Is sit and stay a learned behavior?

The stay cue can be one of the hardest skills for a dog to learn because it relies on your dog understanding that he has to stay in one place until you release him. Teaching your dog to stay in one place for any amount of time is a useful skill for you, but it's a hard skill to teach, and like the 'sit' cue, should not be overused. Most dogs prefer to have the choice to move around when and if they need and 'stay' prevents them from doing that. The secret to teaching your dog to 'stay' is to not move through the stages too fast. Build the cue up gradually, lengthening the time and distance of the stay. This cue imposes a stop on your dog, telling him that he has to stay in one place until you tell him it's ok to move. Start the process by putting your hand in front of you with your palm facing your dog and hold it there for a few seconds. Reward your dog’s attention and stillness with a treat paired with a reward word. Repeat the action and add the word 'stay' as you put your hand up. Hold it there for a few seconds and then praise your dog, followed by a food reward. Once you have your dog’s focus, gradually lengthen the time that your hand is still until he's staying in one spot for one minute.

I see so many puppies and adult dogs who do not know how to sit properly because they don’t have the muscle strength to assume or maintain the position. They don’t have the muscle strength to assume or maintain the position: this applies especially to very young and older dogs. Their structure doesn’t allow them to sit comfortably: certain breeds, or individuals are just not built to sit. They have never learned to sit straight. I used to shape this behavior and would reward any position where my puppy’s butt was on the floor, regardless if they were flopping onto the side - you get what you reward. When I teach any position nowadays, I always use luring so I can control how they move into position and how they stay in the position. It’s easiest when good habits are formed right from the very beginning and dogs will maintain these throughout their life. They are creatures of habit, just like us.

I teach stay as an implied concept because that’s what makes the stationary commands (sit, down, place) practical. Sit, down and place always mean “until further notice”—i.e. “Stay.” When we’re teaching obedience for practical purposes, “stay” is completely unnecessary. The problem with teaching “wait” and “stay” as separate commands is that the dog doesn’t get the leadership and state of mind benefits that you’d get if they were implied. These two factors—leadership and state of mind—have massive impacts on a dog’s behavior, so this is no small thing. For best results, teach stay and wait as implied concepts: build stay into your stationary commands and build wait into your interactions with the dog across many contexts. The other problem with teaching separate wait and stay commands is that the stationary commands you’re teaching (sit, down, place) have no practical value—literally none. Without the “stay” part, they’re just tricks.

Having a command for your dog to relax in a certain spot is something we all have, it's nice to cook dinner without your dog being under your feet, and in these cases, why should we care if our dog is sitting, or holding a down position. When we tell our dogs to sit, what we are fundamentally asking is for the dog to stay stationary. Having a dog sit, and stay in said sit, requires self discipline, and a level of attentiveness that not many of us really ask of our dogs. It's a physically and mentally demanding task for our dogs to do EXACTLY what we've told them to do. I view the sit-stay as character building. This character building exercise has created trust, and a trust worthy companion for not only me, but also for Roland. A noble heart is something I believe can be taught and instilled in a dog.