How To Teach Your Dog To Drop A Tug Or Toy On Command 

Well holy shit. I wish I would have found this video sooner. I had no idea how effective this method was until I literally just tried it with my 7 month old GSD. She immediately let go when I have been trying unsuccessfully up until now to get her to release. Thank you so much!

As a male, I recommend holding the tug toy off to the side over your thigh instead of right in the middle near the jewels lol. This come from experience, had a dog readjust their teeth and catch me right in junk at the same time NOT fun!!!! I always go over the thigh now. LMAO Live and learn!! Great technique though, been doing this for years! =)

I believe that you just saved my 8 month puppy from possibly initiating a dog fight. He’s been biting other dogs’ leashes and sometime collars. I see how this method will absolutely change his perspective and cognition on drop and me as his handler.

Amazing to see how quickly he shifted ! Always helpful to know what’s behind the behavior- thanks!

Hi, i just came across your channel. Really good content across all i have seen so far. Many trainers focus on showing how they can handle the dog and instantly change their behaviour without much focus on the other end of the leash, whereas i feel like you are actually teaching people all the "whys". This is so important!

WOW!!! This worked Perfectly!! Thank you so much! I’ve been working on “drop” with my dog with only a little success. This worked INSTANTLY!

I LOVE this..Will start this immediately! Ty vm

Subscribed! I pray this works on my dog I will try tug of war later, I had to find a solution because my dog doesn’t let go

Nice work! Thank you for doing these videos

Good content, thank you !

Brilliant advice! Thank you.

Outstanding video, great information!

Such a good video !! Very educational !! Nice work!!

Fist video that actually worked for this. Thanks for the knowledge. It all makes sense now.

Excellent tutorial.

Outstanding! Thank you!

Thank you so much for this info no one has said it like this before makes it easy to understand now I get it thank you!

Love the videos! This one particularly is perfect for Chulo, I've been trying to get him to let go with minimal success. I cant wait to try this approach!

Love your videos

Thank you for sharing.

Best explanation. Thanks

Love all your videos and my puppy Doberman gets it pretty much on the first go. Will try the "drop" command next. Thanks

Literally worked as i was watching the video! Been working on this for months too haha

Amazing!

Thank you! I'm going to try that with my dog ASAP :D

Wow I really like your presentation great job

Balabanov method? I dig it 👍👍 I gotta get me a tug toy like that one !

This worked in 1 session. Green handler with a new dog. Everything is coming along besides the “Out” which is a work in progress. Thank you 🙏

Thanks for this video! Made a huge difference for me and my 9 month old equal mix of herder-guarder-nordic ( we call her our Nordic herding maligator.....your videos have been so helpful and we are all really enjoying the process ❤! )

This is a great technique for a dog that intuits that letting go when the tug is stationary means the prey is dead. My young female decided that a stationary tug meant try harder and harder. AKA the opposite of this. She could literally pull me out of a chair. Big win for her of course and not learning to out this way. However, when I would intentionally let go( started from my exhaustion trying to be still) she would bring and slam it back into me. She was wanting me to start playing again. This, of course, is super engagement for play. Eventually I was able to add the out command with a quick yes for a regrip. Just wanted to share this for those who find their dogs might outlast them trying to be stationary. You'll need a line on those dogs that want to run away with the tug and that's another ballgame.

great vid .and works a treat with my bud...

Love your video but more important the little details

This really worked! I'm a small girl with german shepard so I have to say it was challenging to stabilize the toy to make it uninteresting. It took about a minute for him to let go the first time! Thanks!

Need to give this a try.

Worked like a charm (on the first try) with my 7-month-old Rottweiler. Need to work more with my one-year-old Pitbull. BTW, THANK GOD I read the comment below (the one about using our thigh to protect our "jewels") . My future kids will thank you.

Lots of love from the Philippines

Thank you

Wow! Merci!

Marvelous Marvelous ❤❤❤

This is really interesting.

This video will help me more to dog

This is the best explanation and tutorial I’ve seen for tug. I tried it out and my dog let go of the toy when I “killed” it the very first time. Thank you!

What a great video. My obedient wonderful Australian Shepard cannot stop playing tug and I worry I’m going to get accidentally bitten or somebody else is. so I’m going to work on this with Max… my big old beautiful Australian Shepherd and I will get back to you!

Thank you for your videos! Do you have one on how to keep your dog from barking at other dogs during our walks?

Awesome video, thank you! Where can I get the tug toy you have?

I believe my dog is part Malinois! But I'm new and love your videos! Can't wait to start working with him. Also where did you get that guy toy?

Your dog us beautiful 😍

How does this relate to hunt retreivers ie labs. Traditional training discouages tug games. Throw a bumper...dog retrrives...releases to hand. Get another toss/ retreive as the reward. Often on retreives of live birds they need to retreive soft mouthed and gentley release the flapping live bird to hand. They are discourged to hold to kill or brar down. Method K9 please explain benifit of teaching the tug release for an agressive lab. Love all your other strategies.

Been trying different techniques to get my dog let go of tug but without success. This worked perfectly with my Belgian with one try! Perfect! Thanks! Do you have any advice on how to stop my Belgian puppy from play biting. Thanks!

My Dutch Shepherd puppy LOVES to grab onto other dogs ears and PULL PULL PULL without letting go...and I suspect it's because he thinks it's tug-of-war, which my husband plays with him all the time! I think this will be useful to help remedy that...if tug-of-war IS the reason he does this, I think this method will work. Note: my dog means zero malice when he clamps on a dog's ear...he doesn't know his own strength yet. And he's never seriously hurt any dogs yet, so I'm addressing this before it happens.

