# Puppy Tug



## Cas_H (Mar 1, 2019)

Hello everyone!
Kansas still won't be coming home until next year, but I won a gift card giveaway and I'm grabbing some supplies off Amazon. What is the "best" material puppy tug? I'm planning on getting a Dean and Tyler since they're a brand I've heard people use before. If you have better suggestions, feel free to let me know! 
(I already have all the generic puppy supplies.)


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Save your gift card. Puppies outgrow tugs quickly. You might decide you need a training vest instead


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## David Winners (Apr 30, 2012)

I like smaller leather tugs and fleece tugs for puppies. At about 6 months I switch to fire hose tugs. I buy Ray Allen and Elite K9 tugs.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Braided fleece tugs are super easy to make, and great for young puppies. I looked up how to make a 4 strand braid on youtube and have been making my own flyball tugs.

Here's Cava's purple and pink tug with Orbee balls on it:


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## David Winners (Apr 30, 2012)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> Braided fleece tugs are super easy to make, and great for young puppies. I looked up how to make a 4 strand braid on youtube and have been making my own flyball tugs.
> 
> Here's Cava's purple and pink tug with Orbee balls on it:


They are great for adult dogs that aren't aggressive chewers too! I have a 12 year old that has had the same fleece tug for years.

That's a super cool tug BTW


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> Braided fleece tugs are super easy to make, and great for young puppies. I looked up how to make a 4 strand braid on youtube and have been making my own flyball tugs.


Your dogs do fly ball? I’ve been trying to find how to teach mine.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

David Winners said:


> They are great for adult dogs that aren't aggressive chewers too! I have a 12 year old that has had the same fleece tug for years.
> 
> That's a super cool tug BTW


Thanks! The balls help protect the fleece since my dogs would target the balls. 



LuvShepherds said:


> Your dogs do fly ball? I’ve been trying to find how to teach mine.


Um, YEAH, lol. Cava is still in training, I hope to debut her sometime next year, but I raced Halo for 5 years. She was ranked #19 of all GSDs registered in NAFA until I had to retire her to DM before losing her last year. Now she's at #21 for her breed since two other dogs overtook her. In her last year she raced on our Multibreed team (all four dogs must be different breeds), which won as regional champions for California that year. 



















You really need a club if you want to pursue the sport. There's some foundation stuff you can work on on your own, but the box turn in particular isn't something you want to try and train if you don't know what you're doing. Send me a PM if you'd like more info. 

(sorry for the hijack, Cas_H)


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## Chuck94! (Feb 8, 2018)

David Winners said:


> I like smaller leather tugs and fleece tugs for puppies. At about 6 months I switch to fire hose tugs. I buy Ray Allen and Elite K9 tugs.


I have a tug from Elite K9 & like it a lot! They are definitely good


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## Chuck94! (Feb 8, 2018)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> Braided fleece tugs are super easy to make, and great for young puppies. I looked up how to make a 4 strand braid on youtube and have been making my own flyball tugs.
> 
> Here's Cava's purple and pink tug with Orbee balls on it:


You always have the best looking tugs lol. If I'm not mistaken you had a really cool purple & black fleece tug?


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## David Winners (Apr 30, 2012)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> David Winners said:
> 
> 
> > They are great for adult dogs that aren't aggressive chewers too! I have a 12 year old that has had the same fleece tug for years.
> ...


That second pic is just amazing! Gettin' it!


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## Cas_H (Mar 1, 2019)

> Save your gift card. Puppies outgrow tugs quickly. You might decide you need a training vest instead


I have a training harness and one vest already. I'm getting another vest with this order but it'll be for general training / service work not bite work. 



> I like smaller leather tugs and fleece tugs for puppies. At about 6 months I switch to fire hose tugs. I buy Ray Allen and Elite K9 tugs.


A friend of mine makes fleece tugs. I have one already from him and access to as many as I need for the price of materials. 



