Tug of War?

Gunnar and Daisy grew up playing tug, and neither of them have any kind of dominance issues or anything else as a result of it.

The only thing you need to watch out for is when the pup is teething (with Gunnar and Daisy it was around 4-5 months of age). At our protection training all the pups do tug and rag work, but they minimize how much hard they let the dog pull when they are teething.

I agree with everyone else- tug with rules is tons of fun and is a CO-operative game. Like everyone else I start by establishing a drop it leave it if the pup doesnt let go, fine you can have the toy but we are done playing and I walk away to another room for five-ten miniutes. On the other hand when they do leave it awsome the game is on. You can also capture dropping toys with a clicker, tossing a treat and then establishing a cue. Tons of different ways. When I worked at a dog daycare I used to play tug with dogs alone to build confidence and to work on different skills. The biggest dog I've ever played tug was a 140lb Great Dane so no I dont believe tug is limited to breed size.

IMO your breeder is confused with old myths that used to be thought as solid fact.

I play tug to get the puppies off my pants or I'd never have any that weren't torn to shreds. I guess I"m scratchin my head on that one.

Oh, and for the hard biting stuff, dogs know what's going on. My dogs can swing and hang holding on only with their teeth and have never broken my skin in rough play because they bit to hard. They are more rough with each other, and more gentle with kids and cats than with me, we need to give dogs a little more credit. If playing tug results in too hard of bites, I'd be screwed.

I dont think physical strength has anything to do with whether or not your dog perceives you dominant or submissive.

I play with Reggin sometimes. No problems what so ever.

Alrighty, thanks for your input guys.

BM, it's not a breed specific thing.... She doesn't just breed Newfoundlands. It's her belief for every dog, not just Newfoundlands.... It's a belief some dog people have. I was just wondering if it was at all accurate because I don't personally believe it is.

Zoom- her reasoning is what I said before, that it will encourage biting

Maybe it's just me? Or maybe your not understand the question? I dunno. But none of your posts make sense.

I've never in my years of helping people with their dogs, taking classes, and talking with people heard that a dog would associate tugging with a toy to mean they could tug on a person's arms or legs.

And the whole thing of hurting their puppy teeths kind of cunfuses me, too. lol

I would wonder at her having those beliefs. Do none of her dogs go off and do performance sports? Or do the owners have to hide how they train from her?

Zoom is right, the anti-tug-of-war thing is an old myth. I first heard anti-tug thing when I got Cheyenne (Golden Retriever) as a puppy 15 yrs. ago. At one of their get-togethers, a woman from the Golden Retriever Club saw me playing tug with Cheyenne and rushed to adamantly tell me to "NEVER do that .. you'll destory her soft-mouth and encourage biting!!"

She was kinda a know-it-all type, and this seemed ridiculous since at all the agility trials I had seen tug used as a reward for the dogs after they completed the course .. and there were Goldens in those agility events! Besides, the "soft-mouth" is bred into Goldens. I didn't listen to that woman, instead continued to play tug with Cheyenne because she loved the game. In all 15 yrs. of her life she never lost her soft-mouth and never had an aggressive bone in her body ... never bit anything or anyone.

Bingo! When I was very little my parents got a little mini schnauzer puppy. He was great except for an annoying habit of yanking on pant legs, sleeves, socks ... whatever clothing he could grab!

His breeder's suggestion was to play tug with him ... and YES, he absolutely stopped that annoying clothing yanking in short order. Tug doesn't cause such problems ... it provides terriers (and probably other breeds as well!) with an outlet for this kind of play so that they don't make up their own inapproprate games!

In our home we now have a little Westie puppy (quite a departure for us ... we're normally big dog folks!). He didn't yank pant legs or sleeves but started yanking on socks while human feet were in them! Our solution was to play tug with him, ... with a knotted sock of his own. In less than a week he completely stopped yanking on our socks!

while i agree with this, i think tug can also be a good way to teach a dog (especially starting with a pup) impulse control. teaching a solid out and asking the dog to settle in between short sessions of tugging can be a fantastic way to teach a dog that they can settle in the face of something stimulating.

i play tug with both of my dogs and they love it. both of them "give" well and i don't have any kind of biting problems, dominance problems, or anything else. it makes me sad that so many people avoid a game that is so much fun to play out of fear.

I have actually heard and experienced the OPPOSITE of what your breeder said... in my experience, tugging teaches excellent bite inhibition to puppies, as well as being loads of fun and very motivating for training or any other work/sports you might do with her in the future.

I have played tug daily with Fozzie, and Gonzo, since they were pups. I would slide my hand down near their mouth, and if they made any contact with my hand, the game was over. Now, I can play tug with literally anything, big or small, and no matter how intense the tug session is they are both very conscious of where my hands are. Tugging is also really good exercise. My boys will play tug together with their jolly ball for hours, and have never bitten or fought over playing tug, so the notion that playing tug encourages biting just doesn't go together, to me.

Oh lordy.........I have heard the anti tug of war theory in many forms. Everything from making them viscous, making them think it's ok to chew on you, to making them human aggressive.

I notice LOTS of professional trainers training working dogs in various jobs (drug sniffers, police protection, bomb sniffers, etc) use tug as a reward.

I must say that Kevin has played tug with Orson nearly every day since he got here (and was well enough to play) They even make growly noises at each other, LOL

When I adopted Ella there was a paper in her folder that said NOT to play tug-of-war with dogs because it encourages them to bite on pant legs, cuffs, or other inappropriate things that shouldn't be tugged on.

HA! I play tug with Ella (crap, she uses a SPRINGPOLE!) all the time and I have NEVER EVER EVER experienced a problem.
IN FACT, I used tug to teach her "release". Now, it doesn't always work right away, hahahaha, we're still working on it, but it has taught her "release".

maybe people should not call it 'tug of war' just call it a 'game of tug' to help over come some of the dominance BS that still shrouds it

I think your on the right track Dekka, but to ward off those hard core extreme NO TUG OF WAR TYPES we might need to combat them with something like Tug of best friends of Tug of Jub jubs and sunshine and lollipops lol.

Tug is Bernie's second favourite thing in life, after food of course! He's well mannered in his games, brings you the appropriate toys for tug, and immediately out grew the "chase the pant cuffs" games of puppyhood. Once he was given his old knotted sock, and later tug ropes, he clearly defined tug as his indoor "burn off some steam" game.

I dictate the duration and place to play, and he almost always wins. He's not one for fetch, balls, or other toys.. just his old sock and new blue wubba! When he's tired of the game.. he carries the toys back to his basket, and puts them away! Now if I could just train the hubby!

:lol-sign: How about Pals-N-Pulls, or Yaps & Yanks :rofl1:

We could start a whole new trend!

And then the next time someone comes up to tell you dont play tug of war you can look up startled, fearfully look around and then goo ohh its okay Im not playing tug of war. Then when they inquire what they are doing you can insert the new name for it and then smile.

This is an excellent example of how to tug and how not to tug. I know one of those 'bad trainers' and she recently got bit very badly and she wouldn't listen. Thats what happens when you train for 'good enough' and that is how she trained, finally bite her in the a$$, pardon the bun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzqs54qMgQA

Also when tugging with a young pup, let them tug, don't whip them around or pull hard which is when baby teeth can be pulled out.

Enjoy, I know I loved this video, its a riot.

HAHAHA OMG I just fell off my chair laughing.

Glad you liked it , its a classic. Whats even funnier is when you know someone that does that!!!!!!!!