Playing Tug?

[hmeadq]

First I need to say that "Tug" is the favroite game!

We had him in day care a couple days when no one was going to be able to get home for 12+ hours, and I watched him on the web cam play tug with another dog, he kept bringing a rope over to a lab until he grabbed the other end!

When we are playing he will occassionally "growl" but it is really more like a grumble, and he will "Drop It" and "Leave It" when we tell him. But he is constatly bringing us toys and "asking" us to play tug.

My problem is that I am getting contridictary advice. One of my books says you should ALWAYS win when you play tug and once you win and are done you should take the toy and put it up and give him another toy instead. One of my trainers said that we should intruduce the command "pull" when we play. One of the trainers assistants we should not play tug at all!

So what is the rule? I have started playing a lot less Tug because I am afraid it is bad for him. (He pulled a couple of his milk teeth by tugging so hard Now he has his real teeth...)

[rotnhouse]

I'm no expert, but when I want to take someting out of my dog's mouth, I don't want him to think it's a game. So I don't play tug at all.

[Canadianrotti]

I play tug with Raelin, but I only did so a few months ago (she is now 1 year old). I only play tug when we are training and I have treats available to reward her good behaviour, and if she starts to bite towrds me or get to excited, we stop and move on to something else.

The type of tugging we are doing is very controled and is ALWAYS initiated by me and ENDS with me, no exceptions!

She loves to and we can now use this as a reward for retrieving a toy, or for doing well on another comand, but again, I always initiate and break the comand.

I would recomend having a reliable "out" or "drop it" before getting into tugging. JMO.

[JJsRiley]

we've played "tug" with both of ours..I've not had ANY problems..we've just made sure they know it's a game...we bring the "tug" out on occations..mostly when they're outside to play with it there.
I think (personally) that it's all in how you train them.and let them know what's right..what's wrong..and when they're getting to "rough".
Good Luck...and Merry Christmas.
BTW..how old is your Rott?

JJsRiley

[Brooke&Ryan]

We play tug with Julius quite a bit. He gets it as a reward for OB & other fun things. His tugs are on top of our television though & are initiated by us. Sometimes he wins & sometimes I win. Just depends....


Brooke

[Judi W]

My dogs learn the word "out" at a very young age. It is part of the fetching I encourage and becomes part of "tug" and "tug enough" which is when the person gives the out command and the dog releases the tug. As long as those things are established, it doesn't matter who wins, we can take turns as it in no way reduces the established out command.

[Denise L.]

Like the others tug is initiated and ended by me. Cyrus loves tug and he always let's me win.

[Judi W]

PS.
If you do not have an out that applies to any and everything the dog might have in its mouth, and if you are having problems about rules, the the trainers who recommend no tug games might be correct, but in those cases I believe the issue is more than playing tug and that is what should be addressed, not the game of tug.

[rotnhouse]

Yep, that describes MY problem to a 'T'. And we won't play tug till we get that worked out. For now, they can play tug with each other.

[moondog]

I played tug with my dog every day. She was not confused at all about when to hold and when to release items in her mouth, because she learned to give when asked. She could spit a cat turd three feet and once released a little bird that had flown into her mouth (without even hurting it). Tug was a fun game for both of us.

[fbkeays]

I used tug to build drive for holding the obedience dumbbell. My dogs know the command, "tug" and "enough". Sometimes they win, sometimes I win. But I always start the game and end the game. With the dumbbell, I used that instead of a tug. He understood that he had to hold the dumbbell until told otherwise.

[Stubby]

I used tug to build drive and confidence in my rather "soft" dog TJ. When I first got him he had ZERO confidence, so I played tug with him (as he was pretty drivey, and liked that game!) and let him win.. all the time.. This helped turn his character around a lot. Now when I play with him, I sometimes let him win, and sometimes I win, or I simply stop the game and out him.

He's become more confident, so much so in fact that he is now doing ScH work, and although not a great candidate for protection, he certainly enjoys the game!

So, in my mind, it can be used as another tool in the tool box of dog training. Maybe moreso usefull for less dominant dogs.

[JaniceH]

I play tug with Teazle every day. She may intitiate it but I always finish it. When I tell her to "drop it" she simply lets go. Then I may throw it for her to bring back. She loves this game.

[BostonRott]

We play tons of tug, I encourage it in young pups, and actually use it to "sort" puppies when choosing amongst them.

Advice on tug is like advice on many things: you need to look at the overall picture. Are there dominance issues in the household? Pack issues? Does the dog know its place in the house and easily fall into it? If so, then no problem. If the dog is continually challenging you for rank, etc, then no, I would not.

Tug is great way to build drive and excitement in a dog, so when playing, know that. It is also a great way to relieve stress/frustration, as dogs often use play as a way to relieve stress.

[RottieGirl86]

Athena loves tug! It's a favorite game. She just about dances when she sees we're going to play it!

She knows the 'drop it' - but it's more my tone and forcefulness of saying it than anything else. But, she's also a smaller sized rott, not nearly the powerful jaws of my late Sasha.

Max has no idea about toys. He will chew (read: destroy) them but has not grasped the concept of fetch or tug. Poor dear gets confused watching us.