I have always played tug of war with all the puppies I've ever had and it has never caused one single problem with aggression. They were all, without exception, very sweet and loving dogs. They would growl and play during tug of war and it was never anything I was ever concerned with until I had someone say to avoid it because it leads to aggression. But that was never my experience. Has anyone had problems with this? Maybe it's a dog by dog scenario. I guess I just happened to get dogs that it didn't affect.
Tug of war is a great game to play to reward your dog (but definitely teach a 'give' cue so you can get the object back when you want it). I don't believe that playing this game leads to aggression I think that's a bit of a myth. I'd go right on playing it if I were you. Lots of dogs do a play growl during games - my dog does. He has a waggy, loose body when he does a play growl, and he is keen to continue the game. A growl meant in threat is different and will be accompanied by a stiff body and hard eyes (in case anyone wonders how to tell the difference).
We play tug some times, but our dogs play it with each other even more often. It is Tilly's way to get Cooper to quit biting or chasing her sometimes. She will pick up a soft toy and wave it at Coop to get her to change her focus. None of our Labs have been the least bit aggressive.
We play tug and have a good wrestle with Dexter,and he makes some right old noises,not even growls...we call then his 'Scooby Doo' noises .....
I don't wrestle much but I know what you mean about the funny noises Rory sounds like a Wookie. teach the give command and if it gets to rough stop. my dogs have always enjoyed this sort of game but i'm just careful and don't let them get too excited. I can tell when my dogs growl in play and when they mean it. The noises are so different along with the body language. I never had one growl at me and mean it in fact its very rare that i have heard a real growl. Doug had a rally lovely deep rumbly play growl Rory is sort of mid range Wookie but Midge is silly and sounds like an attack stoat.
I've always played tug with all our family's dogs, going back (many years!) to when I was a child. None of those have ever been aggressive - that includes dogs of relatives, older dogs, puppies (although my boy is my first "own" puppy) and Bailey and I have a daily game of tug - mostly with his rope ball but sometimes with my jumper, dressing gown, even one of my posh dresses!! I love play growls, they sound so ferocious but as @Oberon says, with a waggy tail and loose body, it makes me laugh
Some people don't know the difference between a play growl and a real one, I think that's all. Play tug if he enjoys it - it's a great reward for good behaviour later on. I've had to teach Willow to play tug, so envy those people who have dogs it comes naturally to
Holly plays tuggy sometimes. We've noticed that she will give a play growl if our hand gets too close to her nose. We call it her growly button.
We have always played tug and we have never had a problem. Even with Poppy. When she gets too excited I just Stop and ask her to drop. If she is still being silly I drop it and walk away. she looks at me with "what , what did I do" Face. But she is calm. I love her little play growl its almost like a loud purr.
Coco loves a tuggy game. We tug and tug then I'll say "let go" - he drops it. Then "sit" and I'll either throw the tuggy for him to bring back or just let him "take it" and we'll start the game again. It's never caused any aggression at all. (OH, on the other hand, has not grasped the "let go" bit and will tug & tug until he wins - this has not caused us a problem thankfully).
Agree with all above. I will add though, if you're going to hunt the dog some believe playing tug might make him hard mouthed. It had no such effect on our ESS but she was well trained on birds before we got her at age four and started playing tug. Starting the tug before introducing birds might be different and might not be worth the chance if you're going to trial or hunt.
I play a very little bit of tug with my very soft mouthed lab now I know he's gentle with birds. I had a discussion with one of the chief proponents of tug for gundogs about playing tug with Obi spaniel because he's quite possessive over retrieve items. Her view was that due to his level of possessiveness and excitability I would have to be very careful how I introduced tug and it would have to build it up from the tiniest interactions whilst keeping the arousal levels low. On the basis of that advice I decided to shelve tug for Obi as I don't have the time to do it properly and doing it any other way would be a disaster. While it's a great game I know several gundog trainers who whilst they train using toys and games using positive reinforcement still don't use tug as they feel they have enough rewards to offer their dogs and it's not worth the risk. I know others that think it's brilliant and use it all the time. I think @Snowshoe is right and if you're going to work with game then think carefully about it and my supplementary advice would be to think about it in the context of your dog and introduce it carefully possibly with the help of someone experienced. If you're not going to work on game - go nuts!!!!!
http://vid981.photobucket.com/album.../Molly from one year/IMG_0027_zpszxtsf3uy.mp4 I agree - I don't think tuggy games lead to aggression.
I never play tug of war with my dogs, one they a bigger and stronger than me. I am 4ft 11. I also want to keep my Labs soft mouthed. I don't think tug games makes dogs aggressive. It is up to you and what you want to do with your doggie friend.
That might be it because the person who said that to me did a lot of field trials so maybe tugging made her dogs "aggressive" or hard mouthed. I don't intend to train for that so I guess I can continue to tug away!
At our training class, tug with a rope was taught as a game and then used as a play break/reward. We also used tug to help teach 'drop' or 'give'.
