Tug-of-war Questions

Darkpaladin · 08-27-2010, 04:04 AM

Hello everyone,

I have a question about the tug-of-war game. I have read many articles claiming that this game should either not be played if you can't control the game itself (start to end) or not sure if you can win.

Has any of you played this game with your dog and letting your dog win most of the times and never had any trouble with your dog about it? I mean, as far as I know when a dog wins this game over and over he might get confused and he might become dominant or aggressive. There are a few friends of mine who play this game with their dogs because they say they want them "high" all of the time and the see no aggression or dominance. Is that possible?

Mese · 08-27-2010, 04:25 AM

I play tug all the time with my three ... usually they win , and ive never noticed them misbehaving or disobeying any commands given them

This is just my personal opinion & its not directed at you hun , im just talking generally , but I think sometimes its easy to go overboard with the whole 'what causes dominance' issue

**Cali** · 08-27-2010, 10:50 AM

Tug doesn't cause aggression or "dominance" issues, and letting the dog win can be a great confidence booster! There's a good article about it but I can't remember where. However, have you read Debunking the Dominance Myth - Dog Public ?
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MorningGlory · 08-27-2010, 01:04 PM

Much as Cali points out, there hasn't been any proven link between tug-of-war and aggression.

That said, you can actually use your tug-of-war games to help teach your dog how to 'give' on cue even under high distraction. Even if your dog already knows 'give' it doesn't hurt to reinforce the cue with the game.

You can also use tog-of-war to "teach" your dog how to lower arousal (calm himself down), develop impulse control, and stimulate his mind.

Essentially, by incorporating these two things into the mix it makes tug-of-war not only a good game to but a great game to play with your dog.

Here is an article about the "chill-out" impulse control game. Using this via tug-of-war will to help your dog develop the neurons to lower arousal. It's worth noting that the game does require having sit or down solidly on cue, but getting to that point doesn't take too much effort:

http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/LoweringArousal.pdf

The Kikopup videos have an excellent how-to on playing tug-of-war and reinforcing the 'give' cue using a treat in exchange for the tug item:

YouTube - Dog Training Tip of the Day- Tugging with your dog

MorningGlory · 08-27-2010, 01:16 PM

Addition:

Here is a sort of interesting article on using tug-of-war and how this trainer uses it as an aggression outlet (i.e. to make aggression problems diminish):

LEE CHARLES KELLEY

**Criosphynx** · 08-27-2010, 01:35 PM

Tug is awesome....in contrast...I think the dog should always or mostly win...

this is my favorite speel on it

Dog Training: How to be calm, assertive, AND relaxed – be the moose! - Natural Dog Blog – Training and More

now, you do want the dog to bring the toy back to you if they win...

**alfi** · 08-27-2010, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Criosphynx

...I think the dog should always or mostly win...

I totally agree with this! Like it's already said it can be a great confidence booster!

BTW Crio this was an amazing article to read! Thank you!!
Being the most attractive thing to your dog...this is what I'm thinking all the time!

MorningGlory · 08-27-2010, 05:42 PM

Quote:

...imagine that your dog and a group of friends are hanging out, sniffing their way through the woods. They come to a clearing, and there, in the middle of the field, is a big moose. Slowly the dogs approach from the side, fanning out, and getting ready to make the kill (if your dog is a yorkie terrier this is where the story might start to amuse you, but please, bear with me).

I XD'd

Darkpaladin · 09-06-2010, 05:43 AM

When we play neither one of us wins I just tell her to DROP IT and she does. So far she has no problem, or having low self esteem (rather the opposite I would say). I have seen some cases that a win in tug-of-war with dogs raises their confidence a bit too much sometimes and leads to aggression (my friends' Pit Bull had that problem which started, from what he said, one day when they played tug-of-war after so many times they had played it seemed odd to him that his dog growled at him and after that things took a turn for the worse so he went to a trainer who cut them completely off the tug of war).

I know that in some cases (especially sporting show dogs) tug-of-war is something that MUST be used to raise the spirit of the dog.

I might be wrong, but I prefer to play tug-of-war only if I control the game (when it starts and when it ends).

This is how we do it: We tug for a while then I Que to drop it, Zeva does drop it and I drop it and I pick it up praise her and give it back to her to do whatever she wants with it.

Darkpaladin · 09-06-2010, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Criosphynx

Tug is awesome....in contrast...I think the dog should always or mostly win...

this is my favorite speel on it

Dog Training: How to be calm, assertive, AND relaxed – be the moose! - Natural Dog Blog – Training and More

now, you do want the dog to bring the toy back to you if they win...

I just finished reading this and it was quite fascinating. I loved the whole "moose" theory. I still kinda object to the way the tug of war is played (I don't object so much though he makes some good points) but the chase thing that he mentions we play A LOT. Zeva and many of the dogs I rehabilitated from shelters LOVED to chase me and along with some of my neighbor kids they would ring my door bell and let Zeva and any other dog I had fostering at that time come out to play CHASE, which was a game of the kids running and Zeva and other dog chase the kids around the yard and bark when they got close to the kids (like telling TUG YOU ARE IT or something) and going to the next kid.