Puppy Training Games: the Tug of War

When Lola is off leash she still picks up rubbish and refuses to let go. I would like to teach her to let go on command and generally to be more focused on me.

THE SOLUTION

With he tug game she’ll learn (hopefully) to leave things when I ask her to.

She’ll be rewarded as long as she plays by my rules because she will have to be in a sit or down position before starting the game and the we’ll start and stop playing only when I (the undiscussed ruler) decide.

It is definitely not the right game for and aggressive or dominant dog but Lola doesn’t have a nipping problem and she is certainly not aggressive so I think she is the perfect candidate for this training game.

These two free dog training videos will be my guide.

THE OUTCOME

We have being playing the tug game for few days now. We like to play in the evening, just after the dogs dinner, when Lola seems to be restless. At this time of day she becomes playful and unless I channel her energy into something constructive, she goes into iperactivity mode until she crashes in her bed.

To protect the furniture and my most treasured possessions during these activity spells, we play tug of war and then, just like any worn out child, she goes to her bed for a well deserved nap.

Today, during our daily walk I finally savored the sweet fruit of puppy training success. I asked Lola to drop a piece of garbage she had just picked up and, surprise... she obeyed!

We’ll play the tug game at the park and with a vast array of distraction but I’m confident that sooner or later we’ll accomplish a reliable “off” command in any situation.

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