Whining and not giving up stick

[Chris]

I’d be interested in an ideas re a behavior Ty has started at the moment.

As we’re in the heat of summer here we try and take the dogs down to the lake for a swim each night. Ty is super keen on swimming and would go all day if he could. Most of the time when he comes back with the stick we have a big tug, let him win then ask him to drop which he happily does, normally he gives out a very high pitched yap as I go to throw it and off he goes again. Often if I'm out swimming with him as he gets close I tell him he’s a ‘good boy’ and ask for a drop which he does and I throw the stick back out.

What’s been happening is after he’s had a few good swims fetching the stick (he's far from tired at this point) a sort of resistance to giving the stick up appears. A number of times in the water he won’t let it go no matter how many good boys I give him or ask for a drop, then he takes it to shore, I'll give a tug let him win then again ask for a drop but he keeps trying to push it into me for more tug but won’t let go. He dances around me pushing towards me making a whining noise like he’s frustrated about something. Sometimes lots of good boy may make him give it up but often he just keeps coming into me then backing away when I don’t tug and won't drop the stick

Do I just tug and tug until he’s ready to drop, overall he’s normally very good about giving up a stick or toy so it can be thrown for him.


Cheers for any ideas

[donnieo]

Do you ever get a second stick for him to play with so that the one in his mouth loses its charge? The other day when I was playing ball with Jinxsie, she would grab the ball and take it somewhere to chew. I was doing all the stuff the NDT book told me to do: backpedalling, showing her that I had another ball, stuff like that. Nothing. Then it occurred to me that maybe she could sense that I was trying to get the ball she had away from her, that even though I was teasing her with the ball in my hand, my energy was still focussed on the one in her mouth. So, I started running back and forth, tossing the ball up as high as i could, playing with it like a hacky-sack, even cooing a little bit to it. All this time I ignored her as best as I could and put all my focus on the ball I was playing with. After a little bit of this, she came running over and at that point I threw the ball for her. Then I ran over and grabbed the ball she left on the ground and started doing the whole thing again. So far, this has worked very well, along with me calling it quits earlier than I usually do.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by donnieo

Do you ever get a second stick for him to play with so that the one in his mouth loses its charge?

Yes I have tried another stick but 99% of the time he just watches me with the other stick or toy and waits and shows no interest at all in it. He's always had such a strong 'bring it back'. I think I've only ever once got him to go after another stick.

[Sang]

Hey Chris, it sounds like when Ty is experiencing low to medium levels of energy and intensity during tug, he can handle it which makes it much easier for him to let go of the stick. But once the energy level rises, and it reaches a higher intensity, he starts to feel old resistance to you come to the surface, and loses his alignment with you. So when he’s in a high energy, intense state, your approach puts him in conflict rather than harmony.

When he’s in that state, try pushing for food. Have him do what he normally does, and then when he starts to feel conflicted and starts showing signs of resistance, do some pushing with him to help reduce that resistance.

Playing tug will bring that resistance and conflict to the surface, but the pushing in that moment will help him start to shift his feelings from conflict to attraction.

No doubt that Neil and Lee can jump in and offer more thoughts and advice as well, but hopefully that helps.

[Chris]

Thanks once more Sang, extra helpful and totally makes sense.

I'll give it a go with the pushing as soon as the resistance shows through.

Might give it a miss when we're in 1.5 meter deep water though, might get a bit messy and I bet I know who will get pushed underwater and it won't be Ty