Comment on “Should You Be Playing Tug With Your Dog”

This comment reply is specifically for “artjams” who posted this comment under “Hello World”. It was a comment made on the “Should You Be Playing Tug With Your Dog” post. The comment section should now be open for future moderated comments.

Artjams commented on 1/19/07:

My sister and her family have a white boxer. He constantly jumps on me when I come to visit. He wants to play tug with many of his toys and he always wins. He is stronger than me as I have asthma. I can win if I do it quickly, but he wants to paly over & over. If I stop and don’t pay attention to him, he will growl and won’t stop growling & barking. He’s demanding that I play with him. If I tell him no, he doesn’t stop. If I get up and move towards him, he runs away barking & comes back when I turn my back or attention away from him to start all over again. I’ve tol my sister, mother, and nephews that they need to train him and that this behavior is dangerous. They just don’t get it. I must go there to visit my mother who is 84 years old and I worry about her. What should I do?

First things first. Here is a perfect example of a dog or pet owner who is not aware of their pet’s impact on visitors. I will post more on this topic later.

There are a few things that I do not know here, such as age and the boxer’s role in the family (although I could surmise this). I also do not know the inter-family relationships when visitors are not present.

The boxer is probably an adolescent as it appears he is still exploring his boundaries … to see how far he can go. The continuous playing and pushing his will on you is a prime example of this. The growling and barking can possibly be a precursor to more exaggerated actions if he doesn’t get his way. It is hard to say without properly evaluating him.
My recommendation for you is not to play tug with him at all. Without realizing it, you are perpetuating this action by playing with him. The next thing you are doing is continuing to play with him when you want to quit. The boxer can’t make you play with him. You make that choice.

Don’t play with him and ignore him when he tries to initiate the game. Do not stare at him. Avoid his eye contact. If he is being good, praise him by petting him and speaking to him in a calm voice. That’s it. That is all you can and should do.

This behavior with you will not stop overnight, but it will eventually diminish and should stop if you are persistent.
As far as your grandmother goes, you can only bring this to your sister’s attention. I would assume this behavior is not present with your grandmother. If it is, implore your sister and her family to speak to a professional dog trainer or behaviorist.

I hope this helps. Since I am not there to evaluate this boxer I can only provide general suggestions. I would suggest to every dog owner to always get professional training and guidance.