| Introduction to the Course | + |
| Lesson 1 |
Course Information |
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| Lesson 2 |
Changing Your Password |
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| Lesson 3 |
Asking Questions/Getting Feedback |
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| Lesson 4 |
How to Use This Course |
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| Introduction to Tugging | + |
| Lesson 1 |
Why do I tug with my dog? |
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| Lesson 2 |
The Most Important Thing |
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| Lesson 3 |
Tugging Demonstration |
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| Lesson 4 |
Choosing a Tug Toy |
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| Lesson 5 |
What About Food Toys? |
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| Lesson 6 |
At What Age Should You Start Tug Training? |
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| Lesson 7 |
Teething and Tugging |
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| Lesson 8 |
Tugging and Other Dog Sports |
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| The Chase | - |
| Lesson 1 |
How to Entice Your Dog to Chase the Toy |
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| Lesson 2 |
Demonstration of Good Chasing |
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| Lesson 3 |
Restrained Recall to Toy on a Line (Beginner) |
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| Lesson 4 |
Restrained Recall to Toy in Hand (Advanced) |
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| The Bite | + |
| Lesson 1 |
How to Present Toys and Avoid Getting Bitten |
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| Lesson 2 |
How to Tug with Toys on a Line |
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| Lesson 3 |
How to Tug with Medium Length Fleece Toys |
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| Lesson 4 |
How to Tug with Dog on Leash |
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| Lesson 5 |
How to Present the Hol-ee Roller |
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| Lesson 6 |
How to Avoid Further Injury if Your Dog Accidentally Bites You |
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| The Fight | + |
| Lesson 1 |
Watch for the Weight Shift |
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| Lesson 2 |
Protect Your Back |
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| Lesson 3 |
Additional Resource: How to Lift Heavy Weight Safely |
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| Lesson 4 |
Protect Your Neck |
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| Lesson 5 |
Tugging With a Toy While on a Leash |
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| The Release | + |
| Lesson 1 |
When to Add the Release |
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| Lesson 2 |
How to Get the Toy Back Before You Add a Release Cue |
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| Lesson 3 |
Teaching the Release |
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| Lesson 4 |
Building Duration into the Release |
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| The Retrieve | + |
| Lesson 1 |
Demonstration of the Retrieve |
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| Lesson 2 |
Try This Quick Fix First |
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| Lesson 3 |
How to Mark When Teaching the Retrieve |
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| Lesson 4 |
Example of Traditional Retrieve Training |
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| Lesson 5 |
Case Study: Problem Golden Retriever |
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| Lesson 6 |
Case Study: Using Opposition Reflex |
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| Lesson 7 |
Case Study: Success with the Dog |
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| Lesson 8 |
Case Study: Transitioning to Thrown Toy |
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| Lesson 9 |
Case Study: Adding an Obstacle to the Retrieve |
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| Lesson 10 |
Retrieve to Hand or Drop at Feet |
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| Lesson 11 |
Transitioning to a "Dead" Toy |
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| Lesson 12 |
Ellie's First Retrieve |
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| Lesson 13 |
Retrieving with the Holee Roller |
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| Tugging and Retrieve Games | + |
| Lesson 1 |
Games Introduction |
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| Lesson 2 |
Enticement |
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| Lesson 3 |
Front Wheel Drive |
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| Lesson 4 |
Muzzle Grab (Improving Grip) |
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| Lesson 5 |
Mommy (or Daddy) Jungle Gym |
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| Lesson 6 |
You're So Strong |
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| Lesson 7 |
Push-Pull |
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| Lesson 8 |
Multi Toy Game |
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| Using Food to Teach Tugging | + |
| Lesson 1 |
Dinner Bowl Protocol for Food-Only Dogs |
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| Lesson 2 |
Tugging as a Trick |
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| Lesson 3 |
Tugging as Part of a Behavior Chain |
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| Special Topics | + |
| Lesson 1 |
Tugging with sensitive dogs |
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| Lesson 2 |
Transitioning from Fun Toys to Functional Toys (or Leash Tugging) |
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| Lesson 3 |
Leash Tugging Demo with a Small Dog |
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| Lesson 4 |
Establishing a default behavior (eye contact) |
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| Lesson 5 |
Tugging for Competition |
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| Lesson 6 |
Tugging for Training |
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| Lesson 7 |
Should I Hide the Toy? |
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| Lesson 8 |
How to Transport Your Dog Between Sequences |
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| Lesson 9 |
Adding distractions |
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| Lesson 10 |
If Your Dog Tugs at Home But Not at Trials |
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| Lesson 11 |
Tugging on Both Sides of the Ring Gate |
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| Lesson 12 |
How to Tug in Small Spaces at Trials |
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| Lesson 13 |
Use Your Voice: Praise vs Mark on Long Line |
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| Lesson 14 |
Distractions and Toy Selection in New Locations |
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| Lesson 15 |
Helping Your Novice Dog with Your Veteran Dog |
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| Q & A Sessions | + |
| Lesson 1 |
May 2020 Q & A |
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| Lesson 2 |
July 2020 Q&A |
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| Lesson 3 |
October 2020 Q&A |
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| Lesson 4 |
February 2021 Q&A |
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| Lesson 5 |
April 2021 Q&A |
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| Resources and Feedback | + |
| Lesson 1 |
Make a Suggestion |
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| Lesson 2 |
Testimonial |
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Introducing Indy! He’s 12 weeks old today. Here’s our very first video. I think he’s going to be a very good tugger! https://youtu.be/JB1Cr6bXLXM
OMG this is the cutest thing I’ve seen this week. That is GREAT tugging starting material! I like how you were gentle and I love the body patting/ body play.
