Answer: tug games

 Tug games and dominance

Answer: I will comment on the tug game in relation to dominance.

Firstly, I would urge you to beware of calling your dog dominant (or letting someone else label her as dominant) without really specifying what evidence there is, what specific behaviour is being interpreted as dominant.

A lot of behaviours have been attributed to dominance. While I believe there are dominant dogs, they are a rarity, and many so-called dominant behaviours are something else.

I have worked a lot on the concept of leadership, which is different from dominance. In practical terms, the difference is that "dominance" is a characteristic attributed to the dog, whereas leadership depends on what the owner does - a person can establish leadership by taking the initiative in many ways, or a person can leave a leadership vacuum, which the dog blunders into, or a person can give the dog clear signals that he/she (the dog) takes priority.

John Rogerson popularised the idea that tug games were dangerous.

However, this is a kind of dumbing down of what he actually said. I am not saying that *you* are dumb <g> ... just that John Rogerson's idea has been simplified as it gets passed around. The simplistic version says "don't play tug games with your dog - it makes him/her dominant". This is not so. What Rogerson was talking about was an owner who did a whole range of things which gave the dog the message that he/she (the dog) was in charge, had control of all important resources such as food, toys, bed etc. and initiated and controlled and monopolised the benefits of social interactions. This whole picture could lead to the dog reacting aggressively when the owner unaccountably contradicted this message, by trying to take control of something, especially if this was done on a confrontational way.

Specifically, in relation to tug games, the problem was *not* playing tug games per se, the problem was *uncontrolled* tug games, with the emphasis on uncontrolled. Uncontrolled means that the dog has free access to the toy (i.e. the owner leaves it lying around), the dog initiates the game, the owner responds, the dog wins the game, the dog ends up in possession of the trophy at the end of the game ... i.e. in all important respects, the dog competes with the owner and comes out the winner.

Teaching a controlled tug game does not carry any of these potentially dangerous messages. A controlled tug game means:
 

1.    you have possession of the tug toy

2.    bring it out when you decide, preferably as a rewarding activity after your dog has done something for you

3.    teach the dog to wait until you say "get it", rather than just grabbing

4.    teach the dog to let go when you say so

5.    at the end of the session, you remain in possession, and put the toy away

This reverses all the ways in which the uncontrolled tug game gives the dog the message the he/she is in control. It teaches the dog that you control the resource, the game, the activity and so on. And most importantly, it allows you to gain some control over what your dog does with her mouth.

There are totally positive, non-punitive ways of teaching the dog to play the game on your terms, and release the article. This can later be applied to whatever else might end up in your dog's mouth.

Once you have control of the game, you can use it as a powerful reward, e.g. as a reward for fetching without mouthing, as a reward for coming when called, as a reward for staying or settling down etc.