I play tug with my dogs, although Jessie wont play it. Flynn is a very vigorous tugger but unfortunately he can get over excited and forgets where his teeth and my hands are. It's definitely never deliberate and as soon as he realises he's got my hand, he lets go and looks very sheepish. He also has a grip like a vice and there is no way anything is getting the toy loose but he does know the 'give' command and has no issue releasing the toy to me.
As he has a tendency to grab the lead when we're training, I never use that as an improvised tug toy, the game is always played with a fleece tuggy. In fact, I used it as a reward in training tonight rather than treats.

Playing tug with a gundog is something which is frowned upon by many people, claiming it will give them hard mouth or make a retrieve into a contest but Flynn knows the difference between a game of tug and a retrieve, he is always willing to give up his retrieve without question and I dont have any holes in my dummies...

I have noticed that if Jed and Flynn start a game of tug, it's not long before Jed abandons the toy and starts to favour flynn's skin, grabbing that instead, which then escalates into Jed trying his luck in other ways and very soon they are having a disagreement because Flynn then objects. But Jed is very much a dog who will try and gain the upper hand if he can but he usually gets bored with a game of tug with me before it reaches that stage. I can easily bring him back down to earth with a sharp "enough!" if he does get carried away (e.g tugging my sleeves instead of the toy).

If a dog finds it rewarding to play tug and is willing to let go when asked, I see it as a very useful game.

i dont even necessarily see the problem if the dog 'wins'

There is what for me is an outdated view connected to 'dominance' that you should not play tug with a dog.

I have never had a problem playing tug with any of my dogs. They have been taught from being very young (by exchange/ substitution/play) that ownership of an object is no big thing and sharing is rewarding because it leads to play

I allow the dog to win frequently. Any game becomes less fun if you never win.

Me neither . In fact, with a very nervous dog, winning can be a good thing

Neither do I, especially if it's a dog with low confidence. I often let the toy go (usually to save my fingers or my arm) and the dogs will push it straight back into my hand so they obviously arent seeing it as some kind of victory over me.

well it seems that way ,from these responces ,im old school dog guy,whos beliefs may be different from most?it seems to help me and never was a real issue, i just used it as a tool, so to speek, to stop other behaviours.it was taught to me..am i out of touch,so far back in the woods?!!lol..iv got one dog in mind im going to try and see if tugging can help...this is good stuff

I like your attitude. An open mind is a great thing.

i will try anything to see a dog live the best they can!this question has not really arised for me, in the pass.thank you for your kind words.and the ,dosey vibe, sounds possitive.

Lukey and I play tug all the time. Not only does it help when teaching "out" or "break", or whatever word you may use for "give it to me"....it also helps to teach them to be more gentle with their mouths if you do it right. I can literally play tug of war with my bare hands in his mouth as the toy, and he doesn't hurt me. Now that's Luke, and he has always been very gentle with me, we worked on bite inhibition from day one but he was never rough as some dogs I know who are SUPER into tug. For us it's just a fun game for a few minutes. He isn't all that intense about it. We had other dogs that would play for hours if you let them.
The game is used a lot to help build or up a dog's drive too. I let him win, well ok maybe it's more fair to say he lets me win because let's face it, if he really didn't want to lose, I wouldn't be able to do much about it, he's a heck of a lot stronger than I am!LOL
For a dog that got too intense and refused to let go, or became too aggressive about it, I'd either try to find a way around that, and teach better tug manners, or stop the game if absolutely necessary.