need help getting Brownie started with Tug

[BrownieNJoyce]

Hi all. Brownie has come a long way in the year+ that we've been practicing NDT. Pushing is strong, he "re-directs" pretty consistently, and he tugs well on strips of denim that have a strip of rawhide tied into a knot (I soak rawhide twists, cut into narrower strips, then lay on the denim strip and tie and knot so that the rawhide is part of the knot). He continues to startle easily to sudden sounds or if we move a box, the laundry basket or a piece of furniture, etc. We had a weekend with Neil back in November that was fantastic. Really helped my husband and I learn how to work with the dog together.

I would love to see Brownie feel free to bite on toys or rope or anything that doesn't involve food to be able to tug. It's a big labor intensive to make the rawhide tugs and then at a certain point he is going to be eating the rawhide and it breaks the momentum. Neil showed me how to try to use two tugs and snatch one away and get him onto the other one but I haven't been able to replicate this.

another strange thing is that after we tug outside with the denim, sometimes after we come inside he wants to tug on the denim again even if there's no rawhide in it. Outside, he won't take it unless it has rawhide still in it. So I tug with him indoors when he's into it but this doesn't happen much.

I think he needs more work with Neil the plumber (to help clean his emotional pipe). Maybe more Frankenstein?

[Drea]

I'm also looking for ways to help Tucker give up one tug for another. I've repeatedly tried teaching Tucker P Macaroon to give me one tug while I tantalize him with another identical tug, but he will have none of it. He's been recuperating from wrist surgery for the past 4 weeks, so I've been working on stuffies and a tug inside the house for the purpose of him learning "Put". Put just means to give me the toy, and at first it means to put it on the couch beside me, and now I'm working on Put meaning put it in my outstretched hand. I "hid" the toys: a stuffed raccoon, a stuffed moose, and a rope tug, around the house, and then ask him to "Find the x"). He's also learning the different names of the toys.

We haven't been able to do any pushing or tug playing since his surgery, so I'm improvising. We have a follow up appt next week and I'm hoping the surgeon will give us the okay to start tugging and pushing again (we fell out of the habit many months ago..my bad) because Tucker still wants to fence fight with the neighbor dogs, when I walk him on leash across the yard.

Tucker has always loved to play tug, but the only way I can get it from him is that split second when I'm tugging and he's readjusting his grip. Then I'll toss it away from us, and he runs to get it and play some more. He will only "give" if I have a treat for him. He won't unlatch for another identical tug.

[Sang]

I wouldn’t worry so much about getting him to out the tug for another one right now, or trying to train specific behaviors like “put” or “find”. Keep in mind that until he’s been able to unravel all the unresolved stuff from the past, any formal types of training where you’re trying to teach him specific behaviors are only reinforcing the original problem. Those commands end up making him feel resistance to you, when all you want to focus on right now is creating attraction to you at the highest levels of intensity.

So don’t jump ahead too fast. Just keep focusing on channeling his energy where you want it to go, which is to you. Don’t worry about getting him to “out” the toy for another one, or any of that kind of stuff. That will come in time once he trusts you with all his energy.

For now, since he’s still recovering from his surgery, just chill out and leave him be. The more you can stop worrying about him, or if you’re doing enough for him, the faster his emotional recovery will be.

Hope that helps.

[jojo]

I haven't been here in a while (left my dog with a friend to take a job in another country sadly, just couldn't find other work and now miss him so much) but felt like reading about dog stuff after volunteering at a shelter today and Brownie sounds a little like my dog.

I used peanut butter on rope tugs and sticks. I had Remy for about a year and a half before I discovered NDT. When I adopted Remy he didn't like me for the first 2 weeks, then he got overly attached but still wouldn't play at all and was frightened of everything. I would put peanut butter on sticks to get him to go after them and praise him for licking the peanut butter off. I would rub it into rope tugs or rotted sticks with crevices so he'd chew them up and never tried to take them away, but would always take them when he left them and put them away so they could be special. (I'd make braided jute and hemp tugs myself so I didn't spend a fortune on things that just got chewed to pieces). I'd get them all gooped up and then tease him with it, then place it up high and give it too him a little later so he'd be more excited. I'd also use the juice and fat from beef roasts, soaked tugs in beef broth. There weren't many other treats Remy cared about back then- had to be beef or lamb, he didn't care enough about chicken. I also got lots of things that squeaked. I was living alone in a new town then so I had lots of time to focus on this stuff too. It only took Remy a few months to get into toys, so he wasn't as hard a case as Brownie sounds, but I remember thinking he'd never play or have fun. He's still a serious dog.

Once Remy started liking toys I'd buy cheap ones at the dollar store and then we'd destroy it together. We took a few herding lessons and after I chased 3 sheep for about 40 minutes he finally joined me, thank god the trainers next client didn't show up that day or we'd have given up on him. The next lesson he was eager to do it on his own.

Since it was before I learned about NDT we played mostly inside, and I remember he would fetch and tug inside long before he would do it outside. I must admit I'm still guilty of tugging inside (or was when we were together), but he's a pretty calm dog so it never seemed like a problem for us. While it took about 3 months to turn Remy into a fierce tugger who never gets enough, it took close to a year to get him to push much, but he did get it eventually (as I eventually got the technique, posts here helped me remember to squat down low making all the difference). It feels great when perseverance pays off.