> (sorry for the hijack, Cas_H)


No worries at all! I love learning about other sports, plus my friend wants to do flyball with his husky so I'll pass that advice along to him.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Cas_H said:


> I have a training harness and one vest already. I'm getting another vest with this order but it'll be for general training / service work not bite work.


Not a training vest for the dog. A training vest for you.

Personally, I do not use a harness except for bitework. I"m confused, in your other posts, your puppy will be for service work? You are now doing IGP with him? 

Here is the list of things I use regularly.
1. prong
2. fursaver
3. Balls (I just bought some Julius K9 balls and like the strings so much better than the Gappay). I also like the chuckit balls with the strap.
4. 15' long line. Get 2. I like the tubed nylon ones that I just throw in the washer when they get dirty.
5. 4' Gripper leash with no loop. Some people get the 15' ft ones for their long lines.
6. French Linen Gappay tugs. I have the tug and the ball. 
7. E-collar. I prefer tritronics (now Garmin)
8. Leather harness for puppy/young dog bite work.
9. various equipment like IGP jump and dumbbells at some point when they are older.

For the puppy - do you have a flirt pole??


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## Cas_H (Mar 1, 2019)

Jax08 said:


> Save your gift card. Puppies outgrow tugs quickly. You might decide you need a training vest instead





Jax08 said:


> Not a training vest for the dog. A training vest for you.
> 
> Personally, I do not use a harness except for bitework. I"m confused, in your other posts, your puppy will be for service work? You are now doing IGP with him?
> 
> For the puppy - do you have a flirt pole??


Service work will come first but I'm hoping to do both as long as he's suited for it. Of the three service dogs my breeder has produced, all three are also active in bite work on a club level, two WDA and one PSA, while also being steady dogs who understand the difference between service work and being on the field. I'll mostly be focused on IGP obedience with Kansas as well as some tracking. This is all subject to change depending on how he turns out, my breeders recommendation, etc.
I completely blanked on human vests lol. That is one thing I do not have but since my weight has been fluctuating because of my meds I keep putting it off.

I do not have a flirt pole but I plan on making a DIY one with a lunge whip since most of the premade ones I see are for smaller dogs.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Personally, I only use a vest for tracking because there is so much to carry. Food, articles, markers, ball. I bought a cheap fishing vest for that. Other people like the small game hunting vests

My favorite is just a plain ole hoodie and pants with lots of pockets. I put the all in my hood on recalls. E-collar remote in my pocket.

I bought a ton of stuff when Seger was a puppy and gave away a bunch of it because he didn't like it. Soooo...I hold off on buying to many toys. I do have a pile of fleece in the house to make toys with. They don't really last all that long but are easy to make. The unstuffed animal squeaker toys are always a winner. And Tide detergent cups. LOL 

Oh! and Ruffwear turnup toys. The best ever. They are small so you'll have to decide how ling he has them. 

And toilet paper rolls
https://www.facebook.com/michelle.j...331490443/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

And dog beds
https://www.facebook.com/michelle.j...769676368/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab


So the main theme is...all the dog toys laying on the floor while she's killing the toilet paper roll and dog bed.


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## Chuck94! (Feb 8, 2018)

Jax08 said:


> Personally, I only use a vest for tracking because there is so much to carry. Food, articles, markers, ball. I bought a cheap fishing vest for that. Other people like the small game hunting vests
> 
> My favorite is just a plain ole hoodie and pants with lots of pockets. I put the all in my hood on recalls. E-collar remote in my pocket.
> 
> ...


I really like the Garmin e-collar we have!


