raineth Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 (edited) I am interested to hear how people satisfy their dog's natural prey-related instincts. On a personal level, my dog Del has strong hunting instincts. I try to give them an outlet (short of actually letting here hunt obviously) through playing with tug toys, soft toys, chasing etc, and she does enjoy this but I feel like it is satisfying her desire to play rather than her strong desire to track and take down a quarry. So I would be more than happy to hear others' thoughts on this if there are any, as ell as what you do with your own dogs :) Edited February 9, 2015 by raineth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 (edited) I play tug with Em but it doesn't satisfy her - she enjoys the quartering, scenting and retrieving. I do shoot over her occasionally which is absolutely sublime but not always practical. I let her run riot in the back block after a short training session which helps build value for stuff we do together. Retrieving training really helps satisfy her - not doing much at the moment and she keeps retrieving stuff from around the house in frustration I suspect...shoes, socks, magazines, paint brushes.... Edited February 9, 2015 by The Spotted Devil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biker girl Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 I am interested to hear how people satisfy their dog's natural prey-related instincts. On a personal level, my dog Del has strong hunting instincts. I try to give them an outlet (short of actually letting here hunt obviously) through playing with tug toys, soft toys, chasing etc, and she does enjoy this but I feel like it is satisfying her desire to play rather than her strong desire to track and take down a quarry. So I would be more than happy to hear others' thoughts on this if there are any, as ell as what you do with your own dogs :) lure coursing as a suggestion........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Tug and retrieve and fetch activities here :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Better Late Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 We recently discovered Bonnie is more of a Pointer and Heeler mix, and it makes sense as her prey drive is nice and biiiiig. We play a lot of tug and chasey, but what I wouldn't give to take her lure coursing or even rabbiting. Only problem is she's dog reactive (we're working on it) so other than getting her a 10m longline (we already have a 5m from K9 Pro) and letting her at the local wild rabbits I'm not sure there are many options Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raineth Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 (edited) I play tug with Em but it doesn't satisfy her - she enjoys the quartering, scenting and retrieving. I do shoot over her occasionally which is absolutely sublime but not always practical. I let her run riot in the back block after a short training session which helps build value for stuff we do together. Retrieving training really helps satisfy her - not doing much at the moment and she keeps retrieving stuff from around the house in frustration I suspect...shoes, socks, magazines, paint brushes.... Haha, so cute! Do you have a command for her to bring things to you in the house TSD (assistance dog style)? I am interested to hear how people satisfy their dog's natural prey-related instincts. On a personal level, my dog Del has strong hunting instincts. I try to give them an outlet (short of actually letting here hunt obviously) through playing with tug toys, soft toys, chasing etc, and she does enjoy this but I feel like it is satisfying her desire to play rather than her strong desire to track and take down a quarry. So I would be more than happy to hear others' thoughts on this if there are any, as ell as what you do with your own dogs :) lure coursing as a suggestion........ Ahh I would love to do some lure coursing biker girl, I completely agree with you that it sounds right up her alley! But not available where I live unfortunately. Sometimes I dream about starting up my own lure coursing facility Better Late, I completely understand where you are coming from with the rabbit idea. I have thought of that myself. I have never taken a dog hunting and so I don't know whether hunting feral rabbits is really unethical, I have doubts about her ability to catch one to be honest, but I know she would enjoy the chase. As it is even though we live in regional NSW I don't know of anyone's farm I could take her to do this. Edited February 9, 2015 by raineth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huski Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 There can be both an art and science to playing tug properly, and what is most satisfying for the dog can change depending on the dog you have in front of you. I see heaps of people who try to play tug by shoving the toy in the dogs face or getting it to physically tug on it for minutes at a time, but for some dogs the more enjoyable part of tug is the chase more than the actual action of tugging. Herding breeds can tend to get more satisfaction from the chase, whereas some bull breeds really enjoy the action of shaking around on the tug. It can be more challenging for owners of dogs who have learnt to get drive satisfaction from things like chasing live prey. Certainly not impossible, but it can be harder work to get a high level of engagement with the owner. I play tug with my dog, as well as playing frisbee, using a ball launcher and doing bite work to satisfy prey drive. Would she like to chase prey animals? Sure, we have heaps of wild rabbits and stuff on our property... but she knows the more reliable source of drive satisfaction comes from me, so nothing has more power than what I have to offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 (edited) Lili is crazy over balls so we go out every hour or so and play fetch till she's exhausted :laugh: it's about the chase for her though. Edited February 9, 2015 by Dame Aussie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raineth Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 (edited) There can be both an art and science to playing tug properly, and what is most satisfying for the dog can change depending on the dog you have in front of you. I see heaps of people who try to play tug by shoving the toy in the dogs face or getting it to physically tug on it for minutes at a time, but for some dogs the more enjoyable part of tug is the chase more than the actual action of tugging. Herding breeds can tend to get more satisfaction from the chase, whereas some bull breeds really enjoy the action of shaking around on the tug. It