Playing With Your Dog – Tug of War

Play with your Dog Tug
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🐶💜Playing with your dog – Tug! 💜🐶

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We talk about playing with our dogs a lot ’round here … and for good reason! Playing with your dog is great for bonding, as well as giving your dog both the mental and physical stimulation they need!

So today we are going to talk about playing TUG with your doggie! 🐕

This is not the ideal game if your dog is aggressive or has resource guarding issues that you are working on.

But, if your dog does not fall into either category then playing tug is a great way to teach listening while excited or distracted.

Yes, even when you’re playing, you can still be training! So sneaky 😜

With a proper game of tug-of-war we are building relationships, trust and cooperation.

Here’s how it should go:

We all know the basics of tug-of-war. There’s this toy and both you and your dog want it. You each tug (not too much, you don’t want to hurt each other) and try to get the toy.

First rule: You don’t always have to win! I like to let my dog win most of the time to build her confidence.

If your dog gets the toy and runs away with it, don’t chase them. Instead, act disinterested. That’s not the game you’re playing and that’s no way to be cooperative!

If your dog does win, but places the toy at your hands or feet wanting to play again, great! Let’s play some more! The game is going very well

Your dog should have a reliable “drop it” cue learned, though this is also a good way to teach it if they don’t already know it yet.

If your dog gets too aggressive with their tug, give the “drop it” cue and take a quick break. Don’t play with the toy, just let it rest while you and your dog take a quick break.

Have a question about proper play with your dog? Let me know!

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