Stop Your Dog’s Unwanted Behaviors With This Positive Interrupter #158 #podcast

What’s the word or sound you use or plan on using for your positive interrupter? Let us know in the comments.

I did this totally by accident... now my puppy stops what he's doing and checks in when I say, "Whatcha doing?" 🤣

"TSSSSHHHH" – that is my universal "stop what you're doing and do something else" sound. It works at night, it works on Christmas Eve, it works when I sit on the couch and the gang is in the kitchen.

This is all useful, but the most helpful instruction for me is to not use a new cue ‘for real’ for the 3 weeks. I tend to be too impatient and then get frustrated when it’s unreliable because I haven’t built my foundations properly. Thank you so much for all your teaching 😊

I cannot stop chuckling every time I hear the dog’s name “Tater Salad” 😆😆. I love it!

I freaking love you, lady. Your training stuff is awesome but honestly, I just wanna hang out with you and a bottle of wine and let the hilarity ensue 😂😂😂

This is REALLY hard to unlearn, I was taught the same way and still catch myself clapping and going HEY or ah ah with our new dog. I’m going to do my best to change that.

My positive interruptor: lalalalala

Holy moly! My GSD came running to see what was going on so Whit, whit,whit is it! Couldn’t believe his face saying what, what,what. Thank you!

I am thinking of using “Ding” which is easy to repeat and make sound positive. Thanks Susan. I have years of ingrained use of “TST” or “Eh-Eh” or using a somewhat harsh “No” “Stop” or “Leave it” so switching from a negative interrupter to a fully positive one might be tricky for me but I feel it will enhance my relationship with my puppy so I will work hard to make that switcheroo.

My 6 month old Lab responds so great to WIT WIT WIT. As soon as I said it, she came running to me.

I was taught to use 'pup pup pupppppyyyyy' as a recall by a local trainer last year before I found you Susan so now I'm trying to make that a great recall (though as yet I can't let my scenthound off lead unfortunately) so am excited to start using 'wit wit wit' for positive interuptions. I so love your teaching, your style and your whole outlook - thank you so much.

I was overwhelmed by other easier-to-train behaviours and I couldn't bear the thought of tackling a recall with the focus and determination that it can take to teach it well/not just ruin it for your dog. So I figured I'd use a word that I had no intentions of keeping as the real recall. At the same time, I happened to be trying to find ways of interrupting Ceilidh (Kaylee, now 2 yrs old) from paying attention to things before she became hyper-fixated on them; I was trying out various strange noises/vocalizations. Ki ki ki ki ki had reasonable success. I began using it in some half-hearted recall training (mostly not training though; certainly not proper thorough training starting in a training environment, far more "around the house/around the yard" moments without necessarily having high-value rewards on me). Fast forward to this spring when I started HStD and got "on track" with a new (though not alien to us) set of plans for leash walking. Once Ceilidh had started occasionally checking in with me (rather than the training walk being an exercise in her largely ignoring me for 30min including when I'd change direction abruptly/walk in circles to interrupt the pulling), in addition to using Search! and RZ rewarding, I started adding some ki ki ki's in there. I like ki ki ki because it's nearly impossible to give it an angry twist. I can "dig" into the first ki, I guess, but it still doesn't come out as terribly more "insistant"/frustrated than a happy ki ki ki. That part is really helpful to me, since if Ceilidh's doing something I need to interrupt, it's always possible I'm already down to my last shreds of emotional resilience, lol (I definitely interpret those situations as me having failed, not "that dog knows better!" or whatever).

This is GREAT in theory. When you are scared because of danger or something, you have very little control and memory of what to say in a calm voice.

Well, I know what sound would work for my dog - a high pitched ‘EeedleEeedleEeee!’ She loves that noise for some reason. Question is, am I willing to make that noise when I have guests over and she’s acting inappropriately! 😂😂😂

Hi Susan, I use a sound that comes from a game that I played with my children called cuckoo. This started to be used when my two labs were off lead and going too far away from me. I like the sound because I can make it ring out loudly and never with an angry tone. That said, I do take the heart about the lesson plan and not reinforcing the thing before the thing.

I definitely created an unwanted behavior chain in my dog lol :( back to the drawing board! Thanks for a great podcast

Thank you Susan for reminding me to get rid of my bad habits from the 80’s! The negative sound seems to come out the worst when loose leash walking and the dog will randomly run to the end of the line and nearly yank my shoulder out of the socket! I need more practice :D I appreciate the great examples you supply.

Tjoop Tjoooo..p! (In high pitch) You have to be able to BEAT a high competitive disruption or insentive to the dog at that point in time.

I enjoyed this podcast. I actually enjoy all your podcasts. I’ve been out of the loop for a few months and so glad to be back into the game again. First off , I love that you gave a shout out to Emily Larlham aka Kikopup. Secondly, I love that I am using the positive interrupter “pupnpupnpupeeeeee” with my brand new McNab pup. She has been with me since Saturday. The remarkable training I’ve used just happens to be the Susan G way. Started off the bat with collar grab, it’s yer choice “ and crate games. During the 5 days , she’s made no mistakes in house. I can interrupt her doing non exciting stuff and working on recalls too. Ok, so here comes the near poop escape. I spotted her walking around in a circle on one of the other dog’s bed and immediately did my pup pup pupeeeee and ran out the door keeping my eye on her. Low amd behold, here she comes running. She ran into the shrubs and resumed her poop escape. Touch down my girl. Well done . Thanks Susan . Glad to be back and happy to start once again.