# How many things can you teach a puppy at once?



## Golden Trainer (Oct 6, 2012)

There is no reason you can't work on multiple things at once. Retrieve is great to teach when they are young. I recommend lots of short training sessions throughout the day rather then one long session.

For stay, maybe it is how you are saying it. From his reaction I would guess you are saying it loudly or with excitement in your voice. 
The other thing that may have happened is that you were working on it at a time he was very energetic and it was frustrating for him to sit still so he offered something else and maybe he got rewarded with laughter or attention and tried it again. Then he started to associate that reaction with stay.
So now I would try to work on stay when he is calm, after he has been exercised or maybe in the evening after a long day when he is less likely to want to be active. Say the word calmly too, or just work on capturing calm behavior without any cue and add it back later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk4PPcE1CqY


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## thorbreafortuna (Jun 9, 2013)

Ditto what said above. Our trainer actually just transitioned us from getting attention and treating very frequently for it to waiting a little bit longer to reward, extending that wait time slowly. When he could wait patiently for a reward we added the clue stay. Did that for a while before adding movement ( yours) and distance, slowly. I personally added a hand signal as well and found it quite helpful.


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## laprincessa (Mar 24, 2008)

He's 10 weeks old? Methinks you need to lower your expectations a bit. 
He's a baby.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

You can work on as many things as you want to as long as they don't directly conflict with each other. From 8-16 weeks they are little sponges, and they learn so quickly you should take full advantage of it. They are still very centered on you, and haven't hit the "teenage" stuff yet. By 16 weeks they should probably know, at a minimum, sit, down, come, drop it, leave it, stay (to some extent), loose leash walking, and no jumping on people. And *tricks* are always fun to teach, young puppies love to learn. Shaking hands, fetching, and so on are great.
To fix the stay, simply back up to where he is able to succeed. Then move forward with baby steps, you're right, you probably moved too fast. 
One other thing, generally I like to solidify the task in new locations before adding difficulty. So, for example, if he can stay (with you right next to him) in the kitchen, do it in all the other rooms, outside, etc., before you move away from him at all. Dogs are very situational, and he has to understand that stay means stay no matter where you are, not just on the rug in the kitchen!
Good luck with your pup.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I would not worry about asking a 10 week old to stay. Around three months I would work on like five seconds of holding a position. Up to about 30 seconds for six months. All done up close.


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## Christen113 (Dec 3, 2014)

Also, be sure you're clicking and treating him in the stay position once you walk back.


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