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## CometDog (Aug 22, 2017)

I always have done the puppy nesting thing and wound up giving a lot of it away lol 

Things I did use, out of the oh 40 things that I bought for the puppy- puppy stage stage that I actually used during the puppy-puppy stage:

Flirt pole with fleece and leather flaps on it
Bowls for training position (rubber kind from tractor supply) for a whopping 2 weeks or so. Should have stuck with that though. My bad. 
Little flat collar and light lead
Puppy harness for playing flirt pole w/decoy
Multiple dish towels were sacrificed as tug toys. Never unattended though
Treat pouch and Bandaids for my fingers for the using food stage of puppy/young dog training

At 4 to 5 months I added/started using:
Nylon slip collar (leash reactive)
Leather agitation harness for bite work
regular flat collar 
6 ft 3/4 leather lead
Light long line
Light thin leather puppy tug

At 6 months I added pretty much rest of things I use for my grown dog:
Mr. Prong.
And I also got him a nice personalized nylon webbing 1.75 inch flat collar that has an inside hidden strap that will accommodate an ecollar. I don't use one at this time, but there was no price difference between the one that had the hidden strap or not. And the inside strap in not intrusive in any way. It will be his final collar since it adjusts 19" to 25" 
Firehose tugs
Gappay balls
Tracking lead
Fur Saver

I also have stuff for IGP like articles, IGP1 dumbells, chalk for marking corners, tracking flags. Fans for my truck for hot training days. Non spill bowls for water in the truck/crates. Oh, and I always carry a good person AND K9 first aid kit. And recovery electrolyte powder for their water for hot days when I work them. 

Hmmm, let's see...for the puppy chewing phase-he never got into Kongs- the ram horns worked well. I still have them laying around and have been meaning to look into their impact of wear and tear on adult teeth. I brought them in for the pup, and Valor wound up loving them..and the puppy now has adult teeth but still likes them. I don't like marrow bones for that reason- wear and tear on teeth, but horns are hair..still do need to read up. I am not a huge fan of fostering, in adults at least, the need to chew recreationally for periods of extended time in any event. I am not totally against it, but I do like when a dog can settle without occupying themselves with chewing. 

I don't use a vest either for OB. I have no issue with them but to me it is just one more thing to phase out. I stick stuff everywhere. Good pockets help a ton. In hot weather as gross as it is I have slimy tugs and balls jammed in shirts, back of bike shorts lol I once had *someone* at a seminar tell me I had lettuce from lunch stuck on my chest..but it was grass from keeping my dog's tug in my shirt lolol Oh and a few weeks ago I fell asleep overnight with an article stuck in my sports bra. Ready for the track!!! lol 

For toys the Tuff Kong "rope inside a toy animal" (non stuffed) work for us. Any toy really, no matter how much it is for "power chewers", is time stamped around here. They play rough with it, I keep an eye on their condition, and toss when they start to lose stuffing or tear. The dogs usually stop engaging each other and/or me with them once the toy is about to die. When they settle in on the floor and get all comfy to really chew it, that is my clue there has been a breach lol My dogs do like Jolly balls as well. They last a bit before someone rips a handle off, and then they are still good after you trim off the remaining handle. Oh and those super tough black tires stand up for a while, if you stay away from the cheap ones. 

I'm sure I forgot stuff I have bought and currently use lol But hope all the posts here make you think of fun things to buy. I LOVE buying things for dogs. I have to discipline myself hahaha 

Enjoy the tortuous nesting period


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

I love those pictures. Your dog is flying! 

Where do you find vests? I tried a hunting vest on in a sporting good store once and it was huge. Then I thought I’d make one, but that never happened.


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## Cas_H (Mar 1, 2019)

Does anyone have reccomendations for a light weight training vest that doesn't retain a lot of heat? I overheat easily and want one I can use all year.


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

GREAT light weight training vest developed by Forrest Micke (dog trainer associated with Michael Ellis) It has a vented back panel. 

His company is called D-Town Gear: https://www.dtowngear.com/shopall/warmweatherutilityvest Vests are on sale right now!


Forrest Micke Info: https://www.forrestmicke.com/ 

Leerburg sells his video's: https://leerburg.com/fsearch/results.php?terms=forrest%20micke%20videos 


Moms


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

You can get an apron instead of a vest
https://www.hallmarkk9.com/gappaykilttrainingpouch.aspx


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