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Hi

As most of the regulars know i have a 11 weeks blue staffy and i wonder if anyone can help me, sure you can

Bruno keeps inviting me to play tug of war with his toys, but my OH says if we play this it will make Bruno aggressive, as when he plays like this he growls but i am sure it is just playing growl . So at the moment soon as he growls I let him win.
We don't want him to turn out aggressive .

thanks Anne xx

Playing tug will not make him aggresive, he is only play growling, even if he were playing with another dog in this manner they would growl at one another.

If you do play tug with him though dont let him win all the time, especially not when he growls (you may reinforce that growling means he will get what he wants). when you have had enough calmly ask him to drop, when he does you can give him the toy back (kind of like a reward for dropping in the first place)

It's play growling, pure & simple. You'll notice that his tail will probably be wagging, his lips will be over his teeth & his eyes will be bright & friendly.

It's often considered best to only let your dog win 25% maximum of tug of wars, but I've never found it a problem. My last 5 dogs have all been WAY stronger than me & were always winning tug of wars, and none of them became aggressive.

It's a great way of tiring them out as well, as they tend to put so much effort into it!