Agility toy must haves?

Justicemom said:
I know weird. Maybe I should try it with Ember. She doesn't like toys or tugging much but loves food. I am struggling to find a better agility reward system for her. She doesn't like things thrown around her. I swear somebody hit her in the head with something as a small puppy. I'm starting the clicker with her so we'll see.
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I have similar trouble with Bentley. He doesn't care for toys (you want me to chase what?), or affection (BO-RING!). Food is the only thing that really gets him excited.

I considered working hard to teach tugging, etc...but I really only wanted to use something that he found inherently and naturally exciting. I know others will disagree, but it's what has worked best for Bentley. He's a pretty demotivated kinda guy, so I have to use what works. :razz:
 
Oh my where do I start???!!!! She has sooo many. Here goes, a partial list, but these are the essentials:

sheepskin bungee tug toy with a hockey ball:
http://www.axxent.ca/~crasher/

Sheepsking bait bag:
http://www.axxent.ca/~crasher/

a custom made rabbit/fleece leash, a rabbit tug toy, a rabbit bunny bumper, and a rabbit bait bag from:
http://web.mac.com/mtrebino/Site/Bunny_toys.html

a fabric disc that was recommended by Lynda Orton Hill:
http://guscustomcreations.com/5401.html

a buffalo tug tail:
http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=1715&ParentCat=29

a sheepskin octapus toy and then there are all sorts of balls too!

Spoiled??? Depends oh who you ask. If you ask Maia, she'll say she does not have enough toys yet :lol:
 
take4roll10 said:
Im confused. Why do dogs need a tug toy for agility?
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They don't need it, per se. It's just a great way to reward your dog. One of the big things in agility is to always keep it fun for your dog. A great way to reward a toy/play motivated dog is to play with him/her! Throwing a ball isn't really something you can do at the beginning or end of a run, but tugging is easy, and gets the dog revved up beforehand, and keeps it fun at the end.

You'll often see people tugging with their dogs before they go, or the dog racing back to get their leash to tug on at the end of the run.
 
corbinam said:
They don't need it, per se. It's just a great way to reward your dog. One of the big things in agility is to always keep it fun for your dog. A great way to reward a toy/play motivated dog is to play with him/her! Throwing a ball isn't really something you can do at the beginning or end of a run, but tugging is easy, and gets the dog revved up beforehand, and keeps it fun at the end.

You'll often see people tugging with their dogs before they go, or the dog racing back to get their leash to tug on at the end of the run.
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Thank you for explaining it. I guess I'm gonna have to get Bailey a better tug toy. She is motivated by everything... toys, tugging, treats, etc
 
corbinam said:
I have similar trouble with Bentley. He doesn't care for toys (you want me to chase what?), or affection (BO-RING!). Food is the only thing that really gets him excited.
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That's Nike. Only recently did I finally get him interested in a toy during agility, and it's the small Everlasting Fun Ball. The first time, I put a few treats in it, and rolled it for him. To my shock, he is in LOVE with it. He gets excited when he sees it in my hand now, so I've been using it at the end of his weaves and when we're working on distance to keep him moving. Who knows, maybe he'll be interested in the food tug I want to pick up!

For my toy-motivated AKK, they are actually in love with Wubbas for agility. They are simply nutty for them. :smile2:
 
Oh what I would give for Romeo to be toy motivated!! I'm trying very slowly starting from home tho, using this from Cleanrun - http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=1669&ParentCat=132
I stuff it with sausages and other smelly mushy things. Took it to jumpers class once (zero effect on Romeo btw), and one of them said her dog doesn't tug. Next thing I knew I had her sheltie attached to the tug toy and she wouldn't let go! :lol:

Juliet likes toys and will tug (tho' not much outdoors - what is with my dogs!!) but prefers the food stuffed one from Cleanrun coz she's a greedy girl - that one she'll try to tug but she's got a soft-ish mouth and will just let go!

While we are on the topic of tugs and toys - can someone share how they built value for the toy? And how the heck you got your dog loving the toy outdoors?
 
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