skycat 6,174 Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 The thing is, playing tug does not make a dog hard mouthed, nor does it encourage the dog to play tug with its catch or retrieved game. What it does is teach the dog to come straight to you carrying something, then, if you have taught the rules of the tug game correctly, the dog releases the item/rabbit/pheasant or whatever the moment you give it the release command. Tug isn't just played with no rules, that would indeed lead to a dog that tries to pull something out of your hand. Tug teaches the dog to 'cap the prey drive', which means that when you say 'Give' the dog gives very quickly because it has learned that the next moment it will be playing the game again. When you transfer this game to the field, the dog is already conditioned to 'want' to bring stuff to you because it has learned that in doing so it remains in the best place emotionally: in the zone where it feels good about chasing and grabbing/catching/picking up. Even my Saluki lurcher brings rabbits or tennis balls or dummies to me exactly the same, and stands in front of me waiting for the command to give, with no messing, shaking or crunching. It works the same on any type of dog, gun dog, lurcher or anything else. Quote Link to post
slipper 116 Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 Sounds ok to me, I would like to try this with my spaniel but is there a certain way to go about it like you say there must be rules Quote Link to post
Casso 1,264 Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 The term tug training is in itself misleading, it's training in drive, it's easy to understand the owner misgiving about an interaction where you intentionally encourage a dog to bite down on an item when looking for a soft mouthed mutt but it's all about contrast, The dog is an animal bred to bite and shake it out, it's the ultimate canine objective from the wolf right down to every puppy born to a bitch but pups learn early that biting a puppy mate has consequences, so it's repressed , the same way pups are repressed by owners from biting in the following months , strong little jaws and needle sharp teeth are extremely painfully on soft human skin , What the protection world have learnt, is if you encourage and not repress the biting instinct it gives the greatest reward the dog can achieve and if you have the ultimate reward for the dog you become the one who must be obeyed , you can control the dog in a heightened state of excitement in other words , in drive Why the hell would a Mal go through hell or high water to hit a guy with a sleeve at 30 miles an hour disregarding it's own personal safety , thats the level of biological want a canine has for what started off as a tug item, As far as contrast goes, a fighter can only understand how to spar lightly once he has learnt how hard to hit the heavy bag, the canine is the most efficient energy conserving animal out there, he's not going to bust his nuts shaking up a rabbit like he will a fox , it just don't calculate in the canine mind, and the reason for it been that it can contrast between the two, so if a bird don't need crunching I don't see why the hell a dog would be bothered if he can contrast Tug item is just another way of training , it's more in keeping with the mindset of a working dog and the excitement prey produces But I can understand the issues that gun dog owners might have but as a reward for a heel and a retrieve or recall drive training is a great training tool. 1 Quote Link to post
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