Do you have a dog who likes to jump on guests when they walk through the front door? Maybe your dog barks excitedly and doesn’t understand personal space. It’s important to have a gameplan for your dog when guests come over, and one important command to teach them for this is a down stay. In this blog, we will discuss how to use a down stay when guests come over.
If you prefer to watch a video on this topic, you should check out this TikTok video on our Beyond the Dog TikTok channel.
Why use a down stay when guests come over?
By using a down stay when a guest rings the doorbell, or someone walks through the front door, you are setting good manners to follow while guests enter the home.
To help your dog stay in a good position when the guest arrives, you can teach the down stay command. A down stay is when a dog stays in a down command while not moving. This command requires less effort for a dog to maintain than a sit stay.
But where should a dog go to be in a down stay? Choose a place where your dog can see the door and you can easily toss treats to them. This will make it easier for you to reinforce a guest routine, especially around any challenges such as your dog barking or running to the door.
Using a Down Stay as Part of Your Guest Routine
You can strengthen the down stay command by working on the 3Ds of dog training, so they will more reliably follow the down stay when guests come over.
The 3 Ds of dog training, which are:
- Distance: How far you can get away from your puppy and they stay in the down stay command
- Duration: The time across treats and the entire term of their stay, including the time between treats
- Distractions: Anything in the environment that can be a distraction, such as another person, dog, or loud noises such as children playing.
Teaching a down stay
Start by asking your puppy to down and stand close to them. Give your bridge word, such as “good,” and then give your puppy a treat. This starts to build duration by rewarding your puppy for staying in a down position.
Gradually increase the time between treats. After your puppy stays for about five seconds between treats, you can introduce the word “stay”
Keep the duration short and the distractions small at first. Once your puppy can reliably remain in the down stay, you can gradually begin moving farther away from them to work on distance.
Beyond the Dog can teach your dog a down stay at your own home or while exploring Tampa Bay
Would you like help teaching your dog a down stay, high level obedience and manners? Or addressing challenging behaviors such as reactivity when a guest comes over. You can contact our Pet Behavior Team for a free consultation, where we can chat with you and provide a personalized recommendation that meets your needs. We recommend you check out our TikTok channel for helpful training tips.
To understand more about how puppies learn, you should check out our blog on “How Puppies Learn”. This blog was written by our co-founder and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage.
We use scientifically proven training methods, backed by over 20 years of hands-on experience. Beyond the Dog Tampa Bay is led by our co-founders, Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage, a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB) and Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), and Sean Savage, a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) and Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA).
