개들이 터그 놀이를 해서는 안 되는 이유: 밝혀진 진실 #89

Really? Or don't tug with your dog with real fur, or it'll make them want to chase rabbits or squirrels. You know, there's good science and there's flawed science. And unfortunately, where dogs are concerned, a lot of people have really bad math and they add one plus one and they get 55. A lot of people believe if you have a sporting breed, like a pointer or a retriever, you should never play tug with those dogs because it will encourage them to have a hard mouth, which means they'll want to bite on the bird hard when they're retrieving it rather than have a nice soft mouth. Now, I will admit, I do not own a sporting breed of my own, but I've had many, many students who have, and they've all played tug with their sporting dogs. And they've all had very soft mouths when they needed to, to the point they could retrieve not only a bird, but also a raw egg. My past border collie, Buzzy, was crazy. And he loved to mouth all his toys. Every toy I would throw for him to retrieve, he would bite it and bite it and roll it over his feet and bite it. Unless I picked up an obedience dumbbell, I didn't want him ever to bite that. And so when I threw it, he knew with that item, I don't ever mouth. So the hard mouth or the soft mouth, even if the dog wanted to use a harder bite, it doesn't mean they're going to do it on a bird. But what happens is some dogs naturally have a harder mouth. And if that dog is a birding dog, the end by chance, somebody arbitrarily played tug with that dog as a puppy, they add one plus one and get 55. Another reason people will say is when you're tugging and your dog is growling, they are rehearsing dominance with you. Now, Susan, I think in episode number 88, you said that rehearsals of anything with my dog need to be avoided if it's a rehearsal I don't want to see repeated. Okay. First of all, science has debunked the dominance theory. Dogs do not try to dominate people. It's been proven it is wrong. Number two, when dogs are playing a game of tug, they are getting aroused. As I talked about in episode number 88, they get more excited and they get aroused. And they may vocalize growling or maybe barking, but there's growling because I'm happy and there's growling because I'm afraid or I'm growling because I'm trying to be a big tough dog. It's not the same. When you say that a tug plus a growl means my dog is going to learn to growl at me is like saying a dog who is aggressive at another dog through a fence should never be put in a fenced in backyard because even if there's no dogs there, the fence is going to make them aggressive. The dog's not going to get

aggressive because it's the trigger of the dog, not the fence that makes the dog want to fence fight. So it's the trigger of the toy that you are playing with that gets the dog excited and they show their joy with growling. That doesn't mean they're arbitrarily going to start growling at you for no reason. Another myth, people say fighting a dog for something they want is going to make them a resource guarder. If you have a dog who's a resource guarder, go and check out episode number 66, where I go into detail what I have done with my puppy this, when she started showing resource guarding. Number one thing is pick up all the resources around your house that your dog or puppy may want to guard. If you have a serious resource guarder that potentially will bite you, you should be using a veterinarian behaviorist. Do not try to deal with this very, very serious problem by yourself. Playing tug does not make a dog want to be a resource guarder. And finally, another thing I've heard is that tugging with a dog will make that dog overexcited and they're going to redirect and bite you or redirect and bite another dog. Now this one has some validity to it. If you're tugging with a dog in a frantic way and the other dogs in your house are running around and getting excited, chances are somebody may redirect that excitement and bite at a dog or that dog might redirect and bite at their person. That's a possibility. However, when you play tug with rules, it actually teaches the dog to never do that and way more. Let me share with you what I mean. The quality of our relationship with our dog dictates the quality of life that we have together. Tugging improves that relationship because it helps establish boundaries. The number one rule of tugging is you have to know how to stop. So, the number one thing that I'll do when I see that a puppy is interested in a toy, that after they're tugging for only a few seconds, I'll bring that toy close to my body. And when the puppy lets go, I instantly give them the toy with the cue, get it. So, if you do what I want you to do, you get what you want. Very quickly, I know that they're going to drop it when I bring it close to my body. I'll gather it up and kind of hide it in my hands if they don't. So, now I'm going to do this. As I'm tugging, I'm going to give them the cue to release the toy. Then I'm going to gather it close to my body. And when they do the release the toy, I'm either quickly going to give them back the toy or I'm going to give them a handful of cookies. If they're a dog that really loves cookies, you might do that.

More often than not, I will give them back that toy. So, now I'm establishing for the dog, when you tug and I say, I like to say thank you or out or whatever your release cue is, the dog instantly must follow. We're helping the dog understand in our relationship, there's boundaries. If I ask you to do something, you do it. It's just an extension of the game, it's your choice. And if you are not familiar with the game, it's your choice, I'm going to leave you a link in the show notes so you can learn more about that amazing game. Foundation of everything that I do with my dogs. It's your choice. You've got to start playing it. So, I've established for my dogs that when I ask you to play, we can play. But when I ask you to drop the toy, you've got to drop it. 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 safe environments. 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, but 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, aka 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, number one, you need to make sure that you're initiating the game of tug on a surface where they can get good traction with their paws, their back end in particular. So, carpeted room, outside on grass, on your couch or on your bed, if you don't have any carpets anywhere in your house that you can use, but somewhere that they can get their confidence in this game in a way that they can get traction. Number two, toy selection. Episode number 55, I go into great detail how to select the toy appropriate for the dog that you're training,

the age of the dog, and the way you want to use that toy. Most importantly is you want to have a toy that allows you to get your hand away from the dog's mouth. A lot of puppies won't tug if your hand is super close. Obviously, it also makes it more dangerous. Now, with an established tugger, with any one of my dogs, I can use any size toy because my dogs understand don't ever touch my hands that's holding that toy. We've established the rules, right? So, toy selection, super important. The surface you're choosing to play on, super important. The third thing for the dog's experience is don't go at them. So many people, when they're trying to tug with their dogs, they go, come on, get it. And they go towards the dog. This is a game that's triggering your dog's prey instinct, the primal drive to want to go and get something. How many rabbits walk up to your dogs and throw themselves in front of them? It's not as exciting, is it? Dogs love to chase rabbits because rabbits run in the opposite direction. So, when you're trying to engage tug, don't push it in your dog's face, right? Either run in the opposite direction or at the very least, pull back when you tell your dog to get the tug toy. Okay. And finally, and this one is so critical. This is a big mistake people make, and it could lead to very serious injuries for your dog. And that is your mechanics when you're tugging. So, you want to tug side to side. That way, you're going in a way that the dog's neck can bend. So many people, when they tug with the dog, they think that they're shaking out the sheets in the morning. The dog's neck shouldn't be bent back like that. Go with the physiology of the dog so that they can brace themselves. The best thing to do is that you become the anchor and let the dog provide the motion. If anything, just do a little snaking of the toy on the ground. Okay. So, big things that you can do that help make that experience brilliant for both you by following the rules that you've established and creating clear boundaries. And for your dog, by having a great surface that they can tug on, by choosing a very appropriate toy, by taking the toy and going in the opposite direction with that motion, and by tugging in a way that supports that dog and doesn't cause them any potential damage to their neck. That's it for today. Listen, if you have a challenge that you're facing tugging with your dog, please leave it in the comments for me below. And hey, if there's enough of you that have the same challenge, maybe I'll do a little video to help explain how to fix it. I'll see you next time. I'm Shaped by Dog.