With such a great start, be very very careful to watch for signs of teething. If you see blood on the toy or find teeth on the ground, I would take a break. I will only continue on if the dog is full on tugging and doesn’t appear to be phased at all. But if you’re still building up the tugging desire or see ANY dip in enthusiasm during teething, then I would take a break.
TY!
My first attempt at The Chase lesson with Casey Jones. I think this is what we’re looking for? How to improve my mechanics?
https://youtu.be/idPed7h9Shg
This looks great! Same as the other dog, I would mix in some they don’t start with a control position.
My first attempt at The Chase lesson with Enkidu. Are we on the right track here?
https://youtu.be/tOQaw37kAu4
Absolutely – looks fantastic. It’s actually quite advanced to start with a stay but your dog does great and has great chase drive. You could also start with something like a tunnel or a jump wrap to give you a running start. But it looks like you have the chase drive and you’re not making any typical “mistakes” like making it too hard for the dog to see or chase the toy.
Hello! My 2yo Kelpie mix won’t chase. I follow the instructions in lesson 1, module 3 video and he just looks at me like “what are you doing mom?”
I’d try sitting on the ground and playing with the dog there, using your hands, without a line attached to the toy. A few dogs do seem confused when you drag a toy on a line. You can also try getting outside to a larger space where you can run in a long straight line with the toy behind you, and this usually gets dog out of their confused state and chasing the toy more. Let me know if that works.
Thank you Esteban! I will try that.
Hello, This is going to be more challenging than I thought…We went outside. Reese wouldn’t chase, but randomly grabbed the toy and started tugging. I encouraged him, he released on command and I immediately cued him to resume tugging. I did notice that he was nawing on the toy at times. This session did not last long before he lost interest.
That’s great! Keep your sessions short and I want them to end before he loses interest. It’s ok to keep your dog wanting more. Your next step to focus on is encouraging him to win by letting him pull you forward, you can gently praise him while he does that. Keep your sessions 30-60 seconds max.
YAY! We are making progress!!
Excellent! Glad to hear it!
Hi! First post about my dog. He is 3 and does agility with purely food based rewards. He doesn’t play with toys at all on his own or with me even in the house. I have been trying to get him to tug for a while so I am excited to be in this course. I think my biggest challenges right now are getting him to bite hard enough and be excited about the game, and also he loves to destroy toys so when I let go sometimes he will go off and chew. He seems to like if I growl at him. Watching my video back I can see I am holding the toy too high, but I find when I lower it he doesn’t pull back to tug as much. Looking forward to suggestions! Also – I have a variety of tug toys but he seems to like this ring the most. https://youtu.be/PfUr9hVix5E
You’re doing very well! Grip strength and excitement will increase with practice. Keep your sessions short and have a clear picture of exactly what behavior you want to reward. Discussion and feedback here: https://youtu.be/WOhJzKHNZCw
Thank you so much for all the feedback. I’ve been practicing everyday. Some are better than others. I find he’s way better when he’s in a hyper mood, but if he’s not it takes a lot to motivate him to tug. I’ve also tried to tug at a few different locations and that’s a lot harder for him too. I’m wondering on my video if you can give me feedback on when I mark the good tugging and then he takes the toy. I go back and grab it to get more tugging, Is that ok? I tried the rebite too by holding it close to my body and motionless – tonight it worked ok but some days he doesn’t pull as hard after the rebite, and suggestions? Thank you https://youtu.be/QNpwh6K2Iq4
Great job! Yes it’s ok to go and pick up the toy–eventually you’ll teach the dog to bring the toy to you for tugging. Lower your expectations and shorten each session in new places. Tips on getting a good rebite are in this feedback: https://youtu.be/2pEny5ovQ98
Hi! This is my first post about my dog, Flint. A bit of history…. he’s a 3 year old English Shepherd and the first dog that I’ve tried to train in agility. As a puppy, he had a lot of enthusiasm for chasing toys and tugging (although he’s never had a good retrieve). We were enrolled in a different online agility program that emphasizes toy rewards and he was doing ok. It seemed like the more I tried to use toys in training, the less Flint has wanted to play. I’m sure it’s something I’ve done, but I don’t know what or how to fix. Here’s where we’re at (I’m sorry it’s such a long video! It took a bit to get him engaged with me). He’s a completely different dog when I’m using food as a reward. https://youtu.be/G-4HfrwOxzs
