Your dog will love playing with a tug toy, and so will you! But you need to make sure you encourage your pup to do it properly. Not only will it be fun, but you can use it as a valuable training tool.
If you are new to tug toys start with a wiggle! That’s the toy, not you. Wiggle it around at different speeds to get your pups interest and to act like something they will want to pounce on; slow, fast, slow. When your dog grabs the tug, make sure to use lots of praise so they know they are doing the right thing, encourage your dog to bite the whole tug.
Once they have hold of the tug toy properly, only use slight tension on the toy. If they let go they shouldn’t be able to just grab it again and this will avoid them just making their way up to where your hand is! It’s important to let your dog ‘win’ the game of tug every now and again, especially at the beginning. Once your dog is a confident tugger then you can up the tension and pull back on them more. The stretch in our tug toys helps to reduce jarring, but try to use a back and forth, or side to side movement so you won’t hurt pups neck. Also add in throwing the tug for them to fetch, it keeps the game interesting.
Put the toy away once you have finished playing, so that the excitement of playing with the toy is kept to maximum! Playing tug is physically tiring, mentally stimulating and does not cause aggression in dogs. It’s one of the best ways of burning off your pups energy, and helps you bond at the same time!
This is a great resource for how and why you should teach your dog how to play with a tug toy: www.puppyleaks.com/tug-war/
Responsible tugging!
Your dog will love playing with a tug toy, and so will you! But you need to make sure you encourage your pup to do it properly. Not only will it be fun, but you can use it as a valuable training tool.
If you are new to tug toys start with a wiggle! That’s the toy, not you. Wiggle it around at different speeds to get your pups interest and to act like something they will want to pounce on; slow, fast, slow. When your dog grabs the tug, make sure to use lots of praise so they know they are doing the right thing, encourage your dog to bite the whole tug.
Once they have hold of the tug toy properly, only use slight tension on the toy. If they let go they shouldn’t be able to just grab it again and this will avoid them just making their way up to where your hand is! It’s important to let your dog ‘win’ the game of tug every now and again, especially at the beginning. Once your dog is a confident tugger then you can up the tension and pull back on them more. The stretch in our tug toys helps to reduce jarring, but try to use a back and forth, or side to side movement so you won’t hurt pups neck. Also add in throwing the tug for them to fetch, it keeps the game interesting.
Put the toy away once you have finished playing, so that the excitement of playing with the toy is kept to maximum! Playing tug is physically tiring, mentally stimulating and does not cause aggression in dogs. It’s one of the best ways of burning off your pups energy, and helps you bond at the same time!
This is a great resource for how and why you should teach your dog how to play with a tug toy: www.puppyleaks.com/tug-war/