i have been working on bite with my 8 wek old pup and she is doing very well "great lines". but i wanted to play a bit more today and see how she would act if i drag a bite leg suit around well she pounce and bite and tossed and turn but as with the same problem with my tug it seems to be a bit much for her mouth and such. she does bite fully witht the molars and behind the K-9's and has a tight hold that can hold her own weight at 8 weeks i never seen a pup with a 20-30 mins worh of playing-training before loosing interrest. my question here is myu tug is only an inch or so thick but its not very soft should i maybe take some stuffing out to soften it up a bit " it's hard enough that if some one throws it at u it hurts!!"

At 8 weeks old, go buy a cheap hand towel and roll it up. Tape it, then tie it on a string. Cheap and effective.

Depending on what kind of tug we are talking about, water may soften it considerably.

I wouldn't be doing so much at once with a young pup though... twenty to thirty mins is way too much.

i would agree on a normal basis about the 20-30 mins being to much but i swear she eats it up my 2yrold only does 30 mins training sessions but this pup is weird i couldnt belive that she was willing and happy to play and train for this long

we start off with a bout 5-10 mins of tug o war and chase the tug

then about 5 mins of working on sit, down " food& praise only"

then about 5-10 mins of chase and tug owar again to lift the stress that the sit and down caused her

if this sounds to much or some where i should slack off let me know but i have to make her stop playing tug and chase cause she will not stop FRISKY PUP!!!!

From what I have seen working on bite work with a young pup, if you use something like a tug at that age they can't "kill it" it constantly bounces back, or as they squeeze the tug, it will bounce back. Hence, the game is not that fun. If you use burlap, or a towel they can bite it, and feel like they killed it because it has no resistance in there mouth. It will not "bounce back". Also keep in mind the adult teeth are not in. At this point I would not worry about grip either. Just work on getting a solid tug game going,(as you pull, it should pull) work what drives you see in the dog, perhaps gently touch it's nose as it's tugging, increase the stress in small steps, but raise the stress and aggrivation on the pup. A few training sessions later change from a gentle to a light slap on the muzzel. When you notice the dog spiking, or apexing, give it a reward (the burlap, also verbal, calming long praises with your hand, wait for the pup to drop the sack before returning to tug session). Also, with a burlap bag, if you work in right you should be able to activate a lot of it's prey drive. I agree with the others work in small amounts. One good training session for 5-10 minutes is a lot better then 20-30 minutes of trying to redue things. There minds aren't that developed yet for longer periods of stress and concentration. Take small steps. good luck..