Dog Tug Toy are at best of times a very controversial subject for various reasons. If you ask 5 different veterinarians, dog trainers and breeders what their opinion is regarding playing tug of war with your dog, you may be ready for confusion as each of them will have their own perspective.
All negative opinions generally refer to the aggression and brutal behaviour it provokes in the animal. However, some have the opinion that it is more relevant as to what breed it is or the specific dog’s temperament or personality traits than the dog has. Mostly you will find that the golden rule is that playing tug of war with your dog is not dangerous, but the manner in which you play it and the rules you enforce makes all the difference.
One must keep in mind that dogs, no matter how domesticated they are, will always have the ancestral instincts of a wolf present hidden deep inside their hearts.
In order to prove that playing tug of war with your dog does not influence the relationship between a dog and his owner a proper study was conducted in 2002. At the end of the study, the conclusion was made that playing tug with your dog does not aggravate or inflicts aggression or have a negative influence on your relationship.
Now that you know it is safe for you to play the tug game, you need to keep the following in mind before you go out to buy the Dog Tug Toys.
Look for a Dog Tug Toys with no stringy or ravelled ends or that may unravels easily. This can cause strings to get caught between the teeth. Pay attention to this in particular if you have a small type of dog. Their teeth are much closer together and caught strings more easily between their teeth. Good quality is also important it is no use the tug toy has no durability and play needs to be ended in the first two minutes! I very important piece of advice is not to make use of your socks or other household items to play tug of war with. You teach your dog that way that those objects are toys and he is allowed to use it.
Your dog’s chewing ability plays a large part in choosing the right dog tug toy. Don’t be mistaken by the size of your dog. Large breeds tend to be less of chewers than smaller dogs who have outstanding chewing abilities due to their much smaller teeth. In addition, be careful to buy a dog tug toy that allows you to have a stronger grip that the dog. If you pull to hard, it might be possible for you to pull out a damaged tooth by accident.
After obtaining the right toy, you would want to take note of some pointers commonly neglected when playing tug with your dog. First and foremost, never allow your dog to hang onto the tug toy in the air. This is unhealthy for their teeth and can hurt their jaws by doing that.
Should it happen when you play tug and the dog gets aggressive or starting to act violently, drop down the toy without delay and walk away without paying attention to the dog. Also, don’t leave the tug toy laying outside all the time. Bring it out when the two of you are going to play and put it straight away once the playing is done.