Playing Tug is a good interaction as your puppy needs to come to you to play with the tuggy, which in turn will help you with your recall in the future. Tugging triggers the chasing instinct of most dogs.

When your puppy has taken to the game, your puppy needs to learn to give the toy back and stop tugging. This is when the “Play and Swap” game comes handy.

When your puppy is interested with the toy, play the Swap/Switch game: Teach you puppy to swap between toys as shown in the video with Nola:

• Use 2 toys that your puppy likes equally
• Start to play with one
• Stop moving the toy
• Say “swap” and start moving the other one nearby where your puppy can see it.

To finish the game, play tug with one of the toys and then:

• Grab your puppy’s collar
• Let go of the tuggy (the one in your puppy’s mouth)
• offer a piece of food to your puppy to motivate your puppy to leave the tuggy
• when your puppy is dropping the toy, give the word “swap” so your puppy learns to associate the word with the behaviour.

Most important homework for this week is PLAY, PLAY & PLAY with your puppy. Make your puppy love the toys and most importantly make your puppy love to interact with you.