Time for another poll! Can/does your dog hang all their body weight off a tug toy?

I was playing tug with Dekka, and realized that I just take it as normal that you can carry a JRT around by holding a tug toy with its attached JRT (often still thrashing trying to kill the tug) off the ground and walking around.

My dogs will swing from ropes, etc, aha.

But its bad for the dogs necks.

Says who? I have yet to come across any thing that says its bad for necks. (teeth I could understand) but my dogs have less of a chance of wrenching their necks if they are hanging than when they are ragging on the toy.

Traveler can, I was actually just experimenting with it yesterday since I bought a new tug after Hannah ate all my others. I can swing him around, he loves it

Kaylee can, but it's hard for me to lift her

The picture of a JRT hanging and thrashing around on a tug while you walk around had me giggling

Neither of my dogs now will get all four paws off the floor, but Gavroche comes close.

The little Lhasa Apso I had as a kid LOVED being swung around on the end of a toy, though. She's jump 2 or 3 feet in the air to get it, and just hang on tight. Then when she was back on the ground she's shake it and "kill" it lol.

No. Dance likes tug, but doesn't put a lot of strength into it. Keira doesn't really tug. She'll hang on for a minute or so and then let go. Ripley digs in and pulls back as hard as he can. I have lifted his front feet off the ground before briefly, but that usually only happens as he's getting a better grip on the tug.

Ditto.

I think there would be a whole lot more pits who spend their life on a spring pole with a broken/wrenched necks if that was true

hmm Maybe I needed another option. "My dog would likely hang on but my arms are not strong enough to lift my dogs up" option.

And yes Linds, it is pretty funny how badly Dekka wants the tug toy (or stick, we hang off sticks too) to die, she thrashes and squeeks and whines in her desire to kill it.

I'd be more worried about my dogs needing braces on their teeth if they had their whole weight on them. No, Jose` is the only one who plays tug with any gusto, but he still doesn't pull on the toy with over-the-top tenacity. Jose`tugs pretty hard and his rear goes up and he plants his feet, but is very much the shake-to-kill kind of guy and then I always loosen the slack in the toy so too much resistence doesn't cause his neck to be jerked hard and potentially hurt. I have read plenty about that danger. Chuli is so gentle, I have to pretend I'm pulling and not use much tension at all. It is funny though to see dogs who will hang on for dear life. LOL.

So I voted all feet on the ground style.

Psyche will let me get her off the ground for a short time, if I'm lucky. She's not quite "into" it enough to let me carry her around, but if I get her going I can nudge with my foot and get her in the air. It's hard on me though, she's a big girl for a person of my size!

I used to be able to get like 3 of Bella's feet off the floor for like... .2 seconds.

I had to move heaven and earth to get Meg to tug at all; she most certainly does not care enough about it to hang on through more than mild tugs!

Walker would if I could lift him LOL.

Maddie is much stronger than she looks she can tug me off the couch easily if my feet aren't planted!
I can lift and swing her (carefully)

It's a good thing she has a solid drop command

I can do this with Ozzy easily. He can also hang off the sleeve in Schutzhund

I haven't tried it with Enzo, but I'm still trying to get her to believe that tugging is the best thing since sliced bread.

Roman can but only for so long.

I can swing him around with a rope toy and he can hold on longer than I can stand to swing him.

I tried tying it to a tree and he can only hold on (with all 4 feet off the ground) for about 25 seconds... then he starts growling and squealing and then he lets go. He goes right back for it so I think he'd like to hold on like those pits and terriers do but simply isn't strong enough.

With only the front feet suspended he'll hold on to a tug tied to a tree for 15 minutes or so before he lets go, and at that point I think he's letting go primarily out of boredom.

ETA I'll add that if I try and lift him by the tug myself that he tries to climb me instead of just hanging and it hurts lol. My arm isn't strong enough to hold him far enough away that he can't stab me with his awful clawed muddy foreleg.

I voted: Front legs off the ground only, any more and they let go.

Chloe's a really submissive dog, and if you try to take the toy from her, she'll pretty much give it to you. She'll tug some, and I can get her front legs off the ground, but that's it. Violet likes to tug, but she gets kind of scared if I try to lift it up, and will let go. But I gan get her front legs off the ground for a few seconds.

Yes I can see how that would be unpleasant. If I don't hold Dekka far enough away she will plant her back legs on me to get traction in her attempt to rend the toy.

Wilson will hang on like a JRT--he is one powerful boy! I don't do it too often since I worry about how big he is, and what it could do--but I know for sure he can hold on and have all four legs off the ground. Baxter will let go.

Ares could when he was younger, but he now lacks that kind of strength in his mouth, and he never had much interest in tugging to begin with.

Morgan could if she wasn't so easily distracted by shiny things.

Nyx can hang on like that, but she's a bit nervy with tugging and it causes her to loosen her grip.

Tyr can definitely hold on, but trying to get him off the ground is near impossible. He prefers to plant himself and turn into a large mass of dead weight. Which makes it seriously amusing to watch helpers try to get him into a proper drive.

I'm thinking of all those poor Schutzhund helpers who have to swing some big dogs around - and here I am complaining about how heavy my 45lbs dog. Ungrateful brat, I am.