Tug of War, the Best Way to Teach Bite Inhibition

Some thoughts on Tug of War, a great way to strengthen your puppy’s/dog’s bite inhibition:

• It’s impossible to discuss tug of war without also covering bite inhibition and roughhousing with your puppy/dog.
• Ian Dunbar: “Bite Inhibition is the single most important lesson a [puppy/]dog must learn.” Before & After Getting Your Puppy, 2004, p13. See pages 135-151 of this book for an excellent treatment of bite inhibition.
• The window for teaching a puppy to have a “soft mouth” closes at about 4 ½ months (Dunbar, B&AGYP, p13)
• Rules for roughhousing with a puppy/dog
  • Do not allow out of control play. If you can’t get the puppy/dog to “come, sit, lie down, speak and shush” (Dunbar, p151) the puppy/dog is out of control. Control is a requirement for any roughhousing, which Dunbar covers in the above referenced chapter alongside bite inhibition. Out of control play, whether with people or other dogs, produces an out of control, less stable puppy/dog that is more likely to use its mouth inappropriately.
  • Do not allow people to play with your puppy/dog if they can’t get it to come, sit and down (Dunbar, p151). We may think of an out of control young boy in this case but there are plenty of people, young and old, male and female who are perfectly calm but who just don’t think about this topic deeply enough to do it well. Maybe it’s ok for them to pet your puppy/dog, but don’t let them play roughly with it, even if they’re your friends.
  • Halt the play and calm your puppy/dog down every 15 seconds or so. Have it let go of anything in its mouth, sit and calm down. After everyone is calm you may resume. This builds the puppy’s/dogs ability to stay in control of its feelings, and to retain its ability to think in spite of environmental stress or temptations.
  • Fear can reduce a puppy’s/dog’s bite inhibition. Your puppy/dog should never be afraid during play. Keep play fun, and build the puppy’s/dog’s sense of confidence. Posturing is fine, such as barking or growling during tug of war, as long as it is posturing. And remember, puppies/dogs can be rougher in play than people usually are, so learn to gauge your puppy’s/dog’s arousal level from its point of view. A little acting like an alpha predator goes along with the mock battle and display and testing of skills that is roughhousing.
  • Interspersing excited play with tasks that require thinking makes your puppy/dog better at maintaining higher-level thought even while wound-up. This is a good skill, especially for powerful-bite dogs like a GSD. Tricks make a dog think just stay away from anything involving teeth. You could have the dog, when calmed, find a treat hidden in one of your outstretched hands, or do puppy pushups, or work on any other solid tricks. Excited dogs tend to not learn new tricks well.
  • Be sensitive to the puppy’s/dog’s mindset for anything that might cause it to not stay in control during vigorous play. Common causes include
    • the puppy/dog is really wound up
    • being under stress, eg: the dog/puppy has just been corrected a few times or there’s a new dog in the house
    • the puppy/dog doesn’t have a strong history of confidence-building play
    • the dog is in season or is aware of dogs in season nearby
    • com has a generally good article on telling the difference between dog play and aggression and suggests studying dog non-verbals. You want your puppy/dog at least somewhat loose and relaxed during play, not rigid, and certainly not frozen. A powerful stance is different than a frozen stance.

• Tug-of-war is a great game for developing bite inhibition. Including the above roughhousing rules, below are some tug of war pointers:
  • First, be certain that the dog can be calmed down when they get a little wound up. If not, work with the dog in other safer ways first. Don’t assume that every dog is immediately a candidate for tug-of-war, especially puppies/dogs you don’t know well. You always want to leave a puppy/dog better off than when you started play.
  • What if the puppy/dog doesn’t like tug of war? Some don’t. But appropriate tug is great for dogs so see if you can get them interested. Perhaps have them watch another dog do it, if you have others. Maybe they just need a few exposures, or maybe you need to catch them in the right mindset. Make it exciting and give lots of “Yes!!” rewards for incremental improvement, such as looking at the toy, taking it in their mouth, etc.
  • Tug builds the puppy’s/dog’s control of its bite, even when wound up, which is one of the best things you can do for it.
  • Tug builds the puppy’s/dog’s confidence. Feeling powerful and successful is good for confidence, and biting and pulling is deeply wired into the canine brain. Also, winning sometimes is great for anyone’s ego. Make it feel like a real victory – don’t give up too easily. But when the puppy/dog wins, they have to bring it back to you to continue play. Don’t chase them, which is another favorite dog game that you don’t want to develop! Of course the instant they come you, reward them by restarting the game.
  • Tug builds the bond between you and your puppy/dog. They will be grateful for the playtime, and the entire time you play properly and under control they’ll be seeing you as the boss and following your rules, which is great reinforcement of your role and theirs.
  • Tug is great physical exercise for the puppy/dog.
  • Keep the person safe: 1) Have commands to start and end a 15 second tug instance, and have many instances in a session of tug. The puppy/dog waits for you to begin – don’t let them try to grab it out of your hand when you haven’t started yet. 2) Have a tug toy that’s long enough so you don’t get bitten, and don’t let them start moving up toward your hand, which is natural, just like when kids play tug of war. The more powerful side always wants to shorten the space between because it gives them more control, but with a dog it can also get you bitten. 3) There are variations to tug. One is to have the puppy/dog bite in a space between your hands, and across time, shrink the bite space so the puppy/dog must get more and more precise with their bite. Obviously use your discretion to not get bit!
  • Safety for the dog: don’t injure the dog. Tug fairly straight so you don’t hurt their neck, and don’t pull harder than they can easily handle, especially for puppies. Imagine if you got carried away and hurt your puppy!
  • If the puppy/dog accidentally bites you it should instantly release, hopefully before it starts to bite hard enough to really hurt.
  • Don’t play tug of war with multiple dogs so they’re all competing and leaping at the tug. This will teach bad habits and you might get bitten.
  • Tug is great for obedience and manners.
  • Don’t let them chew on and destroy tug toys. You want tug toys to be special and only for tugging.
  • If you watch online videos on this or any subject, think carefully about your goals for your dog and the above factors. And above all, keep everybody safe and make sure the dog stays under control.