I'm trying to teach my dog how to lay down and stay but so far no luck. He learned sit and come here pretty quickly but he isn't too obedient when I tell him to do either. Anyone have any good tips/books/websites about training?

How old is he and what breed? What is your current training schedule and method that you are using?

I always used the treat method. It always worked for me.

How old is he and what breed? What is your current training schedule and method that you are using?

He is a Maltese and he just turned one. I've basically been trying to train him in the afternoon and I've just been giving him treats if he does it right.

Do you walk him prior to the training sessions? Going for a nice long walk will help get his mind cleared and ready to focus more because it will remove a lot of the excess energy.
Have you tried "clicker" training? It can help to focus a distracted dog because of the distinct sound of the clicker.

i'm haveing trouble with the lay down command as well. he sits, shakes your hands (not literally), and he'll come, but the two i'm having trouble with is stay and lay down. =/

we use the positive reinforcement method. we will put a small treat in our hand and put the hand with the treat on his nose, say down and lower our hand down to the floor right onto his paws so he has to go down. the he gets the treat. he's moved on now to just an interesting smell will do it

Lay down is the hardest trick IMO to teach a dog. Some dogs just don't like to lay on thier legs like that. Keep working on it and use HD's suggestions...eventually it will come.

Well my dogs are agility dogs so we are start off with a good focusing excersize.

We put out our hands and say "_______ come touch" we do that for a few minutes because its gets their attention turned to you.

Thanks for the tips ladies! I'm definitely going to start trying some out.

He is so ADD all the time it is difficult to get him to pay attention, even AFTER a walk, so we'll see how it goes.