Kill It!

June 23 2013

When Sam plays Tug, or Kill It! as we call it in our house, he plays very nicely.  It took me forever to get Yellow Dog to play any game with us (see post ‘family play project, part 1’).  Both dogs will play Kill It, but Sam is very bossy.  He seems to want to play with just me and when Yellow Dog gets involved the growls get rougher.  I’ve made sure that each dog gets a good and fair grip on the rope-to-be-Killed, that the rules for rough stuff and biting are the same for each party.

(See Culture Clash for the origins of this tip: if you get nipped or the growls get high pitched yell OUCH! and walk away from the game.  Call both dogs away from the rope/tug toy and do a quick round of Sit, Stay, Down.  We like to have a round of To Me, Sit, Stay, To Me then Kill It! begins again)

But Sam, hands down, is the guy to play Kill It! with.

I have a theory that because Yellow Dog is a pariah dog (check out About the Dogs), he has evolved to have more devious skills.  When you eat alone, and then mostly garbage and leftovers, there isn’t much call for ripping apart huge sinewy joints as a family.  Sam, although officially of unknown origin, was bred for strength and sharing.  He has very strong jaws and a deep sense of family and teamwork. Yellow Dog is a product of sneaking meals, scaring off competition, and undoing lids, garbage cans, and other food containers without thumbs. So it should come as no surprise to me that Yellow Dog is less adept at teamwork.

Sam is not pushing out Yellow Dog when he becomes rough at Kill It.  Sam has different speeds of play.  He is gentle with me because I am In Charge.  He becomes more assertive and physical with his whole body when Yellow Dogs joins in.  It looks, on the surface, like Sam is butting Yellow Dog out of the game with his ribs, hips, and bottom, but after observation and reflection Sam seems mildly disappointed when Yellow Dog stops playing. Sam is, in a clumsy and very hard to see from human eyes way, teaching Yellow Dog how to be the victor at Kill It.  However, Yellow Dog does not see the point in winning Kill It.

The point of winning Kill It is the victory lap, with tail held high, followed by another round of, yes, you guessed it--Kill It!

Sam is playful. Yellow Dog is practical.

What is it that drives me to strive for total equality in my dogs? They are different in weight, color, temperament, breed influence, and skills. Anyone can see that, so why am I determined to have a perfectly synchronized team?

Sam cooling down after a rough round of Kill It!