My friend has a dog who enjoys the sport, but holding a stay is incredibly difficult for him in the high energy setting of a dock diving event and she was hoping for some tips that go above and beyond the usual "just take him back and reset him each time he breaks" advice.
The biggest challenge for a dock diving dog is maintaining a stationary position while the object of his desire (the toy) is moving away from him; he knows he will be released and he's often highly aroused just by the presence of the toy itself, let alone all of the additional distractions on and around the dock at a competition. In general, the anticipation of the release to a strong motivator is the reason behind creeping or outright breaking of position on the dock.
A dog might have an awesome stay under distraction elsewhere, but the high toy drive that makes for a good dock diver will work against you on the dock!
Before you even start stay training on the dock, make sure your dog understands what you want from him in a lower key environment.
I use clicker training to teach stays initially because the extra precision of the click as a marker can be very helpful, especially with busy dogs!
I start by asking for a sit (or down, your preference) and clicking as soon as the dog gives me the position. The click/treat is the release at this point and the "sit" cue means "sit until you are released or I give you another cue" (implied stay). An implied stay eliminates the need for another cue (i.e. "stay") and removes the very human temptation to repeat the word stay over and over during the exercise. ;)
I gradually increase the time between the dog getting into position and the click/reward - I don't generally increase the duration by more than 2 seconds per repetition at this early stage. As the dog progresses, I will ask for a shorter sit every once in a while to keep things interesting, rather than continually making the task more difficult for the dog. I always start with duration, too, to keep things simple for the dog.
Once the dog is comfortable with 15-20 seconds, then I will add more time on each repetition (perhaps 5 seconds or so) and I will drop the clicker in favor of a verbal release cue. The verbal cue is given exactly where I would've clicked, so it also acts as a marker in some respects; the reward is given after the verbal cue.
Be careful when choosing a release cue - many people use the word "OK", but then realize at a later point that they use that word in a lot of situations where it's not a release for the dog. This often will require extra work to teach the dog what tone or hand signal means the word is a release vs just part of an unrelated conversation. For around the house and on the dock I use "OK", I use "Free" in other more precise settings - this is just what works best for us. You can use any word you like, even "asparagus", just make sure you'll remember it when releasing your dog.
If the dog breaks position before the click or release cue, I take it as info to make the duration/distance from me/distraction easier rather than correcting. It is not the dog's fault that I increased my difficulty level too quickly.
I'm a firm believer that a dog breaking a stay during training is just them trying to figure out the game vs "disobedience"; it is up to us humans to figure out how to help the dog understand the exercise more clearly without assuming that the dogs "know better". After a break in position I will often ask for a shorter stay immediately after, reward, ask for a stay slightly longer (baby steps!), reward, and gradually surpass the point where he broke - no need to "correct", just break the behavior into smaller parts!
Once your dog is successful with the basic stay training foundation you can start to add more difficulty, but keep it simple. *Never* increase more than one aspect of a stay (the length of time, distance from you, level of distraction) at a time - your dog will struggle with the huge leap in difficulty. Stay training should be a game for the dog, not something to be dreaded!
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