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Today’s training session with KJ. I tried to implement the things Allie pointed out could be improved. Just look at how KJ tries to guard the tug—she doesn’t pick it up when given the “bite” command but instead covers it with her body, holding it underneath herself. It’s kind of fascinating, but you can clearly see it’s going to be an issue.
Koka does something very similar, but anyone can take a toy from her—even a random puppy, even when Koka is growling (ALWAYS growling..) she never bite. Koka is just wonderful…
I tried not to take the tug directly from under KJ’s mouth, but instead to kick it (not every time). During tug, KJ almost always moves toward me rather than pulling backward actively so I can let her “win.” Sometimes I just let go of the tug as a “win” for her. This could be due to how she learned to retrieve—of course, KJ didn’t bring toys back right from the start. She’d run to them, grab them in her mouth, and then just lie down with them. So I started teaching her to retrieve on leash (and I’m still working on that).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh0lsmolrME
