# Tug o war



## Young_vizsla_owner (Dec 15, 2021)

Hey is playing tug O war good for my puppy. He loves playing tug with his stuffed monkey and his toys. 

He gives a friendly growl and wags his tail so I can tell he is in play mode. 

Am I encouraging aggressiveness? He tries to jump up and bump us when we stop I think he’s trying to say “more more that was fun”.

So Am I playing a fun harmless game? Or am I encouraging bad behavior?


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## organicthoughts (Oct 9, 2012)

We don't do tug in our house because we hunt. Don't want the dog doing that with birds.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

same here, tog o war is a real no no in our household for the same reasons


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

no tag o war here either. i even have it in my contract that as puppies it should be avoided as it can possibly misalign their still growing teeth. same reason as they are not meant to jump from higher than knee high surfaces till the growth plates are closed.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

No, you really want to kind of discourage that behavior. 
Someday, you will want the object in his mouth without playing tug-o-war.
I too hunt my Vizslas, so it's not a habit I want them to develop.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I don’t play it with mine either, as I also hunt
But having multiple Vizslas, they do sometimes play the game with each other.


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## rchik43 (Apr 12, 2020)

Young_vizsla_owner said:


> Hey is playing tug O war good for my puppy. He loves playing tug with his stuffed monkey and his toys.
> 
> He gives a friendly growl and wags his tail so I can tell he is in play mode.
> 
> ...


Ok...I don't hunt with my Vizsla. I do play tug with him and find it to be a great way to engage and build a relationship with him. I did enough research to tell you that no, it does not encourage bad behavior/aggressiveness. It actually helped me to teach him to release stuff, by teaching him to release the tug. I would say learn how to do this well from a good trainer. I took some online lessons from some top trainers ( not expensive I would say) ... I would recommend Michael Ellis (leerburg) or Robert Cabral...they have great videos on how to train the dog , what to do , what not to do etc. I think Leerburg has a lot of free youtube videos as well. It's great exercise as well, and a really good way to exercise alternative the dog if you can't take them out because of weather issues etc...
If you don't hunt, like me, I would say go ahead...and have fun!!
Oh, One thing that @Gabica mentioned above regarding teething...don't do it when the puppy is teething for reasons she mentioned.


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## Young_vizsla_owner (Dec 15, 2021)

You guys rock. I appreciate the feedback from the Vizslas owners who hunt, and I also appreciate the feedback from those that don’t hunt. My dog doesn’t hunt, but everyone has given me good info to think about.

As he is working on training maybe I will hold off on tug o war until I know he understands the drop command. 

Thanks again.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

I play tug and when not overdone it is a fun activity to share. I be more dramatic versus tugging hard and they love it. Shake dramatically but gently side to side, never up and down. Loose grip so if they try to jerk it hard it releases. Then I’ll get serious and with a light grip give the drop-it command. Good practice switching modes.

I am currently exploring hunting and not at the point I have to take a bird from her, we’ll see if she tries to game it when I get to that point.


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## Pogaca (Dec 17, 2021)

It was really interesting to hear all the perspectives, especially from people who hunt. But in my case, I found Tony liking tug a bit too much and I used it to teach him dropping the objects in his mouth. If it is a tug rope that he brings to me I will play tug a while and make him just leave the rope whenever I please, then continue the game etc etc. If it is a prey dummy, when I want my dummy, it means I want my dummy back, no fooling. 
To my understanding, he was going to tug no matter how much I discourage it, so I thought it is better to bring the object to me first then I can decide if it is to drop or to play.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

Pogaca said:


> It was really interesting to hear all the perspectives, especially from people who hunt. But in my case, I found Tony liking tug a bit too much and I used it to teach him dropping the objects in his mouth. If it is a tug rope that he brings to me I will play tug a while and make him just leave the rope whenever I please, then continue the game etc etc. If it is a prey dummy, when I want my dummy, it means I want my dummy back, no fooling.
> To my understanding, he was going to tug no matter how much I discourage it, so I thought it is better to bring the object to me first then I can decide if it is to drop or to play.


I'd like to see a vid of that happening if you can manage it, I'm all for pups having fun but I need a dog that's in the field actually spitting birds out in my hand and ready for the next retrieve


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## Kai (Nov 25, 2021)

Young_vizsla_owner said:


> Hey is playing tug O war good for my puppy. He loves playing tug with his stuffed monkey and his toys.
> 
> He gives a friendly growl and wags his tail so I can tell he is in play mode.
> 
> ...





Young_vizsla_owner said:


> Hey is playing tug O war good for my puppy. He loves playing tug with his stuffed monkey and his toys.
> 
> He gives a friendly growl and wags his tail so I can tell he is in play mode.
> 
> ...


As organicthoughts said, tug o war is not conducive to bird hunting. If you don't intent on him/her hunting, I wouldn't worry about it. It's play time, which is bonding time. If you do intent on hunting, I just hold the rope or toy, I don't pull at all. 

Have fun giving your pup lots of snuggles and play.


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## karentm17 (Oct 25, 2021)

rchik43 said:


> Ok...I don't hunt with my Vizsla. I do play tug with him and find it to be a great way to engage and build a relationship with him. I did enough research to tell you that no, it does not encourage bad behavior/aggressiveness. It actually helped me to teach him to release stuff, by teaching him to release the tug. I would say learn how to do this well from a good trainer. I took some online lessons from some top trainers ( not expensive I would say) ... I would recommend Michael Ellis (leerburg) or Robert Cabral...they have great videos on how to train the dog , what to do , what not to do etc. I think Leerburg has a lot of free youtube videos as well. It's great exercise as well, and a really good way to exercise alternative the dog if you can't take them out because of weather issues etc...
> If you don't hunt, like me, I would say go ahead...and have fun!!
> Oh, One thing that @Gabica mentioned above regarding teething...don't do it when the puppy is teething for reasons she mentioned.


Thanks so much for the suggestion of the two trainers and their videos, much appreciated. A great thread our Viz is 14 weeks old and is not used for hunting, she loves tug games. Thanks to everybody for sharing their knowledge, what a great community.


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