I have a 2 year old Amstaff mix. Very quick and athletic. She takes other dog's balls and will not give it up so I can return to owner. As you know and Amstaff is in the same breed family as a pit bull and she has that strong determination to not back off from taking a ball as though her life depends on it. I often tell people she would not drop the ball, even if you used a baseball bat. They are always the attractive rubber balls you purchase, like "chuck it." She especially is crazy about balls that squeak. The harder I try to get the ball from her, the more determined she is to not drop it. She is too strong to take it from her mouth. She literally goes crazy as though it is prey. I have tried many things like using an e-collar with sensitivity at full strength. This just makes her more determined to not give it up. She is not distracted by anything. Offering her treats or another ball is fruitless. The only thing that works sometimes is by attaching a leash to her harness and pull her away from the ball if she sets it down for a second. It is at the point that I can't take her to the dog beach or a park with other dogs playing fetch. If I do, I must keep my distance from other dogs playing fetch. Do you have any recommendations?

Thanks for the video! Our Plott Hound almost pulls harder and gets a little crazy when I pull the rope close and "kill" the animal (holding the rope still). Any suggestions? Thanks

What length of tug is that? Thank you for all your videos. Super helpful!

whats a good site to find a long tug pillow like in video

How do you end the season without the dog expecting to think he will get the toy back?

Where did you get that tug you. Can't find a strong one like that..

nice crates!!! what brand are those?

Were can I buy that Large Tug Toy online?

do training techniques interfere with each other? I just saw different video where a guy used two balls. He thru one ball, got the dog to fetch it, when the dog brought it back the trainer got him to "drop-it" using the other ball. And that's how he tough the dog the "drop-it" command. I would like to use both techniques but will that confuse the dog? Should I teach separate commands per technique?

Amazing ! What about the command to take the tug ? I.e. got get it, or get it, I see you said “yes” is that the command?

You should explain the benefits of playing tug with your dog.

What age is a good time to start training this?

I tried this with my little pit mix using a large rope toy and when i pulled the toy close to me and held it still, it seemed to make her bite down harder on it and she just hard stared at me. I tried to keep it still for a while assuming she would let go but she continued staring and trying to pull the toy away. Thoughts?

My rescue dog came with a "tennis ball hoarding" need. Initially she growled and fought over giving up her ball. I then used a Kong hard red ball to (as a replacement) to get her to give up ANY toy to me. I also used the "trade me" (liver treat for the ball) and that worked also. WHERE CAN WE BUY THIS KIND OF TUG? (I looked at Chery and Petco, and both were a no go.) I definitely want to work with this tug with my 70 lb. Lab/Staffordshire Terrier.

Hi I have a 11 week old malamous but he keeps ripping tug toys. Can you give me a link for tugs toys. Thanks for the video though

But what if you do this and he still wont let go. I’ve literally sat and held my rope toy completely still for like 2 min straight and my 130lb Shiloh shepherd just stands there or will pull it and me along with it.

My pitbull is way stronger than me and shakes her head so I am unable to successfully “kill” the animal properly. Any suggestions?

What if you're done for now? My dog never calms down after he had a toy

His little nose boops in between killing the animal & making it alive again killed me 🤣

Beautiful fog. What breed is it?

What toy is that?

when teaching "leave it" for the first time, is it wrong to exchange the tug for a treat and mark it when the dog releases it with the treat?

Learning a lot even though Marci is a little weird. LOl

Well, I've tried it a few times but it didn't work, my tug toy was still too good to continue shaking, even if it didn't move that much. I'll stick to swapping toys instead.

What if my dog isn't interested to tug?

When I want to play tug with my dog, he always nips my hands where I’m holding the toy, any tips?

Where do you find a tug toy like the one you used?

Where can I get a tug like that???

That wont work with mine she keeps re-adjusting her bite on the toy I'd probably get accidently nibbed. So what do you do in that type case?

Hi

My dog gets WOLD with the tug! I can't move my hands to get closer or she pulls it out of my hands. HELP!

Amazing tutorial! But what’s that toy?

This seemed too simple to actually work with my 6mos GSD puppy who won’t let anything go for ANYTHING. I will say for the people saying it isn’t working, we had to wait a looong time the first few attempts, and it’s been a couple days and he’s still occasionally not releasing for quite a long time, but for the most part he’s already got it down. Much better for us than any treat swap techniques we had tried.

I would love to see a video with you training a 1yo Pitbull using this technique. So far he won't let go of anything and every time I hold it close like you I get bit and clothes torn LOL Not his fault...I must be doing something wrong.

I try this and my American Bulldog just continues to tug on it 😭😭 I’m trying to teach “drop it” but he doesn’t seem to get it

I think that Clark can spell.

Where can I find this tug??

we are simulating the kill

That dog has been trained. But a dog that isn’t trained to just stop pulling and thrashing it’s a lot harder. A dog like a rott or mastiff will shake that toy regardless. Even if it’s a just a little bit. Would have to be a solid person to hold a tug still with a 120lb dog on the other end.

I thought malinois were a bit smarter than that and they could distinguish between an animal and tug toy.

!!!!!!

My dog retrieves a frisbee but when he returns it, he keeps his distance as I reach for it, then when I do get it, he will try to play tug of war with it. What I do now is I let go immediately and look away then he drops it. When I go to pick it up, he attacks the toy and tries to play tug of war again. Do you have a video that addresses not releasing upon return on retrieving?

if I give my dog ​​a toy like this, it won't bite the toy handles?

Haha always the underwear

Well I never.

that so doesnt work w Marci. Dead animal means she is victorious and she goes even harder. Lol

Work out biceps

thsi video was about 10 min lponger than it should have been

Boys don't kill the animal at the same place where our trainer is killing and re engaging... Re engaging by a learner is too dangerous

Amazing to see how quickly he shifted ! Always helpful to know what’s behind the behavior- thanks!