I have received a handful of emails and comments on this video from a few colleagues within the dog training community who have been critical of this method. This has always been controversial among fellow trainers. Allow me to explain why I am more firm on teaching “stay” than any other command.

When I first began training dogs, I noticed that training “stay” using the text book clicker method was effective. However, it soon became apparent that about 1-2% of dogs in my classes were being hit by cars. That is when I decided to vary my method. I made up my mind to do my part in making sure that owners knew how to get a real world stay at home or at the park with their dog.

In this video I deliberately confuse Supernova by tempting him to go after the hot dogs. Why? To increase the likelihood that a dog will stay on command in a real life distracting situation one must not wait for the real life situation to occur in order to train this. What I am conveying by introducing this confusion is “Yes, Supernova, I know your instinct and will is telling you to go after the distraction, but I can override that instinct at all times by telling you to stay and you must listen without exception. End of story” This does not confuse the dog long term. It is nothing more than an effective training exercise.

I instituted a policy that no dog would pass my class unless they stayed with heavy distractions at the end of my course. I am proud to say that every single dog did stay and passed this test. I stand by this method 100% as the results speak for themselves. I have never known a dog or a human to be harmed when executing this properly. That being said, if your dog is in the fraction of the minority of domestic dogs and is naturally vicious, or abnormally nervous, then this method should be modified accordingly.

Thank you.

Zak George

How to clicker train your dog:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnRSeuHD_fg