How to Teach a Dog Basic Commands: Sit, Down, Stay

Updated September 21, 2026 · 6 min read

You can teach a dog sit, down, and stay at home with no special gear, just a few minutes a day, small treats, and patience. The key is simple: reward what you want, then make it a little harder at each step.

Before you start: rules that apply to every command

Keep sessions short, ideally two or three times a day for about five minutes, because long sessions tire a dog out and the fun disappears. The reward has to arrive within a second or two of the right behavior, otherwise your dog can’t tell what earned it. Use one word per command, always the same word, and say it once instead of repeating it. Count treats as part of the daily food ration so your dog doesn’t gain weight, and start in a quiet room without distractions.

Sit: the best command to start with

Hold a treat near your dog’s nose and slowly move it up and slightly back over the head. The nose follows, and the bottom drops to the floor on its own. The moment your dog sits, say “yes” and give the treat. After a few repetitions, say “sit” just before your hand moves, then fade the lure: first reward from the other hand, then only some of the time. Most dogs pick up sit within a few days.

Down and stay: they build on sit

For down, lure a treat from the nose to the floor between the front paws while your dog is sitting, and your dog will stretch out to follow it. If your dog keeps popping up, move the treat more slowly. For stay, ask for a sit or down, say “stay,” show a flat palm, wait one second, and reward. Then extend one thing at a time: duration, distance, or distractions, never all three together. If your dog breaks the stay, that’s not disobedience, you simply progressed too fast, so go back a step.

Come: the command that can save a life

Teach recall at home or in a fenced area, not straight away in a park full of dogs. Call “come” in a cheerful voice when your dog is close, and reward with something special, such as a bit of cheese or a favorite toy. Never call your dog for something unpleasant, like a bath or a scolding, or come turns into a bad memory and your dog stops showing up. Only let your dog off the leash in open areas once recall works reliably, even with distractions.

Common mistakes when training commands

The biggest mistake is repeating a command over and over, which teaches your dog that the real answer starts at the fourth ask. The second is training at the wrong time, when your dog is tired, hungry, or wound up right after coming home. The third is raising the difficulty too fast: a dog that seems to have “forgotten” sit in a new place hasn’t forgotten anything, it just needs more repetitions there. Anger and shouting have no place in training, they teach nothing and only cost you your dog’s trust.

How you train also depends on the breed. A clever Border Collie may learn a command in a few repetitions, a nose-driven Beagle needs more patience and better treats, and an independent Akita mostly rewards consistency. Browse more breeds in our dog breed dictionary, read what to expect in the first day with a puppy, and see how walks fit into daily training in how often to walk a dog.