Chapter 2
🐾 Start phasing out the open food hand
Before we build the actual stay and start standing up ourselves, two things are still missing:
✅ a clear signal
✅ and the gradual removal of the lure
We start with the lure.
Instead of guiding the dog into the Stand with an open hand, we now want to see whether the dog can already follow the same movement with a closed hand.
🤲 Keep the movement – remove the visible food
You can first test this in the sit and down.
The hand may still move exactly as before, but it stays closed.
If your dog can follow that movement reliably in sit and down, you can transfer the same idea to the Stand.
➡️ Hand stays closed
➡️ Movement stays familiar
➡️ Dog follows the movement into position
🎯 Create more independence
The goal is for your dog to become less dependent on seeing the food in your hand.
The hand can still guide the movement, but the dog should gradually understand the position itself.
💡 The cleaner you build this step now, the easier it will be to remove the remaining help later.