How to Play Tug with Your Dog 

In our Dog Training Raleigh, NC classes, we often hear people ask about playing tug with their dog. Many have the wrong perception of how to do it correctly and how to use the game to build confidence. People simply do not realize how important this game is in confidence-building. We preach confidence building daily, at each and every lesson.
First, let’s correct some misinformation about playing tug:
First myth: Playing tug with your dog can lead to aggression. That is completely false. Actually, the complete opposite is true. Playing tug has never led to aggression in any dog we have ever seen or worked with. Again, playing tug is used to build confidence. Confident, happy dogs are not the ones biting.
Second myth: You should always win if you play tug in order to show that you are the dominant member of your pack. This is also completely false. Beating your puppy in tug is not something that will teach your dog that you are the leader. All it will do is help establish a low confidence level in your puppy. Imagine if your friends came over to play poker with you and they beat you every, single time. Would you want to continue to play with these people? Would you feel confident in betting money when playing with them? Where would you be on the confidence scale of 1 to 10? Probably pretty low. That is where your puppy’s confidence would be, as well if you beat him every, single time you play tug with him. Now, think of the same scenario but reverse the roles. Now imagine that you always beat your friends, every single time you played. How high would you be on the confidence scale then? In your mind, you are unbeatable. Losing isn’t even an option, right? Welcome to the world of how police, military, and personal protection dogs think. Your pup should always win in the game of tug!
So how do you get your dog to play with a special toy or tug?
First, in order to make your pup highly motivated for a ball, tug, or toy, it is essential that he does not have full access to it. What does this mean? He should have very limited access to that specific toy throughout the day. If he has access to the ball or tug all throughout the day, he will never be highly motivated for it. A quick analogy: a toy to dogs is like money to you. If you had unlimited access to money, you wouldn’t be very motivated to go to work because there is no incentive. The same principles apply with your puppy. If he has constant access to a toy; there is no incentive for him to “work” for it. A dog will never be too motivated for something he always has. The ball or tug becomes a special “treat” they get limitedly and on special occasions. If you fed your dog hot dogs every day; two meals per day; for one year, the dog would no longer consider hot dogs a treat — it will become every day food. This resonates the same for the ball or tug. So the best way to get your dog highly motivated for the toy or tug is to give him limited accessibility to that special tug or toy.
Generally, we use the toy or tug as a “reward” for doing something good. When training, we will do some obedience work, “mark” the behavior (more on this in the training section) and immediately reward with a quick game of a tug or by throwing the ball for them to chase. We play tug for a minute or two, immediately take the tug back and repeat the training.
Another thing to keep in mind: Don’t over-train with the tug or toy…. What I mean by this is that you should not keep playing with the dog until he loses interest in the tug or toy. Stop playing when the dog still wants to keep going. That is what builds up the drive and motivation for it. When your pup is still in the prime of wanting to play, tease them with the ball or tug and once they get all excited over it, simply turn and put it away to end the session. This really helps build their drive in a healthy, confident way. Next time you go to pull the tug or toy, they immediately want to play with it. By repeating this sequence over a period of weeks, you should really see your dog’s drive building up for the tug or toy you have assigned.
Last, make sure to make playing tug with your puppy, fun, engaging, and exciting. You should both be excited about it. While playing tug with your puppy or dog, pet him… lightly tapping him on his sides, head, and chest as he tugs. Again, you are building confidence and reinforcing everything he is doing right. This gets your puppy in the habit of being touched while he is tugging. Playing tug with your dog is a great activity used to build confidence and channel drive. This is just one example of the many ways we build healthy confidence during puppy training at Off Leash K9 Raleigh.
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