basic commands/sit and stay

[beaglernr]

I have raised bird dogs where some of the first commands are sit and stay. My first beagle (now three) and I could just never see eye to eye on these two commands. In running beagles now a whole wopping three years I have only seen a few people that have trainned there bealges to sit and stay. Any special way to do it with a beagle, this bone headed trainner failed with my first and I have a litter on the way any day.
Thanks in advance

[jackrabbit]

gotta start em young and be consistant. when i work on sit and stay i start the pup very young in the house even. when no one is home but me i close all the doors down hall and put em on a leash. i also have a package of chopped lunch meat in my pocket. i start with sit. i make the command and then push the puppys butt down. i then say good dog and give it a treat. it takes a couple sessions before the pup begins to learn that when i say sit and it sits i give it a treat. i then incorporate stay with sit and continue to reward with good dog and a treat. soon its sit, down, and stay. rewarded with a good dog and treat. next its sit, down, stay, and i walk down the hall and then come back.... then the same reward.. as the pup gets better i start to use a variable reinforcement schedule with the treat, but the good dog is always one on one. soon its good dog only. you will have to retrain from time to time, but a shock collar makes that pretty fast and easy. as the dog gets older and he gets stubborn, one little nick usually has it quickly doing as told, and looking at you with eyes that seem to be saying...." shesh man what did you go and do that for, i was fixin to obey "....lol.