Dog Obedience Training - Teaching a Dog to Tug

Teaching a dog to tug whilst working through a dog obedience training program will leave you with a dog that can have fun whilst being trained.

So maybe you got a rescue dog or a dog from the pound and it does not tug for you. Bet you did not know that puppies actually forget how to tug but you can teach the put to tug again quite easily.

The simplest way is to get hold of a raw chicken wing and break it into 2 parts. To reduce the amount of food intake and increase the number of times you can use this game, just use the last portion of the wing, the thin pointy end, and you can casserole or barbeque the fatter end for yourself.

Holding the one end of the pointy portion of the wing, show it to the pup and let him take a hold of it. Now simply have a gentle tug, up and down, left and right, for about a minute. Let the pup have the wing.

Once he has a taste for the wing, tie a piece of string to the wing and let the dog chase the wing being dragged on the ground. Only drag for a few feet initially and then let the dog catch the wing. Have a good game of tug with the dog before snipping the string.

When the dog is happily chasing the wing and having a good game of tug with you, hold the wing in your hand but inside an old sock with just the tip poking out. Let the dog grab the wing tip and have a tug game.

After a few repetitions of this the sock will take on a chicken flavour and the dog will start playing with the sock. Drag the sock around on the ground and when the dog pounces on it get tugging with him.

You now have to get really excited when he holds onto the sock. Get your voice up several octaves and start talking in a fun and excited manner.

We now have to teach the release on command so that we can throw the toy for the pup and thus teach the retrieve.

When the dog is tugging the tug toy/sock, or whatever, put your hand on the collar and let the toy go. Do nothing else and say nothing. After a moment the dog will drop the toy and you must immediately click and treat the pup and pick up the sock or toy.

When he does this every time, you can then start putting your hand under the jaw, and let the toy fall into your hand. You now only click and reward when the toy is dropped into your hand.

In formal dog obedience training the dog is required to retrieve the toy and hold it until you ask him to give it to you. Using the click and treat system and the above steps will ensure you get a really good retrieve and the toy delivered to your hand.

Nev Allen has been training dogs for 30 years and wants to help you to make your puppy a good canine citizen. If you want to understand all that is involved with dog obedience training, clicker training and dog ownership then you can read articles and watch videos about these fascinating topics at http://dogobediencetrainingblogs.com

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