can be more challenging for owners of dogs who have learnt to get drive satisfaction from things like chasing live prey. Certainly not impossible, but it can be harder work to get a high level of engagement with the owner. I play tug with my dog, as well as playing frisbee, using a ball launcher and doing bite work to satisfy prey drive. Would she like to chase prey animals? Sure, we have heaps of wild rabbits and stuff on our property... but she knows the more reliable source of drive satisfaction comes from me, so nothing has more power than what I have to offer. Yeah I drag the tug along the ground away from her, Definitely no shoving it in her face. Having said that though, does team k9 pro have a handy video about getting your dog into tugging? :) Edited February 9, 2015 by raineth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huski Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 (edited) Yeah I drag the tug along the ground away from her, Definitely no shoving it in her face. Having said that though, does team k9 pro have a handy video about getting your dog into tugging? :) We do have a few videos demonstrating training in drive stuff including tug however in terms of instructional videos it is difficult as every dog is different. I could show you how to get started on playing tug but if I demonstrated on my Malinois, it will be next to impossible for you to implement the same thing on different dog, with a different history, level of drive, motivation etc. ETA: if you post a video, maybe we can give you some pointers! :D Edited February 9, 2015 by huski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 (edited) Here is Nitro working on Crate Games and tug. This is an old video - I tug somewhat differently with him now though - shorter tug toy, much shorter duration, with other things in between such as letting it go and having him retrieve the tug back to me, outing the tug and cuing him to get it, outing the tug and cuing behaviours and then presenting the tug. I need to get a more recent video of our work! He really likes to shake his head and the tug. Edited February 9, 2015 by Kavik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raineth Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 Wow great enthusiasm Kavik! Thanks Huski, I'll see if I can get a vid tomorrow then! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raineth Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 I took this today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Better Late Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Oh my gosh raineth! What a beautiful dog, house and owner! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huski Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 (edited) I took this today. Hey Raineth, love the doggy door! I find people see the best improvement when they focus on working on one thing at time. Just going off what is in the video, if Del was my dog, I would be working on building a better game and engagement. So I wouldn't be shaping or asking for other commands at the moment, just working on building a better game. Going off that video I would say that she doesn't really see you as a big part of the game - when she captures the tug, she buggers off with it to have fun by herself. If I let go of the tug with my dog, she will slam it back into my hands because she doesn't believe the reward experience can happen without me. Once Del understands this, it can increase her value for playing with you vs doing things on her own like hunting. I would also try and play in an area where you have more space. She is a big dog and you both look a bit restricted by training in a smaller space. Edited February 10, 2015 by huski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raineth Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 ahh thanks for the feedback Huski! Yeah I think part of why she runs away is because to get her to tug I had to use treats in the tug and so she once she has the tug she tries to get the treat out, does that make sense? That tug I'm sure still actually has bits of treat floating around in it. So hopefully if I can keep making the game more fun, and then transition to a different tug toy (that has no association with having treats in it) so she will notice that I am actually on the end of the tug? I can really see what you mean though because when I play with her with no toy at all she is more interactive and gives me hip-buts and play bows etc. I hear you about the no commands, I was more just trying to build some anticipation for her, But I will find another way to build some anticipation :) thanks again for the tips :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaCC Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 That's a great doggy door! And I'm not sure why but it always impresses me to see Del doing rear end awareness! I agree with Husky on getting her to increase value on using the tug with you. If I let go of Novas tug he either gives it back to me or drops it and looks sad. As I'm sure you've seen at training, Nova only pisses off with the tug when we've training for too long and done too much I think I did that buy using two tugs to begin with and making me and the other toy super exciting if he had the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 raineth - one thing I did with Zig (HATED tug!!!) was to play tug with a really fluffy toy as soon as I walked in the door. He was just super excited to see me and I channelled the crazy :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raineth Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 That's a great doggy door! And I'm not sure why but it always impresses me to see Del doing rear end awareness! I agree with Husky on getting her to increase value on using the tug with you. If I let go of Novas tug he either gives it back to me or drops it and looks sad. As I'm sure you've seen at training, Nova only pisses off with the tug when we've training for too long and done too much I think I did that buy using two tugs to begin with and making me and the other toy super exciting if he had the other. Oh that's a fantastic tip about the two tugs Lisa! Definitely would make it more exciting too! Rear end awareness stuff is so important for Del because not as much now, but in her younger days she had a tendency to just do crazy stuff and I think it really helped her not to kill herself. Also she treads on your feet less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raineth Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 Oh my gosh raineth! What a beautiful dog, house and owner! naww thanks Better Late :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now