Oh my goodness, no! A "tugsock" is one of Don's old white cotton socks with a knot tied in the middle of it. All my dog's have loved tugsocks and enjoyed the game! These days, many dog behavior experts advise against playing it, or if you do, to never let the dog win in order to establish your Alpha Dog place over him. I say hooey.....the dogs just LOVE it and have never given me a problem. We used to have a wonderful gentle giant Golden Retreiver named Harry. He ADORED his tugsock and could easily pull me right off the sofa, though he didn't. He was about 1 year old when we got a tiny, 6 week old Sheltie puppy we called Lucy. The very first morning she was with us, I was sitting having coffee with Lucy sitting politely at my feet. Harry got up and got his tugsock and came over and offered the other end to Lucy. And she took it! And that great huge dog tugged ever-so-gently on his end and played with her for at least a half hour. Mind you, he could have flipped that puppy into the next county, but he never did. They played tugsock together for all the time they were together. Pogo was quite gentle this morning when he played it with Higgins, too. Cute! |