Tug Training Made Fun  with Tug for Treats

With guide training well behind us, Thane and I are now training tasks to mitigate my incomplete quadriplegia. Retrieve was difficult enough for my Border Collie - a natural *nose-nudger* of toys whose idea of helping me with anything was to nudge items closer so I could retrieve them myself. LOL We eventually clicked on retrieve, but tug was really testing my training confidence. I felt like the only way we would succeed at this was for Thane to watch a demonstration by another service dog.
I was feeling jealous of those fortunate to have breeds and/or individual dogs who are natural play tuggers. This often can result in an easier training process focusing on application to task training rather than on the entire process from the concept of tugging to task application. Border Collies however are not generally of the play tug caliber, but of the latter resulting in a tedious process where losing track of the fun can easily take place. The process thus becomes the entire focus.
My previous service dog Chimette (Met) was a Border Collie Shepherd cross. He learned to retrieve and tug by watching other service dogs. Once he saw others do it, a little practice was all that was necessary for him to reliably perform the tasks. This time, however I wanted to train these tasks in a step by step process. My goal was to prevent Thane from forming any weak links in the tasks that arose for Met. Since Thane has never been one to offer behaviors to get the reward, some tasks are more difficult for us to train. When Thane gets it however, he really gets it!
I was questioning whether Thane would ever learn to tug. The numerous training suggestions I received had one thing in common- they flopped! It was feeling like this was just not meant to be for us. The strategies all seemed to require a dogs understanding of play tug or at the very least a dogs keen interest in trying new things- neither of which Thane had. Accepting this would not be part of his tasks seemed unimaginable with my need for numerous tasks based on tug. All was not a lost cause for Thane though.
In communicating with Joan Froling, I learned about Tug for Treats. What an awesome concept! As I read the lesson plan I knew right away that it had potential. It was also really easy to adapt it to clicker training. WOW! After just a few sessions, Thane was taking hold of the short strap of webbing, holding it and dropping it to the ground to receive his reward. My concern that the step of dropping the strap to the floor could ruin his retrieve was quickly allayed when Thane promptly retrieved the strap to begin again! The difference in this plan as opposed to all the other suggestions, is that it began at a place where it assumes nothing of the dogs instincts or understanding of what tug is, instead teaching every step of the processfrom mere interest in the item to taking hold of it to eventually putting weight into the tug. I was to discover that this was something Thane was not just interested in, but that he could and is excelling at. Though Thane's biggest successes at the moment are when we are facing each other while he helps me undress, or play tug, we are beginning to apply the training to other tasks like tugging his crate door open.
Progress happens most when I am excited and very positive throughout the session. This positive attitude is crucial when training new concepts. I have noticed that when I am really worn out and not capable of being in training mode for the task at hand, its best to not ask Thane to help. I will admit, it is easy to forget that Thane, a trained guide dog, is learning when it comes to other training. He is very much a work in progress and as such needs me to keep it fun and enjoyable. When I am lacking in energy and passion for training, Thane has no interest in tugging my socks, pants or whatever else. When I am energetic as I train with him, he is full of enthusiasm producing awesome accomplishments. I may be needing his help more than I ever have presently (due to power chair mechanical issues that have put me in a manual chair for a time), but its still very important to remember that he is learning and as such the process needs to remain slow and steady. This is not a race to see whose multi-disability service dog is trained first. It’s a slow, steady individual process, that when trained systematically throughout the complete chain of the task will provide me with many years of exceptional support down the road.
I will admit I am excited for the day when Thane opens the fridge or closes the door as we head off to town. I know that as we continue to train and build confidence together, Thane will be able to provide very solid skills for these tasks and many others like them.
If you are struggling training tug with your SDIT like we were or you are simply hoping to prevent difficulties in the training process, Tug for Treats is just the ticket for you. You can find the article at: http://www.iaadp.org/tug.html
Happy Training.