Why the sequence matters
Teaching commands in a particular order is not arbitrary. Sit is taught first because it produces a stationary dog quickly, which simplifies every subsequent exercise. Stay follows because it teaches the dog that a command remains in effect until released — a concept many owners inadvertently skip, then wonder why the dog gets up the moment a visitor walks through the door. Down comes next; it requires the dog to have a comfortable sit first, otherwise the position feels threatening. Come is introduced after stay so the dog understands that movement toward the handler is a separate, cued event — not the automatic conclusion of every command. Heel is typically the final piece because it requires the dog to track the handler's position continuously, which demands a level of focus built through the earlier work.
Sit
What you need: small, high-value treats (chicken, cheese, liver); a quiet indoor space; sessions of 3–5 minutes maximum.
Hold a treat between your thumb and first two fingers, palm facing up. Move your hand slowly from in front of the dog's nose upward and slightly backward over the head. As the nose follows the treat upward, the hindquarters lower. The instant the dog's rear touches the floor, mark with a short word ("yes" or a click) and deliver the treat. Do not say "sit" during the first 10–15 repetitions. Introduce the verbal cue only once the physical movement is reliable — associating a word with an unreliable behaviour slows learning.
Once the dog sits consistently on the hand signal alone, begin attaching the word one second before the signal. After 50–100 paired repetitions across multiple short sessions, test the verbal cue without the hand signal. Most dogs generalise within 3–5 days of daily practice at this point.
Research from the AVMA and domestic canine cognition studies consistently shows that dogs learn new behaviours faster when the interval between the behaviour and the marker (click/word) is under 0.5 seconds. Beyond one second, the dog cannot reliably identify which behaviour earned the reward.
Stay
Stay is three separate criteria combined: duration (remaining in position), distance (the handler moves away), and distraction (maintaining the position when things happen nearby). Most failures occur because handlers try to build all three at once.
Begin with duration only. Ask for a sit, then wait two seconds and reward while the dog is still sitting. Add one second per successful repetition, resetting to two seconds any time the dog breaks position. Once the dog holds for 30 seconds reliably (10 consecutive successes), begin adding distance — one step back, return, reward. Distance only increases once the dog maintains position through 10 consecutive one-step trials. Distraction is the final layer and should not be added until duration and distance are both solid.
The release cue — "okay," "free," or whatever word you choose — is as important as the stay cue itself. Without a consistent release, the dog learns that getting up is self-rewarding whenever they decide, rather than cued by you.
Down
With the dog in a sit, hold a treat at the dog's nose, then lower your hand slowly straight down to the floor between the dog's front paws. Most dogs will follow the treat down and either immediately lie down or go into a bow position first. If the bow appears, wait — do not lure further or the dog will stand. The majority of dogs will shift weight and drop into a full down within 3–5 seconds of the bow position. Mark and reward the moment the elbows make contact with the floor.
Some dogs resist the down position, particularly those with prior negative associations with being physically pushed down (a common error in older training methods). For these dogs, luring from a raised surface — the dog on a low step or couch edge — can lower the resistance because the physical mechanics of the down become easier.
Come (recall)
The recall is widely considered the most important command for safety, and the most frequently poisoned through inadvertent punishment. Every time a dog is called and then subjected to something unpleasant — a bath, nail clipping, being put in the car, the end of a walk — the value of responding to "come" erodes.
In the initial stages, call the dog only when you are confident it will respond, and make the reward genuinely worth coming for: enthusiastic praise, a game of tug, or an especially good treat. Gradually introduce mild distractions. If the dog fails to respond in more than 20% of trials at a given distraction level, the distraction level is too high.
A long line (5–10 metres) allows the dog to be gently guided toward you on the rare occasion it doesn't respond, without resorting to chasing — which teaches the opposite of what you want.
Heel
Heel means the dog walks with its shoulder alongside your left leg, without pulling forward, lagging behind, or drifting. It is a demanding position for the dog because it requires continuous attention to your pace and direction changes.
Begin with "attention heeling" — brief periods of 5–10 steps with high reward frequency, not the parade-ground precision of competitive obedience. Mark and reward the moment the dog is in position. As duration increases, the reward frequency drops gradually from every 5 steps to every 10, 20, and eventually at unpredictable intervals (variable ratio reinforcement) which produces the most durable behaviour.
| Command | Typical sessions to first reliable response | Common errors |
|---|---|---|
| Sit | 1–3 sessions | Adding verbal cue too early; pushing hindquarters down |
| Stay | 5–10 sessions | Building duration, distance, and distraction simultaneously |
| Down | 2–5 sessions | Luring too far forward, resulting in a bow |
| Come | Ongoing — never fully "finished" | Calling dog for unpleasant events; chasing when dog doesn't respond |
| Heel | 4–8 weeks of short daily sessions | Sessions too long; reward rate drops too fast |
Session length and frequency
For adult dogs, 5-minute sessions twice daily produce better results than one 30-minute session. Puppy sessions should be capped at 3 minutes. Ending a session when the dog is still engaged — not when it has lost focus — is one of the most underrated practices in basic obedience. Dogs that consistently end sessions successfully show faster acquisition of new behaviours than those that are trained until performance degrades.
Further reading
- American Kennel Club — Basic Dog Commands
- FCI — Canine Sport & Working Regulations
- Związek Kynologiczny w Polsce
Updated: 11 May 2026
