Dutch Shepherd Forum

Quick question all.

So I have a DS that is being trained by a private trainer. And we discussed the training plan for the 11 month old DS 2 months ago and started the training schedule. One thing that came up was Tug of War exercises and she advised to stay away from them since its a game of dominance and she prefers not to teach that game to the DS at this point or maybe never. This is due to the fact that he does go to play camp and if him and another dog ever get into a game of tug of war that he will treat it as a dominance game but also may try to become the alpha of the play group instead of just a member if he always wins the game. What is everyone's opinion. I know that the game should be taught with rules of owner always wins and the "drop it" command should always be respected. I wanted to play the game with the dog because it will help wear him out. I also have a flirt stick that I use to wear him out when needed.

I had always played TOW with my dogs, I do let them win and when I say out they out like its on fire. I have two female DS and when Thalie was younger her and Sadie would play TOW for ever, I always watched and they were fine. Never a fight. But that is my two, each is different

Also from a training perspective do you teach “drop it” and “out” as two different commands?

piotrzaremba wrote: ↑Wed Jan 17, 2018 12:32 am Also from a training perspective do you teach “drop it” and “out” as two different commands?

I never taught "drop it" it was always " out". the less syllables the better. Simple and quick

Tug is the best way of building engagement that I've ever found with any of my dogs. It's fun for the dog and it gets them very focused on positive interaction with you.

Is there a post, I have looked that suggestions what type of tug "toy" to buy to get the best results?