Countryboy

My guy is a bit of a couch potato. Not that he never gets the zoomies but he'll usually only chase a ball four or five times before he wanders off . . no longer interested.

One game he does like tho, is Tug. So I was pleased to get this link to Dogs in Canada Magazine, and their article on Training with Tug.

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CT Girl

I see a lot of people in agility use a tug toy as a reward.

Countryboy

That's what our 'Agility expert' suggested too. I just haven't got off my butt to try it yet.

Maybe we'll take another run at the Rally course next week. With his tug toy!

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JE-UK

My miniature ADORES tug games. There are some interesting research findings out there, that seem to indicate that dogs whose owners tug with them have a stronger bond and are more engaged with training. Not sure if it is causation or correlation, but still is yet another reason to play tug. Plus, it's fun .

Jack-A-Poo

Sasha LOVES tug of war games. She'll bring whatever toy she has in her mouth to me and asks for a game of tug. She will however drop the toy if I tell her to "Give" in the middle of the game. But when she's playing tug with my JRTs she will never give and usually always wins the game

I have a short video of her playing tug with one of my Jacks, see how persistent she is LOL

18082011045.mp4 video by ginalim2121 - Photobucket

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JE-UK

There was some interesting research (which I am trying to find again) that looked at a set of dogs playing tug with a) other dogs and b) their owners.

They found that dogs (although seeming to enjoy it) never solicited tug games with each other, that the play was more competitive.

On the other hand, nearly all the dogs would solicit tug games with their owners, leading the researchers to opine that tug games with people were seen by the dogs as cooperative, bonding activity rather than competitive.

Chagall's mom

That was hilarious to watch! I love how victory goes to the pretty little poodle girl with the cool hairdo, no questions asked! Good for Sasha, being "dainty" doesn't make her a pushover. Persistence, thy name is Sasha, indeed!

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outwest

Bonnie loves tug, too. She is annoying sometimes because she is always throwing a rope in my face while I am trying to blob out on the couch. I am glad the experts say it is okay to do it because we do that a lot!

Arcticfox

I can't get Tesla to engage in tug games with me. She seems to prefer just chewing on whatever toy we're using on her own. When she takes a toy, she will deliberately lie down facing away from me. o.0
When I offer a tug toy, she'll just chew (constantly adjusting her grip) on the end closest to her but doesn't clamp down. I don't know if it's something wrong with her mouth or bite so that she can't clamp down, or whether she's just not interested in tugging? We have a couple of different toys, a plush duck with a rope for a tail, a ball attached to a rope, a kong wubba octopus, etc. None of them have gotten her to clamp down on it for more than a couple seconds. If I try to shake the toy or pull on it even a little bit, she'll just drop it. Then try to chew it again.

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Onyx11

Gosh Sasha is so cute!!!! I don't think I could say no ever to her!

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