove it. They are two different activities. But once the dog learns that after a platz, even without the command of stay, that staying may produce reward. I think dogs think in pictures, And I want these to be 2 very seperate pictures. Platz can produce a reward, and stay can produce reward.


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

For my dogs, stay means I will be coming back to get you. So you "stay" right here. A "wait" means a momentary halt (sometimes a short duration, sometimes long) but you will be moving from that location. Most of this is a result of the mantrailing work.

When you are working city streets, you need to have the dog sometimes 'wait' at intersections or to allow traffic to clear. If you keep yanking the dog to a stop than this causes problems on the trail. If I yell for the dog to wait and then have to yank to a stop for safety reasons, then the dog learns that you aren't correcting him for the trail but the command of wait. Just imagine how you feel when you are intent on doing something and all your attention is focused on doing that and then keep having someone grab your arm and interrupting you without so much as a by your leave or explaination. Eventually, you get pissed off or you stop working so hard because you are tired of getting yanked around. Dogs aren't so different.

Other times, I need to stop to tie a shoe, or talk on the radio and it's just easier to tell the dog to wait and they hang out there at the end of the lead waiting for the 'walk-on' command.

I've also used it for dogs working off-lead and they are running into a hazard and I need them to halt. This is a very common command used in the hunting dog world too.


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## Joshua Dirkx (Sep 12, 2011)

I use it for more a general "stop" command without being extremely formal. If I'm going into a room for a second, or leaving one but coming back, and the dogs get up to follow I'll just tell them to wait. Much more informal than down or something like that


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## leslie cassian (Jun 3, 2007)

For schutzhund, I didn't use 'stay', but I also trialed CKC obedience, so my dog learned 'stay', even if it was a command he didn't need. 

I use 'wait' less formally. It is usually when the dogs are off leash and I want them to stop and let me catch up. They do not have to hold a set position (sit or stand), but I do want them to pause or stay more or less where they are until I release them. I also use it when scootering, usually at road crossings, after I've stopped them and while I make sure that it is safe to cross.


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

James Downey said:


> I use stay or wait, while teaching. Something has to bridge duration. Also I do not have a slave/master relationship with my dog, so it's not platz means platz till I say otherwise with me. Platz at first means go from being on your paws to being on your belly. I use stay, to tell my dog to hold positions. It's not the same as platz for me. Because I do not want to associate platz with a boring behavior like staying, I want to associate with the active behavior of laying down from a sit or stay to the platz command. One is a passive behavior, one is an active behavior. In the dog's mind, though I cannot prove it. They are two different activities. But once the dog learns that after a platz, even without the command of stay, that staying may produce reward. I think dogs think in pictures, And I want these to be 2 very seperate pictures. Platz can produce a reward, and stay can produce reward.


....This is some real funny shit, James. I hate to break it to you but platz means platz, sit means sit, steh means steh, until the handler says otherwise in a trial and you know it. Platz is boring? Who told you that - the dog?


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

I use "wait" when I'm in the woods with my dogs. Unless he's been given a search command one will always check in to see where I'm at but the other wants to see what's over the next horizon. A simple "wait" or "to far" will stop him in his tracks.


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## James Downey (Oct 27, 2008)

susan tuck said:


> ....This is some real funny shit, James. I hate to break it to you but platz means platz, sit means sit, steh means steh, until the handler says otherwise in a trial and you know it. Platz is boring? Who told you that - the dog?


Actually yes, the dog did tell me that. It's kind what a dog trainer does.Where else would I get that information? Where do you get your information....Dean?


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

James Downey said:


> Actually yes, the dog did tell me that. It's kind what a dog trainer does.Where else would I get that information? Where do you get your information....Dean?


You are so full of shit, James. Yes, I learned how to train dogs and how to read dogs from a few of the greats in schutzhund. If you think I'm ashamed of that, you have another think coming.


