May 17, 2011
My female pup, 6 months old, has crazy ball drive. After watching the video, I tried to train with tugs, as advised by Michael. I'm having some problems with this, could you please advise?
Full Question:
Hi Cindy,I have received all 5 videos Michael Ellis. Very nice, I enjoyed them very much. Thanks.
I have a question, I hope you can give me some advice.
My female pup, 6 months old, has crazy ball drive. After watching the video, I tried to train with tugs, as advised by Michael. At first, my female was not so interested, but eventually she started to want to play, though not as high drive as with balls. I always train without leash when playing with ball or tug.
I try to play tug with my female and let her win after tugging for a while, by letting her have the tug. Then I would back away from her, encouraging her to bring back the tug, so we can start the game again. But my female just stops where she is, or worse runs away with the tug. Then I would run away from her, showing her another tug in my hand, to encourage her to come to me and play again. She would then pause, then decide to come over, but without the tug she had. She would leave the tug behind her.
My question is, how could I have her come back to me with the tug she got and start a new game? Should I leash her while tugging and gently tug her on the leash if she refuse to come? Should I use prong collar at this time? So far, I have never use a prong collar on my pups since I started trained from 2 months old. I have another pup that is not interested in tug, but ball crazy. Should I insist in tug, building tug drive? That may be time consuming and frustrating.
Please advise.
Cindy's Answer:
This is covered in The Power of Playing Tug with Your Dog DVD, you use a leash to encourage the dog to come back. You don’t use a prong to correct the dog. You also don’t use 2 toys, because you want the dog to bring back the original tug to continue the game.
I would recommend going back and watching portions of the tug DVD again, they are not meant to be watched just one time… I would recommend studying the sections you are having trouble with. You may need to watch it multiple times.
For dogs that are obsessed with only one item, like a ball, this is handler error. Dogs need to learn the game is with YOU, and the toy you present is what makes it fun. Later, you can go to a ball on a string but I would recommend using the tug to teach all the skills first.
We also have a Q&A on playing tug with your dog.
I hope this helps.
Cindy Rhodes
I would recommend going back and watching portions of the tug DVD again, they are not meant to be watched just one time… I would recommend studying the sections you are having trouble with. You may need to watch it multiple times.
For dogs that are obsessed with only one item, like a ball, this is handler error. Dogs need to learn the game is with YOU, and the toy you present is what makes it fun. Later, you can go to a ball on a string but I would recommend using the tug to teach all the skills first.
We also have a Q&A on playing tug with your dog.
I hope this helps.
Cindy Rhodes
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