By Jeff Stallings, CPDT-KA
The word “no” and its variations have an incredibly useful place in the English language—for humans anyway.
Would you like cream in your coffee? No, thanks.
Can I interest you in a serving of liver pie? No, but my dog would love some.
Would you mind giving up your first-class aisle seat for this middle seat in coach? No!
The answer to each of the above questions, in normal person-to-person communication, can be the end of the discussion. “No” means no, and nothing else need be communicated.
But with dogs, who think in pictures and are non-verbal by nature, “no” is not enough. I believe you can remove the word “no” from your human-to-dog communication and you’ll both be better off.
But what, you might ask, am I supposed to say to my dog when he jumps on the couch, eyes my sandwich on the coffee table, or digs in my yard? Building a positive interrupter creates a new cue meant to tell your dog, “Stop what you’re doing and come find me”.
What is a Positive Interrupter?
The “positive” does not mean “good” (although in fact it is good, from your dog’s perspective). Instead, think math: Positive means you are adding something in (sound + food) to stop or preempt an unwanted behavior.
Before using a positive interrupter, you must give a specific sound or word meaning by pairing it with a high value “primary reinforcer”, most likely food. And not just any food, something your dog can’t resist, such as poached chicken or (a plug here for my favorite training treats): Wellness Rewarding Life.
Commonly used sounds for positive interrupters are that kissy face sound or clucking with your tongue on the roof of your mouth. However, these sounds may be too soft to interrupt your dog doing something across the yard. So, you might instead choose a word or phrase that you cannot possibly make sound judgmental, angry or combative. (Believe me, you can make “leave It!!” sound very scary—try it for yourself!)
Choose a word or phrase that sounds positive in the other sense of the word: “treat”, “cookie”, “pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup”, “woohoo” or as trainer Susan Garrett recommends, a happy “wit-wit-wit-wit-wit-wit”.
Building Your Positive Interrupter
Step 1 / One or two sessions over several days
Have high value food readily available and your dog on-leash. Say your positive interrupter word/phrase in a happy/silly voice, drop the treat, and as soon as your dog consumes the food, immediately move a few feet away, or across the room. (This way your dog is not looking for crumbs.)
Step 2 / 10 - 20 sessions over several weeks
Since the ultimate goal is for your dog to stop what he or she is doing and run to you, now is the time to add some motion. With your dog off-leash or on a long line, excitedly say the cue, turn and run, and when your dog catches up with you, drop the treat on the floor. Why add movement? It adds to the reinforcement value: dogs love to chase!
NOTE: Do not use cue to interrupt undesirable behaviors for THREE WEEKS of this training!
Step 3 / 10 sessions over a week or two
Engage your dog in a game of tug using a low value toy (not their favorite). Say your cue and when your dog disengages with the toy, remove the toy and drop the treat on the floor. The idea is that your dog learns to stop a behavior he finds enjoyable (tug/play) and turns to you instead.
Step 4 / Five sessions over the course of a week or two (proofing the cue)
Toss a VERY LOW VALUE food item or toy across the room, and as your dog runs towards it, run the opposite direction while singing your positive interrupter sound. Your dog should turn around and run after you; at which point you feed a higher value treat than the one you tossed. When this works most of the time, you can start using your positive interrupter in the real world.
Step 5 / Practice with higher distractions
When your dog becomes really good at this behavior indoors (i.e. responds 90% of the time), it’s time to practice the behavior outdoors with more distractions.
As with ALL training, building and using a positive interrupter should be fun and games, from your dog’s perspective—and hopefully yours!
I have been coaching clients through building and using positive interrupters for years and recently made some modifications based on Susan Garrett’s strategy. This is an excellent video Susan made about positive interrupters.
