Teaching Tug As A Behaviour

[corvus]

I like this. I've found it extremely effective for teaching my dogs to tug reliably and strongly, which obviously makes it easier to use as a reward.

I tried it with Kivi because he is a very mellow dog and I wanted to see if I could get him tugging reliably for the sake of education more than anything. Kivi will now tug with just about anything I pick up and wave at him. I'm yet to find somewhere he won't tug, but that was never really his problem. It was that he rarely felt like it for very long. Now he seems to be happy to tug more often and for longer and he puts more effort into it as well. I haven't pushed it, but nor have I found his limits by accident yet.

Erik's problem was that he wouldn't tug everywhere and he didn't really see it as a reward. Just a reward when he felt like it. That problem seems to be mostly resolved through this as well. I don't have video of him because it was boring. He just dived right into it and never looked back. Problem was 90% solved in about 3 short sessions. Hence my "I can't believe I spent months working on that when I could have fixed it in a couple of weeks!" lament.

Anyway, for those interested, I cobbled together a short video of the process from the beginning to where we are currently up to with Kivi. It's not very refined as it was the first time I tried it. Also has an example or two of really awful timing. Just to be clear, this is not drive training. I just wanted more reinforcers and tug is a good one because once they get into it doesn't really need maintenance.

[Lablover]

Would be interesting to see if his responses are different using food.

Your technique was interesting. The dog was "better" when the tug was not being dragged on the ground. I would try keeping the article mid height/at your knees. Also I would try using one article/his favourite. Would he offer better responses with say a garden hose section -between your spaced hands. I would also try moving the article by um....how can I explain - by swaying it fast then slowly (at his eye height) not by circling - you have achieve better and longer focus???

Would do others think? Corvus? (O by the way, read in another thread - sorry to read of the recent loss of your hare).

Edited September 13, 2011 by Lablover

[corvus]

Would be interesting to see if his responses are different using food.

Not sure exactly what you mean, but the last part of the clip was filmed during a training session that also had him working for food. There's an abridged version including the tug here:

It's unlisted because I don't like sharing a work in progress except with people whose critique I trust (and have already sought in this case). I'm almost as bad as my artistic OH who frantically drags things over his tablet whenever I happen to get close enough to see what he's drawing before it's done. I avert my eyes and he still does it!

Your technique was interesting. The dog was "better" when the tug was not being dragged on the ground. I would try keeping the article mid height/at your knees. Also I would try using one article/his favourite. Would he offer better responses with say a garden hose section -between your spaced hands. I would also try moving the article by um....how can I explain - by swaying it fast then slowly (at his eye height) not by circling - you have achieve better and longer focus???

Ah, but was it better because the tug wasn't being dragged, or was I dragging because he was not especially interested in the first place?

He's definitely tugging longer and with more focus now than he ever has before.

I like him to tug on anything. Makes rewardng with tug easier. At one stage I got a custom tug made for him. It's got braided fabric with some sheepskin around it and a bungee handle. He's pretty into that. He also likes the moo tug, but doesn't bite hard on it. He just likes mouthing it.

(O by the way, read in another thread - sorry to read of the recent loss of your hare).

Thanks. Life still seems very strange without him.