Tug-E-Nuff Dog Toys Review – Train Your Dog Through Play.

Dogs lives are short and I think we can all agree that we want them to enjoy the time they are here as much as possible, for me that means not keeping their world small and filling my spaniels days with fun and adventure.  To make that enjoyable for both me and them it has meant investing time in their training to build their confidence to cope and behave in a variety of situations. I have found with my dogs the best way of building their trust and helping them to develop the skills they need has primarily been through reward based training. Now, I’m not going to lie, my dogs have very different ideas of what a reward is. Maya is very food motivated and although Lucia enjoys a treat as much as any dog, a game of fetch or tug is rated by her as a way higher reward! That being the case I would have been persona non grata in my spaniels eyes if I had turned down the opportunity to collaborate with one of the most innovative Dog Toy brands out there – Tug-e-Nuff.

Tug-E-Nuff, is a family owned brand based in Devon that is synonymous with quality and innovation in the world of pet products. Their range of toys are designed to captivate the hearts and minds of our canine companions, enabling us all to make training fun. In fact their brand mission is to enrich the relationship humans and dogs share using the Power of Play – and judging by my pooches enthusiasm for the toys they have definitely achieved that.
In fact even if you have never heard of the brand before you may have  witnessed the excitement of the agility or flyball dogs at Crufts receiving their reward after their run, chances are that the toy was a Tug-E-Nuff.

Personally, I believe that most dogs benefit enormously from some off lead freedom so it is important to me to do my utmost to train a reliable recall in all situations, something that I will admit to never having achieved with Maya if there are people enjoying picnics around! OK, to be fair she normally comes straight back, but she would definitely detour if given the chance when food is about so if there is, out comes the lead!
Anyway the one thing that I have found has really helped me to establish a reliable recall with all my dogs, (and because I am old, I have owned a fair few) is making myself more exciting to my pooches than any distractions that are around. Tug-E-Nuff have such a variety of toys in their range that there’s sure to be something that grabs your dog’s attention. We were gifted a selection that included throw toys, tug toys and an enrichment type toy called the Clam, which according to Maya was the pick of the bunch! 

I had no doubt that Lucia would recall to play with the toys but was intrigued to see if Maya would find any of the toys exciting enough to ignore a couple of people eating their sandwiches and run back to me straight away. She did! – OK I admit, I did show her that I had filled it with sprats first. Once she had her paws on it  nothing on earth was going to drag her away from that toy until she had those treats! In fact it was challenging her puzzle solving skills so much I had to open it myself in the end as I needed to get on with my day! I am going to experiment with this toy and Maya a bit more but right now I give it 10 Paw. Lucia enjoyed the toy too, and had fun playing hide and seek with it – I’m sure the smell of the sprats led her to the Clam more quickly because instead of sniffing round/hunting she ran straight to it, but weirdly she showed no interest in getting it open, just handed it over – how can dogs be so different!! Mind you when I got the Clam out in the house, they both collaborated to get in to it and feast on its contents.

If Lucia could play fetch all day long she would, and I am not exaggerating when I say that dog would literally retrieve anything, so she was super excited to have so many new things to retrieve and hunt for. It has only been in the last couple of years that she has shown occasional interest in playing tug outdoors. (both my dogs love playing it inside) I was still surprised though that she was actually initiating a game of tug with my partner when my attention was on Maya – obviously she really loves the texture of these toys and it’s made all the difference. Maya loves the texture of the toys as well, I think most dogs would, and they nearly all lend themselves to a game of tug. Unsurprising then that Tug-E-Nuff is the world leader when it comes to developing interactive dog tug toys. The attention to detail of these toys is phenomenal and I especially appreciate the bungee type handles that mean they do not jar my shoulders (or my dogs neck) as my spaniels can get quite enthusiastic!
I don’t know if it is because Lucia is a working breed (unemployed!!) or because she is slightly highly strung but one thing I have learnt is that if I notice her being anxious at all, which is quite rare, she becomes completely at ease if I allow her to hold something in her mouth. Tug-E-Nuff produce some pocket size toys that are ideal for this.

Tug-E-Nuff are real innovators in the dog toy market, gleaning ideas and input from some of the professionals they work with and I have definitely learnt about some new ways to train my dogs through play since receiving the toys.
One in particular stood out to me as potentially being perfect to train a toy motivated spaniel like Lucia to walk to heel off lead –  The Bungee Sheepskin Chaser.
The idea behind this toy is to pull it along the ground, creating interest and letting your dog grab the fluffy bite area as a reward. Lucia loved the game  (she walks to heel/stays close when asked anyway so I couldn’t prove my theory) however after a short time, she decided she would rather play her favourite games of fetch, hunt and tug with that one too. I am definitely going to put a bit of effort into making Chase part of her playtime routine, and I think that is the amazing thing about Tug-E-Nuff really, their interactive dog toys inspire humans to unleash the power of play, as much as they do our dogs!