My 8-month-old dog gets very possessive with his toy when I let him have it when we play tug, any suggestions? 

Hi, I purchased the Power of Playing Tug DVD and it has helped me a lot especially on the out as I didn’t have one prior to watching. My dog has a high drive for the tug, bites well in any position, outs ( most of the time !! ), will do obedience and heel work for it, brings it straight back when I throw it but if I let him have it from tugging without throwing he gets possessive….. any suggestions/advice greatly appreciated.

Thank you

It’s only when I let him have the toy from tugging, he will just slowly back away with a bit of a please don’t take it off me look if that makes sense…. If I say no and ask him to come back he does but reluctantly. ( always off lead/leash )

I just find it odd as if I throw it after he outs from tugging he can’t get it back to me quick enough.

No aggression involved to date.

He will happily switch from one toy to another. Switching toys is what I’ve always done with him from 2 months old and I didn’t have any issues with him outing or possession until I accidentally only had 1 rubber ring with me one day and then I started having issues with him outing and wanting to keep it. That was from 6 months so from then on I have only used one toy when we were playing.

I use either a rubber ring, ball on string, mixture of different tugs.

I played with rubber rings only from 2-4/5 months but he then favoured them over any new toys I introduced so I started using all different toys and now he will play with anything. 

Thank you for all the info much appreciated. Why is dog training all I think about :)  He is now off lead, tugs, returns with tug when I throw it, returns when I let him win and outs :)