Training Your Dog To Wait

Friday, August 21, 2009 Posted by revalbertkang

By Albert Kang

Goodness and Mercy are pretty obedient dogs. Grace and I do not give much training but they seem to be able to understand what we want them to do.

Tonight, as I walked down the stairs to the living room, I decided that they should not follow me as they usually did. I raised my right hand with the palm facing them and commanded, “Stay”. They stayed and waited on the first-floor landing. As I took a couple of steps down, Goodness prepared to follow. Once again, I raised my hand and firmly said, “Stay”. Goodness paused and stepped back to the landing. I was at the end of the stairs and looked up. Two curious heads were sticking out. Goodness and Mercy were staring at me but they remained at the top of the stairs.

Some dog-owners may use other words such as “wait” or “sit”. If they were to use the latter, the dog will have to sit and wait. In my experiment, Goodness and Mercy did not need to sit but just had to wait where I had asked them to.

Your dog may not be as obedient as Goodness and Mercy but there is still hope. Remember, your dog is what you train it to be. First and foremost, your dog needs to know ‘who is the boss’. Therefore if your dog is unruly, then the fault does not lie with your dog but with you. Never reward your dog when it is rude, excitable or pushy. Only give doggy treats for good behaviors. Positive reinforcements will give your pet the correct cues to respond.

Your dog will remember the proper response if you repeatedly reward it for every right action. It is as simple as that. Consistency and repetition are most important. If you were to become inconsistent with your commands then your dog will become confused as to what you exactly want. No amount of scolding will help your dog improve.

My wife and I use the same commands for Goodness and Mercy. We say “stay” if we want them to wait. On occasions, we mistakenly use the word, “wait”, and they would stop and look at us… apparently confused. So, we quickly revert to the original word, “stay”.

In the beginning, Goodness and Mercy would do various actions for doggy treats. However, today, we can get them to obey without a treat attached. Of course to be fair to them, we make sure that they get their potion of lovely goodies.

Your dog needs to learn that good behavior will not only earn doggy treats, toys and walks but also the warm praises from you. Therefore, lavish verbal praises upon your pet. Your dog loves being stroked and embraced. Love it and your dog will make you a very happy person.