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Tug Of War


huski
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I have had a few people tell me lately that tug of war is not a game you should play with your dog as it makes them aggressive ( :cheers: ). I have heard so many various things about tug of war, like it is ok as long as you always win etc etc. Is it really that complicated?

Sometimes I use a toy to 'rev' the dogs when we are doing a bit of training, Micha can be very toy motivated although doesn't like to grab at it much.

Daisy will want to grab a toy when you are playing with her, but knows the leave/give it command so will release as soon as I ask her to.

So my question is, is tug of war a good game to play with your dogs?

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IMO it depends on the dog.

A dominant dog it probably isnt a good idea as it will show how strong it is compared too you especially if its a larger dog.

I play tug of war with both dogs, occasionally i win sometimes they do. Most of the time they do as it makes them more drivey to get the toy. After all who wants to play when they always lose?

Both dogs love it so i consider it a good game.

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I don't know how every dog will react, but most dogs do not see tug of war as a competition, it is a JOINT activity and they will simply start the game over (or try to) when it ends.

I've always played it and never had a problem.

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Thanks guys.

I always assumed if you were doing the right things with your dog, in terms of training etc, that playing tug of war wouldn't be enough on its own to shift the balance or leadership between dog and handler :cheers:

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I'm with tess, I love this game as do my dogs. If my dog isn't too confident i let them win. My dogs always represent the toy to my hand for more tugging as that is the game.

I have taught my dog to stay, recall, SFE and a great motivater for heel work with a tug toy. :cheers:

I never let or suggest young kids play this game with the dog.

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I will engage in tug-of-war but I prefer to 'win' the toy and then give it to the dog - shows that I am the one who controls this valuable resource.

As someone has mentioned - it does depend on the dog and its current relationship with its owners. If I have clients who have asked me to consult because of 'dominance' related issues, and if the strength and/or determination of the dog is such that it is unlikely the owners would be able to control this 'game', then until their relationship with their dog has been improved I'm inclined to suggest they avoid it for the time being at least.

IF the situation arises where a dog has fought hard in the tug game and it appears I might lose it, I will 'quit' the game and then ignore the dog and the toy, as though the toy has become unimportant to me. But I'll know better for the next time and begin training for better 'outs'.

With more sensitive and/or timid dogs who need confidence boosting, I tend to give them easy 'wins' initially.

ETA: I agree with Tonymc - the tug toy can be a valuable training tool. :cheers:

Edited by Erny
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My mad Dally is a pretty pushy OTT young dog so I didn't even touch tug-o-war in his first 12 months. Instead I just focussed on fetch games as a reward for sitting, dropping, standing, staying etc etc. I've introduced tug games now but they are very controlled - Zig tugs on command, gives it to me when I ask and sometimes is allowed to win. When he brings me the tug toy I hold it very loosely, ask him to "give" - if he does immediately I reward him with either a tug game or a retrieve. If he doesn't I just turn away and ignore him - it works a treat :) Now that I have a controlled but fun response from him, I am beginning to use it as a reward for working well in combination with clicker training.

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I give the tug o war rope to my two dogs and they play with each other.. no aggression just playing . they will drop it, if I tell them to "come".

They are never unsupervisied. Is it ok for yhe dogs to play this game together? Or can that lead to dominant behaviour....they are both very obediant dogs and will do what is asked of them with no fuss..

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We all love tug o war, to the point that if my older dog can't get any takers to play with him, he comes and literally loops the loop over my foot if I am sitting in the recliner lounge and then proceeds to tug on it hahahha

I must say that I have always heard that you don't let them win, but I do sometimes just so it isn't frustrating for them. But my dogs don't really challange me either iykwim.

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I give the tug o war rope to my two dogs and they play with each other.. no aggression just playing . they will drop it, if I tell them to "come".

They are never unsupervisied. Is it ok for yhe dogs to play this game together? Or can that lead to dominant behaviour....they are both very obediant dogs and will do what is asked of them with no fuss..

Dogs play tug together from the time they are a month old, it's perfectly natural.

