Back when I was training folks on how to work with their dogs I had a mantra that “training should be fun for everyone”. While part of that was advice on how to engage their dogs with training games, the other piece of that was that the humans should be having fun with the training as well. Part of that was having cue words that made the person smile or laugh, as a way to help change our brain chemistry during difficult training scenarios.
So, what are your jokey funny cues for your puppers?
My boy dog, instead of rolling over, loves to do trust falls to ask for a belly rub. It’s adorable.
Some people call it “capturing” a behavior but (if you haven’t) you can pair cue words or phrases to habits your dog already has, and with enough practice and reinforcement your cue can prompt the behavior instead of trailing it. Trust falls might not be appropriate for all locations even though there’s some “wacky hijinx” potential there
Oh, he knows. He only does it on soft surfaces. When he doesn’t have one of those he has me trained to notice his cues that he wants one, in which case I flip him over. :)
XD training works both ways!
When we have to pick her up, we announce “Here comes the Bella-vator!”
The command to do a big shake (e.g., coming in from the rain and we want her to dry herself off as much as possible) is “Fluff!”
Here comes the Bella-vator
Puns are worth double!
My mom has always used a call for puppies that I don’t know how to type, so I made a YouTube short. Haha.
The first one is the call my mom uses with all her dogs, the second one is my augmented version. I wanted a call the dogs knew that if they heard it, they knew 100% there were no repercussions. No scolding, or having to go get in their bed. Only good things. I’ve had dogs in the past that, if they thought they might get in trouble, would run, and these fellers are so little and fragile, that scares the crap out of me. So, they got the augmented call, which is just the regular call, but to the nickelodeon theme tune.
The last one is the noise we make when it’s time to go outside to poop. It’s the poop call. If they hear it, they’re supposed to go poop.
I wanted a call the dogs knew that if they heard it, they knew 100% there were no repercussions. No scolding, or having to go get in their bed. Only good things
The. Best. Approach.
I used to teach folks to train their normal recall and an ‘emergency’ one that’s similar to your augmented one. Nothing but the most amazing rewards for showing up when you hear it, no matter what you were doing when you were called.
“Come inside” or similar cues are another one that’s tough because there’s just so much to experience outside that coming in seems like punishment to some dogs. We would play the come inside game to get a treat and a drink and then go back out for more playtime, rinse and repeat.
Exactly! Not having that emergency call is like not wearing a seatbelt. It’s not a problem, until it very much so is. I’ve made that mistake, and while nothing tragic happened because of it, it almost did. Never again.
I’m very glad nothing tragic happened, but even more so that it’s moved you to be an even better human! I always called things like emergency recall, drop it, and leave it “life skills” because they’re things that help our pups enjoy their full lives
when I worked at a dog daycare and was taking training classes, the trainer stressed that we should try to make the “praise” word we used when doing training something unique, not like “good boy/girl” or similar. the one they taught in class was “yes” by default, which is what I used when I started.
now it’s become “thank you” which, even though it’s longer, makes me laugh when I think about it.
I’ll have to take some inspiration from this thread! I’m working with my dog Bowser lately on learning new commands.
I freaking love it when people say “thank you” as their marker! To me, it just shows how much stock they put in the intelligence of their dog and how deeply they respect the relationship they have. Language impacts how we manage aspects of our lives and small things like this build on themselves to awesome results.
We use “thank you” as our low key marker - rewards are settling activities like scritches or a chew toy, or sometimes pushing the cat out of his bed so he can use it. Our high energy marker is “wow” because it’s easy to say in a happy way but not something I say all the time.
Do it! Your dog will absolutely pick up on the fact that you’re having fun interacting with them.
I had honestly never had it occur to me to use “low energy” and “high energy” markers! that’s a great idea. “wow” is also great! I’ve been out of training stuff for a couple years since quitting the daycare job, so I’ve been working on this stuff on my own when I can.
I appreciate you teaching me something new today.
There’s no better compliment in the world. You’re very welcome and I hope you find it useful!
Our bestest boy Sudo has the following:
- “Start up” = stand
- “Shut down” = go to bed
- “Rest” = sit
- “Root” = lay down
- “Crash” = stop
- “TLS” = shake
- “Pew Pew” = play dead because it’s a laser gun
Hahahahahaha that dog’s name is awesome!
Now I want a dog named Git
I don’t know when I started saying “Pound it” when I would hold my hand out and ask for my dog’s paw, but it’s always fun and elicits a laugh from anyone who doesn’t already know it.
- “jean up!” = leap into my arms
- “boop!” = nose touch to hand
- “shake!” = shake head/body (“paw” is what i use for a handshake)
- “red alert!” = time to play
- “whisper” + finger to mouth = quiet bark
- “nightcrawlers” = try to lick my face while i try to hide it from you
i also once heard a handler say “beep! beep! beep!” (like the sound a vehicle makes) for their back-up command, so i may steal that one. 😉
“Nightcrawlers” has me in stitches! Too much IASIP maybe
When I’m in the kitchen and say, “Ah Shit.” all my dogs come running because they know I dropped food on the floor.
Well now we’re getting into genetic memory passed down since domestication