Great job! I think you have a lot of potential here, especially if he has worked for toys before. Keep a clear picture in your head of thebehavior you want, and reward that behavior any time it pops up. Let the dog be in charge, all we can do is offer rewards. Discussion here: https://youtu.be/bToj3jb7i0U
Thank you, thank you so much for such a detailed response! I think you’re right about both the distraction level of being outside and avoidance of the toy. I can switch to indoors, although it’s a pretty small space (but maybe that’s ok for now). That makes a lot of sense about just waiting him out until he chooses to check in with me and then rewarding with the toy. For the marker word, I’ve used “yes” during other training but I know he’ll stop tugging and drop the toy as soon as I say that because he’s expecting a food reward. I’m thinking I need another marker word for tugging? And that makes a lot of sense to let him win the toy during his best tugging moments (before he gets bored and lets go). I can see where never letting him win has made the game less fun for him. Flint loves to lie down and chew his toys, so I haven’t been letting go of the toy very often in the past. Should I just let that be the end of the game for now?
Thank you again – I really appreciate the feedback!
Yes, I end the game and let my dogs run away with the toy or lie down and chew it, whatever they want. Yes, you can use a different marker word that means “reward is coming, and it’s the tug” vs “yes” which means “reward is coming, and it’s food”.
Toby’s grip is getting stronger, but he still doesn’t pull back against me very well. In this video, he did get a couple of re-bites, but only because he let go himself before he wanted to. He still won’t bite if I just present the ball. He wants me to throw it first. I think my timing on the yes marker was a little slow. I wanted you to see how much string is on this ball. I tried a longer one and he wouldn’t fetch it. At least he is bringing this one back pretty well and seems to like the fight part of the process. What should I try to emphasize next, the re-bite? https://youtu.be/Y319JttI32Q
Re-bites can be tough with a ball because it’s not easy for dogs to grab the ball. Since he naturally drops the toy often, I would not focus on that right now. Instead, I’d work on being able to get my second hand on him as a distraction/motivator. If he does not tolerate it well, you may have to start with simply raising your hand or bringing it a foot away from him, but not touching him, and praising when he continues to tug with your hand in that position, then over a few sessions, bring it closer until you have a quick contact with his body, and praise.
Yes he will let me touch his sides when he tugs. I did that earlier today. https://youtu.be/G7oPps2K5cQ I used to do it when he was learning to bring back his ball so I could get a hold of his ball because he wouldn’t give it to me. Now he will bring it to my hand, but likes to pull on it before giving it up, then I throw it again for him. Should I keep touching his back and sides, and maybe do more of that each time we tug? Do I need to try to get the string part longer? I have not tried holding his muzzle, but his grip is getting stronger anyway.
This looks fantastic! Yes, let’s go ahead and try some re-bites. You’ll get him tugging like this, then go quiet, stop moving your body and stop moving the toy and give your “release” cue (whatever word you want) and then wait. The moment he lets go, immediately say “Get it” again and restart the game as you normally would with the toy in your hand. If he isn’t willing to bite with it in your hand (which would be ideal) I think it’s ok to drop the toy the moment he releases, and he can bring it to you and re-start the game that way.
Thank you for the suggestions. When he lets go he usually will watch for me to throw the toy again. In fact, he usually takes off running in anticipation of me throwing it. (I didn’t teach him to stay while I throw and then wait for me to tell him to “get it”. Oops) I will try dropping it quickly and see if he will re-bite. Seems like that might work, thanks.
I have been using a tennis ball on a rope with pretty good chase results. After three sessions still no bite, just nose the ball and come back to me. Advice on how to get a bite?
He chases but when you pause for a moment, he never picks up the toy in his mouth? Can you send me a video? Either post a link here or email it.
