How to train a dog to come, stay, and heel on command?

If discrete steps are what you want, try http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0470616164/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/, by Jean Donaldson. It's both thorough and straightforward, and is based entirely on positive reinforcement. My copy came with a DVD, which I like—sometimes having a visual example is invaluable when you're trying to nail down tone, timing, etc. On that note: I know you alluded to this in your questions, but the main thing I learned from the obedience classes we took was the importance of training *myself* to be consistent and clear in what I communicated to my dog, especially through body language. In fact, sometimes it turned out that my dog had really only been paying attention my body language and ignoring my verbal commands—so that's another thing to mix up in the final stages of training. (On the plus side: She picks up hand signals very quickly.)

http://www.sue-eh.ca/ general process to get a behavior soild is this: (1) Teach the behavior (Dog thinks, "Oh, I get a treat when I come over!") It sounds like you're at this stage with a lot of behaviors. (2) Teach the cue (Dog thinks, "Oh, I get a treat when he says come and I come over!") (3) Generalize the cue (Dog thinks, "Wow, this works everywhere!") How many times you train and how long is going to depend on the dog. My greyhound's can't really focus for more than 5 minutes at a time, so we should be doing several short sessions basically whenever they're awake. Other dogs can train for hours if the reinforcement rate is high enough. Once a command is really solid, Ailsby says behaviors should be treated like they have an imaginary piggy bank stuffed full of pennies. Every time you ask for the behavior and don't reward it, it's like taking a handfull of pennies out. When you reward a behavior again, it's like putting a penny back in. The size of the handful (ie, how much a dog will start to backslide if they aren't rewarded) depends on the dog and the behavior. If a dog likes to sit, for example, they may self-reward, so they don't need reinforcement as frequently. Or if they hate the behavior (for example, our dong is very scent-motivated and he hates to 'come' if he smells something interesting - we have to reward him basically every time we ask him to come away from something smelly). (Aislby's essays, many of which are online, are very concrete and less theoretical, in my experience. The problem is that every dog is different, so recipes like "reinforce every 2 days" are not practical.)

This is a kind of complicated question, but I'll see if I can distill it to something useful. Treats + shaping are the best ways to train a dog using only positive reinforcement. It's boring for the human but pretty effective. To teach come and stay, your dog needs to already know sit. I'll assume he does, but if not the process is the same. Teach stay first, so you can have the dog stay while you walk away to train come. Do this in 5-10 minute sessions: 1. Show the dog treats. 2. Command the dog to sit. Wait for him to obey. 3. Give a treat the first few times he sits. 4. Say "stay" once. 5. Wait half a second. -If the dog moves/gets up/etc, say no firmly, and go back to step 2. -If the dog doesn't, say "good dog!" in a high pitched tone and give him/her a treat. As the dog begins to understand what the heck you wait, you can (very slowly!) add more time. Once the dog will hold a stay for 10ish seconds, take a tiny step back and repeat the process, slowly adding distance. This process will take several days to a week of 5-10 minutes 2-3x a day, depending on the dog. Once the dog becomes more consistent, give a treat only 4 out of 5 times, then 3, then 2, then 1, and then only occasionally. If at any point the dog fails or seems confused, go back a step. Especially in the beginning, it is important to say the commands, "good dog", and "no" in exactly the same way every time. It helps them associate the sound with what you want more rapidly. Stop as soon as the dog looks bored, this is supposed to be fun for them and not torture.

You're going to get lots of advice on this. I will suggest this http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1593372566/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/, but replace the clicker, which creeps me out for some reason, with a "Good Girl!" That book, and a few visits with a trainer to teach me some best practices worked pretty well with my terrier. She'll come, sit, stay, lie down, roll over, shake hands, "go lie down" (during dinner), and a couple others we roll out to impress. How long should every training session last? No more than 10-15 minutes. Both dog and person become exasperated after that. How frequent should the sessions come? Twice a day? Daily? We trained twice daily. Sit, stay, down, come, and walking on the leash. When those were down we moved on to tricks, which we also incorporate into the walk and play time. Once the commands are "learned," how often should time be taken to reinforce them? We use most of them daily. When she appears less responsive, we train for a coupla days. What precise steps should I take to train the dog? Read the book. Start at sit and work your way up. Treat liberally at first, then reduce treat frequency to increase response. Not particularly interested in theory, but I do want to utilize only positive reinforcement. This is all about positive reinforcement. My dog has learned that "uh oh" is wrong and that trying another behavior often results in a reward (if only a "good girl!") Discrete steps or processes that are valid would be more of a help than recommending a large book filled with theory that I don't particularly want to read or have to understand to get results. But it's a short book with a few introductory chapters, then step-by-step instructions for each behavior or trick.

Oh, to train obedience in difficult situations (whatever is difficult for your dog), do the same thing I described but in progressively more distracting environments. So, once your dog has "stay" down solidly indoors in a quiet area, try outdoors. Once he's mastered outdoors, throw treats/balls/toys at him until he will obey your command in your yard no matter what. Then work on it in a public area. Then seek out extra distracting situations and use those for training.

...and by "at him", I really mean "to him". If I tell my dog to wait, I can throw her favorite treat at her feet and she knows not to eat it until I say "go ahead".

I've got a puppy, and we've been working on these commands for a little while. He just got "stay" last week, finally, and it's been really exciting. I'm far from an expert, but one of the things I've been doing is making sure that my serious commands sound serious. There's a difference between how I call him just for fun: "Hiiii, Truman! C'mere! C'mere! That's a gooooood boy! Gooood Truman!" and how I call him for business: "Truman, come." He seems to understand pretty well that the first one is gallopy happy play time and the second one means now. All of his business commands (sit, stay, come, drop it, no, down) are done in a firm, low-tone voice, much as you would use with a misbehaving toddler. I say his name, then the command. If he doesn't listen, I just repeat. (And then plenty of upbeat "good boys" once he's actually done it.)

Also, shredded cheese is an awesome training treat for my dog. Soft and easy to chew, flavorful, and already comes pre-shredded into tiny bits. My puppy LOOOOVES cheese, though, so YMMV.

Watch the great youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup by kikopup. She has one that particularly addresses this issue. If you can't find something in her videos that helps your training, I'll eat my hat!