I’m sharing my pro tips for safe and fun tug games with your puppy or dog. Tugging is an incredible way to build engagement, trust, and focus when done right!
Transcript Summary:
There is one super important rule that if you just implemented this one rule in all your tug sessions, I promise you will make your relationship more clear with your dog and make tugging a lot more safe for everyone.
That rule is this. If any part of your mouth comes off the toy and goes to my sleeve or goes to my flesh or goes to my pant leg, even by accident, I’m going to stop the game. Game over. It’s like the emergency stop button on an elevator—end of game. I’m not mad. I don’t scold the dog or the puppy. It’s just, ‘Oh, you hit that spot that means the game goes away for now.’ End of game. That is the number one rule of tugging. A dog’s mouth coming in contact with my clothing or my skin is inappropriate communication.
Now, if you play tug with that puppy and then you got up and started walking, and they grabbed your pant leg; if you just stood still, that’s an extension of end of game. It’s so much easier for my puppies to understand don’t grab my clothing if I have tugged with them. They get it so fast. So tugging is brilliant for building and growing that relationship.
It teaches boundaries. Tug when I ask you to, out when I ask, it teaches very clear communication between you, “your mouth doesn’t belong on my body or my clothing”. And it also teaches the dog that when I’m tugging with something, and I say, “switch,” and I go to another toy, you don’t obsess over the one I’ve dropped.
You might say, “Oh, I want that one.” The puppy might be saying, “Well, no, no, no. I want that one.” When they learn to tug with the toy you suggest, it makes them easier to ignore distractions when they are working with you later on in life. Tugging, of course, it changes the dog’s arousal state. It gets them more excited, which means they’re far more likely to ignore distractions in their environment, which makes it super easy for dog training both at home but more importantly, when you go somewhere else, and you want to engage that dog.
Now, I’m going to give you a little warning here. Tugging is something that is done in a safe environment. So, of course, I do it at home and in the backyard and in training buildings; if you go to training class or if you go to competitions, you always want to be aware. Sometimes a dog tugging with you and having fun and growling will create arousals in dogs nearby.
So, before you tug at the park, always be aware if there’s any dogs in your environment. Please be safe. Safety first. Safety of the people, safety of the dogs. Okay. The five common mistakes people make when they’re trying to tug with their dog. They’re really divided into two groups.
So, the one is the handler’s experience, and the other is the dog’s experience. If you break any of those rules that I just mentioned that if a puppy bites my hand, you keep tugging, then you are telling your dog that’s a fair way to communicate with me. So that ruins the handler experience, especially if you have small children that eventually you would like them to have a role in playing tug with the dog.
If you’ve established these clear boundaries, your dog may be able to tug with any kid down the road. Your dog may be able to tug with your children depending on the age of your child of course. The experience of the handler takes a turn for the worst when you don’t observe that very important rule.
Also, you are the one who starts and ends the games, right? So, if you’re sitting and watching TV and your dog goes, “Hey, let’s tug.” and you kind of absentmindedly tug, and then the dog says, “I’m done.” and walks away, you are creating different sets of rules. You’re telling your dog when it’s my time to chillax and watch TV; that’s when you can bother me.
And you’re also saying when you and I are playing, a.k.a. working together, you can decide when you want to walk away from work. The handler’s experience, it’s super important that you keep those boundaries clear for the dog.
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