If he chases but never picks it up, ever, then you can go back to the shaping route but swap in a wooden dowel or a bumper or even a chew stick (raw hide etc), and click and treat that, and then get some tugging on the stick, and then progressively build off that.
Here is a video. Ended with two tosses of a “real” ball. I ordered some bully sticks to try those.
https://youtu.be/EvQPEdUbaF4
Great job! Ok I want you to try this: drop the ball without a rope like you did at the end, and when the dog picks it up in his mouth, mark it and then treat. Then do it again. Do not reward for nose touching, only mark for picking it up in the mouth. Then swap in the ball on the rope, dropping it the same way as the ball only, and reward the dog only for picking it up. Be prepared to wait for a minute and see what the dog offers if he doesn’t immediately pick it up. Have the second ball (on a string) ready to go nearby so you can transition quickly. Again, it’s #1 ball #2 ball #3 ball with line. If that works, you can do it again in a separate session and tape that session if you like and then we’ll go from there.
I don’t think I did this as you suggested, but I did get a greatly improved chase. Also, I thought “Koli has a great catch, I should toss him the ball on the rope.” So maybe there is some was to transition this to picking up the ball on the rope.
https://youtu.be/LdPR4OWgMsU
You have two choices.
#1 you can ask for the catch and mark it when he catches it, and then start delaying the mark by one second, so he has to hold it longer and longer in his mouth before you mark and treat. If he drops it before you mark, no treat, and you try again. We want him to catch the ball, and hold it a few seconds while we put tension on the line so that we start the “tugging” feeling, but this will be a session or two away. First you have to get him on the ball and holding it for longer periods of time.
#2 Drag the ball on the ground and be more patient, and don’t mark anything unless it’s him picking it up in his mouth.
Either way, you are too “encouraging” during the chase” and not praising enough when the ball is actually in his mouth, which is what we want more than anything else. Your marks need to be more clear as well, a clear firm “yes!” when he has done what you want. There’s a little too much chatter and I don’t hear a clear mark when he catches the ball.
Are you using verbal praise only as a reward? Here is a video of us playing with “bite it” as a cue to take the toy in his mouth, & also mixing in a sit with a release to the toy. You’ll see he goes for the T & T when released so I am waiting for him to get the toy & bring it to me before rewarding. This is something I’m playing around with & appreciate your feedback. https://youtu.be/X6qe6IIcqLg
In this video, we’re definitely training tugging as a BEHAVIOR rather than a REWARD. And that’s ok, you just need to realize that that’s what’s happening. If you haven’t had a chance yet, you can review the two videos we did teaching the tug as a behavior that is then rewarded with food.
https://baddogagilityacademy.com/course/complete-guide-to-tugging/module-9/tugging-as-a-trick/
https://baddogagilityacademy.com/course/complete-guide-to-tugging/module-9/tugging-as-part-of-a-behavior-chain/
A few feedback points:
1) Are you using a marker? I don’t hear the beep of the T&T, just the whirring. You can either use the beep or you can use a clicker or you can use a marker word. But you need to be precise in your marking. Then you can layer on verbal praise.
2) With a dog you are trying to BUILD tug drive with, I would eliminate the control aspects of the exercise. Instead of having the dog hold a sit while you throw the toy, I would do a collar hold, a rev up, or even just have them free next to you. Holding position while you through takes some of the drive out of the exercise. It’s important with dogs that have a lot of drive, but unnecessary and perhaps harmful to dogs whose drive is lower and you’re trying to build it up. You can also throw and immediately release your dog to get it while it’s still moving so you get a little more of the chase drive from the dog. For example: https://baddogagilityacademy.com/course/complete-guide-to-tugging/module-7/transitioning-to-a-dead-toy/
Great, thanks! I haven’t watched the videos yet but those are the next ones I plan to view. Cosmo has never liked collar grab or physical restraint so I’ll keep him free range. We also play a retrieve game with the T & T that he visibly enjoys more between start to finish. I am using a verbal marker (“yes”) for “bite it” and also use lots of verbal encouragement for the retrieve.
