Tug Toys

[Chris]

I was wondering what everyone uses for a tug toy for a GSD?

Neil I was watching the DVD again last night and wondered what the red tug toy with the knot in it was made from, it looks really good and I'd love to get something like that for Ty if I can?

[neilsattin]

Hi Zekety,

In the video, I'm actually using lengths of natural rubber garden hose. I've been buying long coils, cutting them to length, and throwing them out when they're worn out. At this point they're the least toxic alternative that I've found - you still need to ensure that they don't become chew toys, however.

I do have something in the works, though - more news about that in the coming weeks.

[Alec]

My dog can go through most toys rather quickly. I have used a Ruff Dawg toy that has lasted pretty well even with her chewing on them a little. The only problem with them is that that her foot gets stuck in them often.

http://www.ruffdawg.com/play/products/tugs.html

She does seem to get a little bored with them at times (of course I haven't found anything that didn't get old after a while) so I recently purchased a furry tug (she loves to destroy stuffed animals) and she gets pretty excited by it. It seems to be standing up to the test so far. You can find it here.

http://leerburg.com/1185.htm

[Alec]

Part of one end has come apart, probably because my dog tries to go after the ends of the toy so that she can get a better grip. I have glue gunned it back together but it pulled apart again (no big surprise). If you use this tug I would try to get the dog to focus on biting in the middle. Mine likes to find the weakest link, abuse it, and then tear the stuffing out of it. There's just something about pulling the stuffing out...

[jojo]

Remy's favorite toy is by far the Wubba made by Kong. It is pretty durable and has squeakers in it. As long as I supervise him with it it lasts at least 6 months, I've had Remy 2.5 years and we're on our 3rd. Well, 3rd and 4th since now we use a two toy system for fetch tug.

I also sometimes get jute, manilla or hemp rope and back splice a piece and use that as tugs. An old roommate who'd been a boyscout showed me how.

[donnieo]

I personally wouldn't recommend using hemp or manila rope because of the slivers that come off of it; as a stagehand i use this stuff pretty frequently, and I can assure you that i've pulled literally hundreds of hemp slivers out of my hands and they're definitely tougher than the inside of a dog's mouth!

[jojo]

So far that hasn't been a problem and it's been 2 years, but we'll watch out. Funny, that old scout who taught me how to do it was a stage hand and theater design major.

[Up Da Crick]

I've got a GSD 9 month pup, the only tug toys i've found to interest her are small chunks of cow bones from either a meal i let her eat, or raw bone from the butcher. she finds no interest in rope toys, and i really havent afforded for a plethora of chew toys (yet). i dont get real intense tug o wars going, but she definitely pulls and returns the bone for another round of tug. I let her win as much as possible, and most times the bone just slips from my fingers. Plus i let her chew and naw on them for a bit until she spits it out and i initiate it again. we've spent quite a bit of time doing it since i found she likes to toy with it in her mouth and return it to me for another round.

i've had close calls and have had to let out an OW once as she got right into it one time and bit down on my thumb nail and index finger (w-ow...) since then shes noticeably more aware of my fingers close to her mouth.

I question whether these bones should be used at all, possibly creating problems i dont notice. I think its a good start to tug o war, and i plan on changing to a toy that will have us pulling with our full strengths, right now its a sitting activity.

Any thoughts about using these bones as a primer to tug o war? its ok to use them right?

[Lee Charles Kelley]

It's sometimes necessary to use what's naturally interesting to a dog to get them started, but in this case I think you need to move away from the bones as a tug toy as soon as possible.

Do you ever play "chase me" with her? A quick game of chase, where you tease her with a real tug toy then run away, zig-zag, stop and start, fake left and go right, fake left and go left, fall down in the snow, jump up and run away again, etc., until she's crazy to catch you (but before she loses interest), then let her grab the toy, and you'll probably find that when she does, she'll play tug with you as hard as she can.

This works because of the predatory sequence:

The Search
The Eye Stalk
The Chase
The Grab Bite
The Kill Bite

Chasing always leads to wanting to bite something.

I hope this helps,

LCK

[Up Da Crick]

Thanks for the feedback. i play the chase game a lot, and it works well she loves to dart and dodge. i'll add the tug toy to the routine.

Cheers Lee Happy holidays!