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Friday, March 27, 2015

Friday Fun - Tug Time!

A Game a Brother Loves

Dante obsessively loves to play tug, it's his most favorite game in the entire world and we often use his tug as a reward during training time. Ziva isn't as into tug as Dante, but when her ball isn't around she'll sometimes engage him in a fun game.

We're very dedicated to exercising our dogs, we get out no less that twice but often 3 times a day for a walk or play time - it just depends on what's going on.

Morning is usually a walk or a light playtime.
We like to get the dogs moving because it encourages them to realize they are hungry, if we let them they'll just get up with us, go potty outside, and then curl right back up on the couch for a morning nap but then they won't eat their breakfast. Silly dogs.
Being that they aren't super food motivated, and being that we exercise so much its important for them to eat and have calories to burn.
A light exercise in the morning gets them moving, makes them hungry, and then with a full tummy they are happy to go back to sleep when we leave for work.

Sometimes in the morning hubby will run the dogs in the field by our house, he occasionally likes to bring only a rope for them to play with. This encourages them to just stretch their legs at their own pace, sniff around a bit, Dante gets to pee in all his favorite places, and then they'll engage in a fun game of tug together!  We love to watch them play, lots of silly antics occur like: racing around, tugging, and then trying to run hubby over are all a part of the game.

"Hmmmmm...smell that morning air!"


After I get off of work in the afternoon I take the dogs out for a harder exercise, this usually involves my using the chuck it to throw Ziva's ball, and then hurling Dante's rope kong as far as possible and then tugging with him as a reward for bringing it back! That's how you teach a tugger to fetch, and he loves it!



"Just throw that ball mom!"

It seems like this week has just blown past! My last term of school starts this upcoming Monday, 
we're continuing with agility even though the schedule is crazy because we've put too much into it to stop now. And besides Ziva, hubby and I all love it! At this point though i'm itching for summer, I want to do more hiking, and get Dante trained to try out agility too!

FitDog Friday


16 comments:

  1. My older sister Katie is a tug a war lover too! She used to pull Mom around the house in her office chair with the rope! Exercise before eating is a great idea as it teaches us to work for our food. We always walk or go for a run before eating.

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    1. I made the mistake last night of grabbing Dante's toy he was offering to me while I was sitting on our barstool. Good thing I let go in time because I nearly took a dive!

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  2. So interesting to hear that your pups aren't super motivated by food rewards ~ our girl Missy is a slave to her stomach, yet her brother Buzz tends to be a bit more on the picky side as far as his food choices are concerned. We are currently making the switch from kibble to homemade food using Dr. Harvey's Veg-to-Bowl, and Buzz absolutely loves this food!!
    I loved all the pictures you posted & pinned a few :-) Enjoy your weekend!

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    1. I bet they'll love that switch!! I wish I could get them into treats more, so far chicken hearts and cheese do a good job for pretty dry treats when doing agility. :-)

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  3. Tug is a great game, and great for agility dogs! Let us know how agility training is going!

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  4. What fun pictures! Barley won't tug ever. As soon as I start to pull on the toy, she lets go and gives it to me. Glad that you're keeping up with the agility--it's one of our favorite activities!

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    1. So far Ziva will only tug with Dante, as soon as I try to play she quits the game. But we just keep trying!

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  5. Our Sally loved tug too...but a dog that isn't food motivated??? Always having Labs, I can't even imagine that. BOL.

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    1. I know right?! I had no idea that such dogs existed, lol!

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  6. I also cannot imagine having a dog that isn't food motivated. The only time I've run into that was years ago when I volunteered at an animal shelter. The dogs were more interested in getting out of their kennels and getting pets than they were in eating whatever treat I had brought along.

    Sounds like a great exercise routine for all of you!

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    1. Dante is thankfully more food motivated than Ziva who will occasionally take treats, but Ziva is ball or nothing in high excitement environments. :-)

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  7. Not eat breakfast. Brown dawgs say it is unheard! lol

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  8. Such great pictures! I love the DIY tug toy!

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    1. Thanks! It didn't last as long as I would have hoped but toys usually don't with these two! :-)

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