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Originally Posted by Darbie Wow...Debr..that was Extremly informative...but one thing I was questioning was the tug of war game...is it not good to play that at all or is it not good to play at that stage of the dogs life...
I thought tug of war was just fun... |
it depends on your dog to be honest. Tug of war isnt just a game to dogs, it is a power struggle. If your dog is mellow, laid back one of those go with the flow personalities tug of war isnt going to cause harm. If you have a dominant or aggressive dog-tug of war is bad.
Tug of war is done for mainly 2 reasons by dogs-1) ripping of meat/flesh. our pets stem back to wolves, lived in the wild and hunted for food. Only natural they had to capture,kill and tear meat to eat.If you watch nature shows watch the wolf packs eating, this is our pups tug of war.2) it is a test so to say. Who is stronger, who will win. Dogs are pack animals and nature tells them to try to be number one if there is an opportunity to do so, more dominant dogs will try because they want nothing more then to be number one.It is programmed into our dogs survival instincts-law of nature only the strongest survive. Some dogs accept human leaders and are happy, some dogs will test every chance they can to see where they can one up you. This part of our 4 legged friends is evident from the time their eyes open. If you've ever had a litter or a chance to observe one-the puppy who is last to the milk bar will usually be the most submissive, the one who is there first will usually be the most dominant. Puppies wrestling & playing is more then play. They are again learning their place, testing to see who fits where and how far they can get- the one who watches will usually be the submissive or shy one, the one who instigates or is always on top will be your dominant puppy.