Right now, even if I say stay, they come to me first then stay until released

Hey Meghane, what I do in this type of circumstance is to use a hand signal at the same time of a very strong verbal command. Be careful if the dog isn't looking at you ..you don't want to call their name without doing the hand signal. For instance I would say Xeus STOP and immediately put the hand signal up re-enforcing the verbal command with the hand signal. This is actually pretty easy training if you use strict NILIF practices. You will need a strong motivater for training ( whatever that is per dog) with us it's always a tennis ball, eventually we loose the ball and everything is done by praise only. You have to teach this like on the other side of a driveway, something they will want to cross to get to you but have to be taught they can't cross until you say they can. ( obviously you can't start this where there is traffic, but somewhere in which crossing is a part of the training) remember strong hand signals ( don't release the hand signal until you get to them) at the same time a strong verbal command- 1-to 2 words only. Eventually you will need someone to hold them at the end of a leash on the other side of the road while you give the commands to test for how well they do safely in that very circumstance.
Hope that helps give you an idea on how to get a little help with this. Remember as in any training it has to be freshened up all the time.

in case this sounds confusing I was giving advice on how to get a dog back safely that might have run across a road...for whatever reason I thought that was what you were talking about. LOL

Mazer , I saw that post also and would love to know how you trained your dog/dogs in that respect- thank you

Hi cindyxeus, that is sort of what I was going for, or just a stay without coming first. Problem is that with 4 dogs out at the same time, I *must* use names or everyone comes running. Tatyana usually comes running anyway, no matter who I call. Is there such a thing as over-obedient LOL? They are already on the NILIF program for regular training. It just seems that whenever I talk to any of them outside, they all come running no matter what the command given or to whom.

hehehe, Meghan - Thanks for the visual, I love the idea of well she spoke so lets all go to her....The best way to train a dog to stand perfectly still is to put the dog on a leash, and go out walking where there is light traffic. As soon as a car is heard or seen, I would say to my dog "Watch the car" and would stand still. Sometimes I would just lightly touch his back to reinforce contact with him. You DO NOT want to add any other commands at this point. No sitting, no leave it, just watch the car, or whatever you choose. I used a voice which was stern and deep. I did this for one week, everyday a couple of times a day. After the week was up, I took off the leash, went walking and just let me dog sniff around - the second a car came, I gave him the command, and sure enough, he stopped what he was doing even though he was not near the street or looking at the street he stood stock still until I said okay and released him. I reinforce this situation at least once a week, because I feel it is so important. This worked great the other day when we were out playing in a parking lot with a tennis ball, it was dark and we had three dogs out, my friend accidently kicked the ball into the street, and of course the dogs went straight for the ball. My friend tried the commands "leave it", and "stay", but the minute I said "watch the car", all the dogs froze, kinda like playing that game statue when you were little. It was great to see it in action even though there was not a single car in the area. It was like the dogs heard the urgency in my voice and knew it was serious. It is best to start this as early as possible with a puppy, just like messing with their front paws, sticking your finger in theri ears and in their food bowl, so they get use to it. I think in your situation, the dog which always comes no matter what would benefit from some work with another person holding her leash, when you called the other dogs she would have no choice but to stay, especially if given a command at the time you were calling the other dogs. Positive rewards to start with just commanding the dog to stay would be where I would start. I have found their are two different types of dogs (simplifying things tremendously) ones who are emotional and ones who think things through. The ones who think things through are easier to train but are alot more stubborn, where as the dogs who are more emotional, have a tendency to be a bit harder to start training with, they have a tendency to be easily distracted (by a leaf or butterfly or anything) at the beginning it is harder to attract their attention away from any distraction, and they seem to tire of training faster, these dogs I would run before having a training session with, just so they are not so distracted, being more tired they dont seem to fight training as much. They also come around within 30 days of starting training something seems to just click in those brains, that training is not so bad, they often settle down well if you are consistent with them, following a daily routine to start off with. I put all this in, because it sounds like the dog you are writing about is one of the more emotional dogs. Running or an intensive playtime before you start training, and starting training out slowly the same time at the same place everyday will help. later on you can train for longer periods of time and switch places so the dog does not associate the one area with theone command. That the command applies everywhere whenever you say it. That is basically the last part of training, to go to a place without cars and give the dog a command to watch the car. Good luck

Meghane, I hear ya, it's different when you are dealing with several dogs of different breeds, but most breeds can learn the hand signals as they can clicker training. My dog that I have now will look at me and If I do a stop signal seriously and without saying a word, he will stop on a dime, and he won't release until I release the hand signal. A. you have to get their attention and B. a signal to direct what it is you want them to do immediately. Dogs that do agility do alot with hand signals accompanied by verbal commands.It takes time and patience but once they get it and you practice often they never forget it.