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I give the tug o war rope to my two dogs and they play with each other.. no aggression just playing . they will drop it, if I tell them to "come".

They are never unsupervisied. Is it ok for yhe dogs to play this game together? Or can that lead to dominant behaviour....they are both very obediant dogs and will do what is asked of them with no fuss..

Dogs play tug together from the time they are a month old, it's perfectly natural.

I think it can lead to problems. If unsupervised. Normally one dog wins, (nearly) every time. Bad bad bad, IMHO.

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A link that may help?

BTW, be careful of what type of "toy" is used. Rope toys for example, with a hard tug dog, have been known to dislodge teeth. I know from experience.....eck.

http://www.sfspca.org/behavior/dog_library/tug.pdf

Just had a very brief look at the link, LL - it looks pretty good....very similar to the approach I've used with my mad pup :)

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I give the tug o war rope to my two dogs and they play with each other.. no aggression just playing . they will drop it, if I tell them to "come".

They are never unsupervisied. Is it ok for yhe dogs to play this game together? Or can that lead to dominant behaviour....they are both very obediant dogs and will do what is asked of them with no fuss..

Dogs play tug together from the time they are a month old, it's perfectly natural.

I think it can lead to problems. If unsupervised. Normally one dog wins, (nearly) every time. Bad bad bad, IMHO.

I still don't think "winning" is the point of tug for dogs. But each to their own.

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I will engage in tug-of-war but I prefer to 'win' the toy and then give it to the dog - shows that I am the one who controls this valuable resource.

ETA: I agree with Tonymc - the tug toy can be a valuable training tool. ;)

Wow, Erny, I so rarely disagree with you ;) But this time I'm going to. Tug of war is something I am PASSIONATE about. It is VITAL that the dog wins most of the time. I think of it like playing one on one basketball. Why would I bother if I knew I'd have to wait to have the ball given to me??? To be truly motivational, the dog must win. Then hand the toy over in a swap for a bit of food or a swap to start the game over. My bitch can... pardon me... be a BITCH!!! But I never have any dominance problems resulting from tug of war. The toy (hose in my case) only comes out when I am playing with her and that is where she sees the value. She will run to her training bag to hunt thru and pull out when game begins and she puts away at the end, when I ask her to lol. BUT, it's not about control in this instance, it's about one on one working together for me. Control is learnt elsewhere, not on the play/training field.

I think this debate came up recently in a Michael Tucker article in Dogs Vic mag and we've already got a thread somewhere. As I said, I am passionate about this. NO TUG IS CRAP IMHO. Anyone who says this is living in the dark ages for most dogs. I don't believe there are many truly dominant dogs out there that you just couldn't play this game with. So go for it. As Erny also did say, it can be a valuable training tool and for a drivey dog, the most valuable training tool of all.

:)

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I give the tug o war rope to my two dogs and they play with each other.. no aggression just playing . they will drop it, if I tell them to "come".

They are never unsupervisied. Is it ok for yhe dogs to play this game together? Or can that lead to dominant behaviour....they are both very obediant dogs and will do what is asked of them with no fuss..

Dogs play tug together from the time they are a month old, it's perfectly natural.

I think it can lead to problems. If unsupervised. Normally one dog wins, (nearly) every time. Bad bad bad, IMHO.

I still don't think "winning" is the point of tug for dogs. But each to their own.

Fair enough. As one of my favourite trainers stated " Do whatever you think works best. If something is not working over a period of time, try something else. Trust what you see - in your dog, as they are your best teachers."

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I play tug of war with Bubby all the time and have no problems.

I don't think he really wants the toy though. I think its just something we pick up and use for tug. I always drop the toy first but he spits out the toy straight after I drop it and will come sit next to me.

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If I stop playing tug with Kaos and make the toy 'dead' Kaos will drop it and wait for it to move again - he knows this is how to get the game to continue :) though he will have it in between his legs while he is in a play bow ;)

Diesel will run off with it, but now will come back for a pat with it.

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