The "Wait" Command.

My  trainer taught us "wait" by using a collar pop.  I am sure no one wants to hear about that.  []

I used to use the wait command a lot, until I started herding training. "Wait" sounds very much like the "away" command, and my kids were getting confused. It is my opinion, however, that all learning is good! Once a dog starts to pay attention, and to learn what a word means, their brains start to process this kind of imformation better and better.

That does sound a little wacky. I think the easiest way to teach "wait" is with the dinner bowl. Dog doesn't get fed until he waits calmly for the okay.

I think there's way easier ways to teach "wait" too, and I did it like Jones said. Started with the dinner bowl and expanded from there. Basically, whatever it is that I want the dogs to wait for, I don't do it until they can sit and wait politely through the entire process until I release them. If they can't hold thier horses, they have to wait even longer or I take whatever it is away completely. They get it pretty fast. If they want to go for their walk, they have to sit and get leashed and wait at the door until I release them. If they can't do that, well, no walk until they can. I don't use a wait command, though. I use "sit until released".

That method of teaching sounds like it will only work when you have a treat to throw! [&:]
 
I taught wait like this: dog is in car, excited to get out. I open the door slightly, say "wait", and if she tries to squeeze out the door closes. Then we try again. It doesn't take long before she realizes that if she just waits for the release word, good things happen much faster.
 

Funny thing is that I was thinking about starting a new thread with this subject. Serindipity is a wonderful thing, no?
 
I practice the "wait" command every day, multiple times a day each time we go up the stairs.  We've even turned it into a game-no one gets to go up the stairs until I say "GO!"  Xerxes plays fair, but Gaia likes to have one foot on the bottom step-I'm trying to curb her of her cheating ways, but that's not likely.  Xerxes always wins the little race from landing to landing (We have 4 landings to go up each time.)  If either of them launch early they both have to come back. 
 
By turning it into a fun game with a winner and a loser everyone has fun.  The loser (Gaia) gets jumped on when we get to the top.  It's a dog pile.  But it's ok because once we're inside she becomes queen bitch again. []
 
I think the trick to instilling the "wait" command is to have fun and be inventive with it.  Give the command, toss a ball, then give the release command.  Watching your dog have to connect "I must remember where the ball went" to "When will my wait be over" is alot of fun.  Plus it will wear your dog out, plain and simple. 

oooh, yay!! The "wait" command. We just started this one last Thursday at our training session. I was using "stay", but I insisted on teaching her a "wait" even though my trainer said I could continue with "stay" if I wanted, but she usually teaches "stay" and "wait" as two separate commands.

Ella doesn't like "wait". In fact, I think she likes "wait" even less than she likes "stay". Weird? Yes.
She does not handle "wait" well when it's dinnertime. She dances behind me from side to side and only lately has she been "waiting" for her bowl after one time of giving the command. It's funny, she hurriedly paces from side to side behind me and slips on her own drool.
Silly girl.

When I teach a dog to "wait", it means just that. If we are walking and stop at a curb (I make my dogs stop and sit at every curb before crossing the street), I say, "sit" and after they sit, I say, "wait". This has taught them that they must not try to cross without me saying, "let's go".Before I let my dogs outside I call them to the door, tell them to sit, when they are sitting, I open the door and say, "wait".They don't get to bolt out the door when they feel like it.They of course, don't know when I'm going to say "okay" so they have learned to sit and wait for my cue.I'm not sure what your shelter is trying to teach and maybe it's something that works for them but "wait" means "wait".

I taught Max wait like Scout did, in the car. Georgie hasn't really learned this one yet, but it will be necessary since she seemed to like to try to jump out of the car while she's still buckled in. 

That does sound a little wacky. I think the easiest way to teach "wait" is with the dinner bowl. Dog doesn't get fed until he waits calmly for the okay.

 
This is how I taught Kato to wait.  He is not that bright, and he caught on very quickly.  He sits and waits now on auto pilot before getting to that dish! 

crate door is a good way to start teaching Wait. Puppy can't come out until you release him, and you can always slam the door shut if he tries to cheat.

I make winston wait to eat as well, although he doesn't have a command for it . . . . I think its time to add one.  I'll say "go sit down" and he trots to his bowl and sits.  He will sit there until I say "eat 'um up!"  I can walk away and come back and he'll still be sitting there []

I taugh my guy to "wait" using doors, he has to stand and "wait" for me to release him before he can go thru the door, if he tries to go thru it BEFORE he's release, well, he meets the door head first. That's how we started, now he'll "ask for permission" to come into a room, and he'll stop walking if you tell him to wait. It' also applies to his bowl and pretty much anything, he has to wait to be released to carry on.

Our WAIT philosophy is a bit different than what has already been described.  I train WAIT the same way I train STAY except that there will always be another command coming after WAIT.  With STAY they are not to move until I return to them.  They tend to relax a bit more on a STAY, knowing they can't go anywhere. 
 
WAIT would be used if I left Blitz in a SIT, walked away from him, then called him HERE.  STAY is for dinnertime when I'm preparing food and want them to stay put, or if we're at the store and I'm looking at something on a shelf and don't want them moving.  I use WAIT a lot more frequently now that we're doing agility.  Its always WAIT at a start line, since I won't be returning to him, and will instead call GO when the time comes.  I've really gone back and forth about whether both WAIT and STAY are necessary in this capacity, but they definitely understand both words and respond a bit differently to each, so we can't change now! []