Toby won’t grab the toy in my hand, so I tossed it to get him to grab it. I’m trying a different toy. He has played with it before, but it’s been a while. I guess he likes new toys. Am I still talking too much before he gets the toy? Is my session a good length? Should I take the toy away and put it up after I let him win? If so, how soon after? This link is 2 back to back sessions earlier today. (Don’t know if I attached it right.) https://youtu.be/k6U-ZKj1Ab8
You’re talking is ok–I prefer to say “ready, steady…” as part of my enticement, and saying “get it!” just once, maybe twice. Definitely change your “yes yes yes” to “good boy good boy” if you want “yes” to function as your “click” replacement word. Save the “yes” for marking what you want. No, you don’t have to take the toy unless he’s a dog that will run around with it for 10 minutes and make you crazy. You had some good tugging to build on, now we are looking to praise those moments and ignore the rest. Feedback here: https://youtu.be/WU1eARgByrg
Thank you for the great feedback. Especially your voice-over on my video. That really helped me see exactly where I’m doing OK and where my mistakes are. It gives me a lot to work on. It’s good to know I am doing part of it right and good to know not to use my “clicker word” too much as I was doing. I’ll try to pay more attention to that.
Koli is great chasing/retrieving tennis balls. Anything else, no interest. Here is a brief video to show you are baseline starting point.
My goal would be to have him tug as a trick to have him be focused on me as we go to the start line.
https://youtu.be/CGorVTVFb0Y
I enjoy watching your dog work. He’s interacting with the toy, so now we need to shape him to take it in his mouth rather than nosing it with his muzzle. Be patient.
You can also take another route which is to start with a stick (like a 10″ dowel) and present that and see if he will bite that. Before that you can also get him a chew stick which most dogs will naturally try to bite. Same thing, let him take it and then click and treat and let him have the chew stick as well, then the next session, transition to a stick, then to the toy presenting it as you did.
For a ball crazy dog, I like a ball on a tug as a transition step. You’re doing the right thing, now we just need to figure out how to get him to offer the bite.
You can also try a third option, which is attach the toy with the ball on it to a leash or long line, and drag that around, and the moment he takes it into his mouth, click and treat.
One more note, presenting the toy with your “get it!” cue, whatever word you use, and then moving backward but holding the toy clearly in front of the dog, will also help the dog be more likely to follow it and try to latch on. Hold the toy lower then the dog’s head as well.
We added a new section on teaching tugging as a behavior rather than building it up as a reward.
https://baddogagilityacademy.com/course/complete-guide-to-tugging/module-9/tugging-as-a-trick/
I’ll preface this question by stating that I haven’t gone past this lesson so my apologies if this is covered later.
My question is how important is it for the dog to interact with the toy at this stage? I’m starting with an adult, non-tugging dog who so far will chase the toy but not pounce or grab at it. Will that come with time or should I be encouraging him to interact with it more? Thanks.
Chasing is great! That shows a lot of interest, so now you want to move the toy in a way that the dog feels confident enough to pounce or bite at it. After moving the toy away from the dog, pause for a while, several seconds at least, and when the dog moves toward the toy while it’s stopped, you can mark and praise and restart the chase.
The picture is this: you drag the toy, the dog follows but doesn’t pick it up. You stop dragging the toy. The dog stops but does not pick it up. WAIT HERE FOR A MOMENT OR TWO. See what the dog does. If the dog lowers the head to get the toy, even if they don’t pick it up, you can start saying “good boy” and see if this helps them pick it up. If they lose interest, you can restart the chase. Praise should come when they do something you want, like interacting with the toy, not BEFORE they do what you want.
Please let me know if this doesn’t make sense, and give it a session or two and report back.
Thanks Esteban. Your advice was great. A bit more patience on my part to wait for the interest and confidence worked. Once he was paying attention to the toy I added a little ‘you can’t have it it’s mine’ because he always wants what he can’t have :-). Then yesterday I put the tug into my grocery bag as I walked into the house since his interest in new things peaks at this time. He was so excited to get something from the bag he started to tug on it. Woohoo, we are on our way to tugging stardom.
Excellent! I’m glad you’re making progress now.
1. For a (currently) reluctant tugger how often do you recommend tugging sessions?
2. For the above dog (also young, less than a year)in the beginning stages of tug training do you recommend alternating tugging sessions with other agility training? For example: tug, jump chute, tug.
1. With our reluctant tuggers I’d shoot for one session a day maybe 5x/week, lasting less than 2 minutes, and often as short as 30 seconds. On days they felt very motivated, I’d do a second session.
2. I would not use the tug as a reward in agility until the behavior has more value and the dog understands the “rules” of biting and releasing on cue. They don’t need to be mastered, but they should be able to release a toy on cue, and this can be taught to puppies.
You mentioned to reward the dog when he hits the tug hard. What is the reward?
The reward is tugging with the dog plus my verbal praise and encouragement. Save all of your encouraging chatter for when the dog is actually tugging, and not when they are chasing, or about to bite.
Thanks for the detailed discussion of how to encourage the dog to go after the toy. Reminds me of line fishing…make the bait look like an injured fish/prey
Yes, that’s exactly right! Great comment.