neilsattin
Newbies
Scallywags Forum
Posts: 3
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A few thoughts:
Annie - as I'm sure you've experienced, it can take any dog awhile to acclimate to a new situation. Take a dog that's been rehomed as many times as you've described, and it's going to take a reliable structure (one that includes, I might add, a predictable way of releasing energy and stress, as pushing will do) that will help settle the emotional pathways down. Takes time.
As for getting your fingers munched - yes, definitely using your pushing hand to maintain distance (as well as the position of your food hand - i.e. move it back a little). That's if you're getting nipped before you actually feed. But if you're getting nipped during the feeding, perhaps your fingers are in the way? I know that might sound self-evident, but what I mean is: are you doling out food, or keeping your fingers around the food to ensure that your dog gets every morsel? My suggestion would be to go from "closed hand" (food off) to "open hand" (food on) - and open hand means "get your thumb and fingers out of the way". Sometimes I've had a REALLY voracious dog actually nip the flesh of my palm - but even that is generally only occasional. Again, that's something that typically technique can minimize, if not eliminate.
With tug, I tend to use higher resistance toys (i.e. tougher, less pliable) as a dog gets more and more into the game...though mostly don't have to go beyond using lengths of natural rubber garden hose that I cut to length as needed. I prefer a longer toy (and yes, letting go before the dog gets to your fingers is a good idea!).
While there is something "neat" about using a smaller toy, or even accidentally finding your fingers in the mouth of a dog, when you discover that your dog has an in-the-moment ability to discern what's in their mouth (and, hopefully, not completely chomp down on it), I think that it makes sense to use toys that guarantee, as much as possible, your hand's safety. Remember that point of tug is to get your dog to bite and tug without inhibition, and if your dog has to think about what they're doing (e.g. "don't bite the hand!") then that will get in the way of them giving you their energy.
Fetchtug is a way of combining chase/fetch/tug - and yes, that might be a good alternative for you, at least as a potential way to off-load some energy before the tugging. Link here:
http://www.naturaldogblog.com/blog/2007/09/dog-training-one-great-workout-that-t
eaches-your-dog-to-fetch-and-come-to-you-enthusiastically/
Using two identical toys is also the preferred method of controlling the game (vs. food treat exchange for tug toy - which I only do if I don't have a 2nd toy around). It helps you maintain the flow, I think. That way you become much more fluid in your interaction with your dog, and correspondingly more at ease working at the higher levels of drive. And YOUR relaxation is key to staying in that "flow" state.
In my experience, transitioning dogs to "fetchtug" keeps them much more interested in the game and is WAY more (seemingly) fun for them.
Cheers!
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Dog Aggression (Read 1413 times)
