June 10, 2025, 3:46 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
Basic commands like “sit,” “down,” or “heel” are usually the first things dogs learn in training. However, there’s another popular command that many owners teach their puppies, which is completely unnecessary, as dog trainer Katharina Marioth reveals.
Do you remember your first hour at dog school? The first command I learned there with my dog was not to simply take a treat but to wait quietly. In the big city of Berlin, this is certainly an important basic element in training. Later, the basic commands like “sit,” “down,” and “heel” were added. Also essential in training was “stay.” A command where the dog should simply remain in its position–and the most unnecessary of all, as dog trainer Katharina Marioth reveals in an interview with PETBOOK.
Building “Stay” Is a Simple Training Mistake
“The ‘stay’ is simply the most unnecessary command I can build,” says Marioth. It is often used in conjunction with “sit” or “down.” “Most people send the dog into ‘down’ and then comes this hand,” the expert explains. Next follows the “stay, stay, stay,” while the dog is watched the entire time. For the animals, this eye contact means you are “in conversation” with them, Marioth explains. But “stay” is actually about building a stop signal. Yet instead of a simple command, many owners move away while maintaining eye contact with the dog, then approach again and often keep their hand raised. This is actually a “totally simple training mistake” when it comes to having the dog hold a position.
Why Is “Stay” a Mistake?
Those who build “stay” as described use a lot of auxiliary signals, the dog trainer explains: “I have my body, the eye contact, the stop hand, and I have this intermediate bridge. All these are so many signals that I actually have to gradually dismantle again.”
But if the only goal is for the dog to stay in the down position and not move, you can skip the “stay.” Instead, you should train a so-called “release signal,” Marioth advises. “That means I tell my dog ‘down,’ and he does it until he either gets a release signal or another signal from me.”
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That’s Why “Stay” Is the Most Unnecessary Command
Dog owners who work with a release signal can also add other criteria much faster: distraction, distance, duration, and speed. According to Marioth, this way you can manage to call your dog to “down” from 50 meters away. “He lies down and waits until I, for example, pick him up. Now imagine the situation where you call your dog to a down position from 25 meters away, he lies down, and now you have to shout across the field the whole time: ‘Stay! Stay!’ That’s far too cumbersome and not understandable for the dog at all.”
You can watch the entire interview with Katharina Marioth in the video.
About the Expert
Katharina Marioth is the founder of the brand Stadthundetraining and the KEML principle. She is an IHK- and government-certified dog trainer and behavioral assessor for dangerous dogs in the state of Berlin. In her daily business, she works closely with veterinarians, scientists, and other specialists on the subject of dogs. With her knowledge and skills, she secured the title of Dog Trainer of the Year 2023 in the Sat.1 show “The Dog Trainer Champion.”