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

I use wait and stay for various communications.

often outside of other formal commmands, seldomly with other commands but have done it occasionally.

to avoid barreling out a door, or bumrushing the puppy when she comes into the house, when doing odd things like balancing things on the dog, toys or food to wait for signal to do whatever..... if the dog is loose in the car, and I get out I often use stay, as dog is not in sit or down.

I also use quiet, when dogs starts barking at times, even in positions, and I assume dogs are not really supposed to bark while under various commands, that does not mean that they dont do it on occasion.

some people repeat commands, or use an AH AH AH,, or naaaah as a bridge for some things, some people use wait or stay... if it works who cares really... in training..


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

James Downey said:


> Also I do not have a slave/master relationship with my dog, so it's not platz means platz till I say otherwise with me. .


This is such a fukktarded PETA statement. Dogs are PROPERTY. You OWN your dog, so in that sense YOUR dog is YOUR slave, whether you agree or not. YOU might consider yourself a SPECIAL master, but you would still be a master and your dog would still be a slave. The good news is dogs CAN'T be slaves because they are not HUMAN.


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## Kat Hunsecker (Oct 23, 2009)

Hello,
In *formal* obedience I do not use a wait or stay command. 
But in other areas I do, this can range from wait at the door, or wait before an intersection so I can catch up, wait on top of the A frame, dog walk, ladder etc, till I get there- or tell you to keep moving (momentary halt), basically a pause....
When I want to keep a dog on one area, reminding them to stay, where I do not care about the position, as in sit down etc, just stay in this spot. Like when I tie a dog and leave for a few minuets, to let them know they are expected to stay there and wait. they can sit stand down, as long as they stay there...


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## Kadi Thingvall (Jan 22, 2007)

In Ring trials I use both a position command and a stay command. The stay reinforces the position I have put them in and is quite simply a "do NOT move". I could get the same response using a "sit means sit until I tell you otherwise" style of training, it's just a different style of training. Just how I learned to do it way back when. But it also gives me 2 commands. 

The position command is more for the act of getting into the position, the stay is to hold the position. Not that they won't hold it if I don't say "stay", but it's less black and white to them (the way I train). 

Outside of a competition field I will use "wait" if I mean "wait a minute, then you can go" IE I'm opening a door or gate and don't want them trying to push through but they are welcome to go through once it's open, opening a crate and want them to wait before jumping in until I get the door all the way open, I am putting a bowl of food down and don't want them diving in until it's actually on the ground. "stay" means stay where you are, period. So if I tell them stay and open the door, the won't move from their current position and when I come back, will still be there. My dogs have a 3rd command which is just "no", meaning "don't cross this threshold". But they are welcome to do whatever they want otherwise. IE I am going through the gate to the driveway, I open the gate but tell them "no" they are welcome to play in the yard, go back into the house, or sit and wait at the gate, they just aren't allowed to follow me.

In herding there are two similar commands to stay and wait, stop and there. "Stop" means stop, and don't move until told otherwise. "There" is used more as a wait, you will see a dog taking a flank command, if the handler says "stop" the dog stops where it is and waits for another command. If the handler says "there" the dog will hesitate just a moment and then keep moving, normally they change their flank into a walk up, sometimes they turn and flank the other way, depends on how the handler is using it.


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

My dogs understand to stay in a position until released without a "stay", that said, I find a wait/stay command extremely useful in every day life.

As others have mentioned, I use it as an informal, don't move forward command around doors, kennel, truck, in the woods at work and so on. I don't care if they move a paw, or turn around to look at me and so on.

I do not wish to have to give my dog a formal down or stand or sit command every time I want them to hold up a minute, especially since I like to keep my criteria pretty specific for obedience commands.


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

I use it when I want to stop for a second but want the dog to hold it's position momentarily - like at a road crossing when bikejor or scootering or other situations when you want the dog lined out but not linebanging. I would say more like a pause button than an off switch


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Lynn said
" I would say more like a pause button than an off switch"


I like that explanation!


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