Teaching sit, down and stay: a step-by-step guide to the three foundation cues

Every complex behaviour your dog will ever learn — waiting at doors, greeting people calmly, a solid recall, performing tricks — is built on a foundation of three basic cues: sit, down, and stay. These are not arbitrary starting points. They are the behaviours that train a dog's body to hold still, their attention to focus on the handler, and their understanding that a cue has a specific, consistent meaning.

The approach here uses luring — guiding the dog into position with a treat — to establish the physical behaviour, followed by adding the cue word only once the dog is offering the behaviour reliably (a common trainer error is to add the word too early, before the dog knows what the word refers to). Every step uses a marker — a clicker or verbal "yes" — to precisely communicate the exact moment of success.

Work in short sessions of three to five minutes, in a quiet, low-distraction environment initially. Have treats pre-prepared in a pouch or pocket. End every session on a success.

Teaching sit

Hold a treat between your fingers, close to the dog's nose. Slowly move the treat up and slightly back over the dog's head. As the treat rises, the dog's rear will naturally lower. The instant their bottom touches the floor: mark ("yes!" or click) and deliver the treat. If the dog jumps up instead, the treat was probably held too high — keep it closer to the nose. Do not push the dog's bottom down; lure the position, do not force it.

• Repeat until the dog is sitting smoothly on the lure every time (usually 5–10 reps)
• Next: begin to reduce the lure — use an empty hand in the same upward motion; treat comes from the other hand after the mark
• Once the dog is sitting to the empty-hand signal consistently: add the word "sit" as they begin to lower — not as a command, but as a label for what they are doing
• Now reverse: say "sit" first, then use the hand signal; treat on success

Teaching down

Start from a sit. Hold a treat at the dog's nose and slowly move it straight down to the floor, then along the floor away from the dog. Most dogs will fold their elbows to follow the treat down. The instant both elbows and the chest touch the floor: mark and reward. Some dogs find down harder than sit — be patient and mark any downward movement as an approximation (this is shaping), then gradually raise the criterion towards a full down.

Teaching stay: the three D's

Stay is not a single behaviour — it is three variables managed simultaneously: duration (how long), distance (how far you move away), and distraction (what is happening in the environment). The key mistake most owners make is adding all three at once. The rule is: only change one D at a time, and keep changes small.

• Start with duration only: ask for a sit; wait one second; mark and reward before the dog moves. Build to 3 seconds, then 5, then 10 — always marking before the dog breaks.
• Add distance only once you have 10 seconds of duration: take one step back; mark and return to deliver the treat at the dog's position (this keeps the dog from coming to you to collect the reward — which teaches the opposite of stay).
• Build distance gradually: one step, two steps, across the room — always at a duration the dog is already reliable with.
• Add distraction last and separately: drop a toy nearby while the dog holds a 3-second stay in a familiar environment. Build up from there.
• Use a release word ("OK", "free", "all done") to communicate when the stay is over — this is what distinguishes a trained stay from a dog who stopped because they felt like it.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

• Repeating the cue: saying "sit, sit, SIT" teaches the dog that multiple repetitions are normal; say it once, wait, then help with a lure if needed
• Adding the word too early: if the word is said before the dog knows what it refers to, it becomes meaningless noise; add the word only after the physical behaviour is fluent
• Building duration, distance and distraction simultaneously: virtually guarantees failure; use the one-D-at-a-time rule
• Calling the dog out of a stay and counting it as a break: always use the release word; never call "come" out of a stay — this trains the dog that stay ends when you call
• Ending on a failure: end sessions while the dog is still engaged and succeeding; avoid drilling to exhaustion