No, I'm not talking about "please" or that word you need to spell around your dog (W-A-L-K) or else they will go borderline psychotic with excitement. I'm talking about a different word that can be quite life-changing for some people. Is that an overstatement? Maybe. Maybe not.
Let me ask you this. Do you ever get your pup into a sit or a down and find that you have to constantly tell them "stayyy" For them to actually stay? Is the only time your pup will stay in one place (because we all know they're not being still, they just aren't getting up...yet) when you're hovering over them and telling them "stay" every 3-5 seconds?
While there is nothing wrong with telling your dog "stay" you should only need to say it once and not have to worry about it again.
But I have to ask you...do you have a word for your pup to let them know that they can get up?
The magic word I am here to tell you about is not "stay". To be completely honest, we never teach the dogs we train the word "stay".
Does that mean, we don't teach dogs to stay? Quite the opposite! We don't teach dogs the word "stay" because we teach them that when we tell them to "sit" or "lay down" I expect them to stay in that sit or down until I tell them they can get up.
So what is the magic word? While the specific word can be different for different people, the meaning of the word is the same. The magic word is the word you say to your dog that lets them know they no longer have to stay. We call it a release word.
Like I said, the release word can be different for everyone and every dog. We use the word "yes" but you can also use "free", "break", "pumpernickel", or... you get the idea.
But the purpose of the release word is to let your dog know that they no longer need to stay in the sit or down or place or whatever command that requires them to stay, that you put them in.
Once you start teaching your pup a release word (and only letting them get up after they hear that word) then you should soon notice that your dog is doing much better at staying. It’s simply because they have learned that they are expected to wait until they hear the release word before getting up instead of just getting up whenever they feel like it.
Now keep in mind. Like all commands we teach our dogs, your pup doesn't automatically know their assigned release word. So go out there and teach it to them!
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