If you’ve just brought home a new dog or puppy and feel overwhelmed by the idea of training, take a breath. Teaching your dog the fundamentals doesn’t require a professional trainer, expensive classes, or any special talent. It requires consistency, patience, the right approach, and an understanding of how dogs actually learn.
The three commands in this guide — sit, stay, and come — form the foundation of a well-behaved dog. They’re also the building blocks for every other skill you’ll teach. Get these right, and everything else becomes significantly easier.
The Foundation: How Dogs Learn
Before diving into specific commands, understanding the basic principles of how dogs learn will make you a dramatically more effective trainer.
Dogs learn through association and consequence. When a behavior produces a good outcome — a treat, praise, play — the dog is more likely to repeat it. This is called positive reinforcement, and it’s the most effective, most humane, and most thoroughly research-supported training method available.
The timing of reinforcement is critical. Dogs associate a reward with whatever they were doing in the moment the reward is delivered — not a few seconds earlier or later. This is why a marker (a clicker or a short word like “yes!”) is so useful in training. The marker bridges the gap between the behavior and the reward, giving you a precise way to communicate to your dog exactly which behavior earned the reward.
Punishment-based training — yelling, leash corrections, alpha rolls — is less effective, damages the dog-owner relationship, and can cause fear, anxiety, and aggression. You don’t need it, and you’ll get better results without it.
Equipment You’ll Need
You don’t need much. A bag of small, high-value treats (small pieces of chicken, cheese, or commercial training treats — something your dog goes crazy for), a 6-foot leash, a flat collar or harness, and optionally a clicker. That’s it.
Keep training sessions short — 5 to 10 minutes maximum, particularly for puppies. Dogs, especially young ones, have limited attention spans, and ending a session while your dog is still engaged and succeeding is far more productive than pushing through until they’re bored or frustrated.
Train before meals when your dog is motivated by food, not after when they’re full and disinterested. Train in a quiet environment initially — once your dog reliably performs a behavior at home, gradually introduce more distracting environments.
Teaching SIT
Sit is almost always the first command taught because it’s easy, natural for dogs, and immediately useful — a dog in a sit can’t jump on people, run out the door, or cause chaos at the food bowl.
Step 1: Stand in front of your dog with a treat in your hand. Let them sniff it so they know it’s there.
Step 2: Slowly move the treat from in front of your dog’s nose upward and slightly back over their head. As their nose follows the treat up, their bottom will naturally lower toward the ground.
Step 3: The moment their bottom touches the ground, say “yes!” (or click) and immediately give the treat. This precise moment of marking the behavior is what teaches the dog what they did to earn the reward.
Step 4: Repeat 5–10 times per session. After your dog is reliably following the treat lure into a sit, start adding the verbal cue “sit” just before you begin the hand motion.
Step 5: Once your dog understands the verbal cue with the lure, begin fading the lure — give the verbal cue without showing the treat first. When they sit, mark and reward from your treat pouch or pocket.
Common mistakes to avoid: Don’t push your dog’s bottom down — this teaches them to resist pressure, not to sit on cue. Don’t repeat the cue multiple times. Say “sit” once, clearly. If they don’t respond, help them with the lure rather than repeating the word.
Teaching STAY
Stay is one of the most useful safety behaviors you can teach. A dog that stays reliably can be kept safe in countless situations — at a road crossing, at the door, around guests.
Stay is taught in three components: duration (staying longer), distance (staying while you move away), and distraction (staying despite distractions). Build each component separately before combining them.
Step 1: Ask your dog to sit. The moment they sit, mark and reward. This is “stay for zero seconds” — just holding the position momentarily.
Step 2: Ask for sit. Wait one second before marking and rewarding. If they stay seated for one second, mark and reward. If they get up, simply ask for sit again without expressing frustration.
Step 3: Gradually extend the duration — 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds. Only increase duration when your dog is succeeding at the current duration 80% or more of the time.
Step 4: Once you have solid duration (30+ seconds), introduce a release cue — a word like “okay” or “free” that tells your dog the stay is over. This is important: your dog should only move from the stay position when you release them, not when they feel like it.
Step 5: Add distance. Take one step back while your dog holds the sit. Return to them, mark and reward. Gradually increase distance — one step at a time. Return to your dog to reward rather than calling them to you (which would teach them to break the stay to come to you).
Step 6: Add distractions only after duration and distance are solid. Start with mild distractions (someone walking by) and gradually increase the difficulty.
Teaching COME (Recall)
Recall — the come command — is arguably the most important behavior you can teach from a safety perspective. A dog with a reliable recall can be called away from dangerous situations, other dogs, traffic, and anything else that might harm them.
The golden rule of recall training: never call your dog to you for something unpleasant. If you need to give medication, end playtime, or do something your dog doesn’t enjoy, go to them rather than calling them. Every time you call your dog and something unpleasant follows, you make the next recall slightly less reliable. The word “come” should predict only wonderful things.
Step 1: Start very close. Crouch down, open your arms, look excited, and say your dog’s name followed by “come!” in a happy, enthusiastic voice. When they reach you, give a huge reward — multiple treats, enthusiastic praise, petting if they enjoy it. Make it a party every single time.
Step 2: Practice on a long line (a 20–30 foot lightweight leash) in a yard or park. This allows freedom of movement while maintaining safety and allowing you to gently encourage your dog toward you if they don’t respond.
Step 3: Never punish a dog for coming to you, no matter how long they took or what they were doing before. Even if your dog ran off for 20 minutes before finally returning, reward them enthusiastically when they arrive. Punishing a slow recall teaches the dog not to come at all.
Step 4: Practice recall in increasingly distracting environments — always setting your dog up for success by working within their current ability level and rewarding reliably.
Step 5: Use a high-value recall reward — the best treats you have — reserved specifically for recall practice. The recall cue should predict the most wonderful reward available.
Putting It All Together
Once your dog knows all three commands individually, start combining them in real-life situations. Ask for a sit before putting the food bowl down. Ask for a stay before opening the front door. Practice recall in the backyard before trusting it in more distracting environments.
Consistency across all family members is essential — everyone in the household should use the same cues, the same hand signals, and the same reward system. Mixed signals from different people are one of the most common reasons training stalls.
→ Read Next: The Complete Guide to Positive Reinforcement TrainingThe Bottom Line
Sit, stay, and come are three of the most valuable gifts you can give your dog — and yourself. They create a foundation of communication and trust between you and your animal that makes everything easier, safer, and more enjoyable. Keep sessions short and positive, reward generously, be patient, and celebrate every small success. Your dog wants to work with you — give them the opportunity.
Emma Hartwell is a lifelong animal lover, certified pet nutritionist, and experienced dog trainer with over 8 years of hands-on experience working with animals of all kinds. She founded InnerzNews to give pet owners access to honest, practical, and science-backed advice — because every animal deserves the best possible care. When she’s not writing, Emma is hiking with her two rescue dogs, Milo and Biscuit, or volunteering at her local animal shelter.