Glacier the Search Dog: Appealing Work, Dreadful Play
Glacier came to me from a client who couldn’t handle his energy and drive. She begged me to take him to try in Search and Rescue. I honestly didn’t want to live with his craziness, but agreed to try him out for a couple weeks.
He loved the search game and I fell in love with his determination and persistence to earn his reward. We teased and taunted, amping him to seek out the person who was running to hide. We played rigorous games of tug to reward, heightening his level of excitement. He pulled hard, barked intensely and fought to be released to find the missing person. We managed to created a human seeking machine; however, his increasingly explosive behavior was reckless and dangerous to us both.
Once he earned his toy, we struggled to recover it in order to move on to the next problem. If I managed to get it, he’d charge at it grabbing anything in his way. He had no qualms about getting hands and drew blood on many teammates. I grew increasingly frustrated with the issue trying every trick I knew. They only worked once and conflict between us over the toy grew.
He only behaved this way during search training, where he was frequently overstimulated. About a year in I realized, he did not need amping up, in fact he needed the opposite. I began focusing on calming techniques, self control, cognitive thinking games and obedience training and things began to improve. Unfortunately the toy conflict continued.
I moved from tug to ball reward because I was tired of getting hurt and fighting for the toy. He would thrash through heavy underbrush and charge after the ball which was dangerous to him. Additionally, he preferred tug as a reward and I notice a reduction in his commitment. I began looking for new ways to fix this problem and discovered several trainers specialize in play technique.
I set out to learn all I could and like many of us realized I was the problem. I created the overarrousal causing the conflict. I placed too much stress on getting the toy and my old school trainer ways didn’t want to let him win. It’s taken some work and we are still not perfect, but with some help we are improving.
I had to change my thinking. I let him win, ALOT! I don’t fight him hard, keeping arousal down. I use small, quick movements in line with his body to firm up the grip and prevent injury. I’m fortunate our crazy, poor play techniques hadn’t already caused any injuries.
I am working on his grip by opening the toy and rewarding with a win when he secures it in his mouth. This is helping eliminate the chewing behavior that eventually reaches the hands.
I give him the win and move away building his drive to push into me for more. This has helped him be more engaged with me rather than running off to destroy the toy. I let him hold the toy encouraging and praising for a solid hold. If he tries to shred the toy I get him moving allowing him to carry it. If he drops it, he loses it by simply walking him away and returning without him to pick it up.
I learned how to do a simple lift off when needed, this technique alone would have saved me 5 years of frustration. I’m waiting to focus on “Out” until we develop more trust in our game, but we work it a little with a tossed treats or 2nd toy. We’ve made considerable improvement and I’m dedicated to learning more and improving my skills with toy play.
Many of us were raised with the mind set that tug play was for working dogs only and/or they should never be allowed to win. Development in this area has proven it can be a valuable tool for training, confidence building, and a great outlet for energy. So get out there and play with your dogs, but remember it should be give and take, don’t be a bully.
