“STAY” is NOT a command in dog training
I know,most folks think it is. But its not (i’ll get to that in a minute). This concept is very important for dog owners to learn. Learning this will change the way you interact and train your dog forever- for the better.
The behavior of having a dog remain in one place is, indeed, very important for dogs to learn, especially for their safety. 
We all agree on this. What has been confusing is how to obtain a reliable- ‘remain in one place until i say you can go’ (a.k.a STAY)-from your dog.
Stay is not a command. People *think*
its a command. They’ve been taught it’s a command. But It’s not. It’s not a ‘stand alone command’ as most have been taught. It must be paired with another behavior such as ‘Sit-stay’, ‘down-stay’, or ‘stand-stay’. Right?
Training a dog to “STAY” the old way is confusing. In the past when you told your dog to stay how long were you expecting him to remain in one place? For 15 seconds? 1 minute? 3 minutes? Were you training a consistent time for “Stay” or did you want your dog to “stay” until you told him he can move about, or did it just depend on the situation? When your partner or spouse told your dog to sit-stay,or down- stay what did they expect? What about your children? Chances are good that each person who told your dog to “Stay” had different lengths of time they expected your dog to remain in one place. Chances are they also didn’t ‘release’ them from the ‘Stay’ every time, or allowed the dog to decide when he wanted to get up. That’s the problem with the “Stay”. Its ambiguous. At least how most the word/phrase/command.
The implicit ‘Stay’-
The clearest way to train a reliable ‘stay until released’ is to train STAY as part of the Sit or Down, or Stand command. When you train your dog to sit UNTIL released the ambiguity of how long a stay is supposed to be is gone. Your dog waits until being “released” from the sit or down. It’s simpler, easier for the dog to understand, and easier the family to train and execute as well.
Training the implicit “Stay” yields dependable, consistent behavior. Now you’re only training your dog to do one thing (sit or down) until you tell him he can go. Training this way yields dependable results, a more attentive dog and less frustration for both the family and the dog.
Check out our you-tube videos, or subscribe my “training tips” to learn more-