Ep 5. How tug toys can transform dog training using the power of play with Tug-E-Nuff’s Danny Nelis-Rouse

  📍 Welcome to the Yappy Hour powered by Yappily, the podcast for dog lovers who want to better understand and bond with their furry companions. I’m your host Nathan Dunleavy and in today’s episode I’m joined by the fantastic Danny from Tug E-Nuff. Danny’s company is all about interactive tug toys that help dog guardians play, train, and learn.

and bond with their dogs. We’ll be talking about why play is such an important part of dog training, how it helps build stronger relationships, and how choosing the right toy can make all the difference. Whether you have a playful pup or a more reserved dog, this episode will give you some great insights into the power of play.

So grab a cup of tea, settle in, and let’s get started.

 Welcome back to the Yappy Hour powered by Yappily. I’m your host Nathan Dunleavy and I’m so excited to bring you another episode today. Even more excited that we’ve got a fantastic guest joining me today. We have Danny from Tug E-Nuff. So I’m really excited to have a chat with Danny today. Danny’s brand focuses on auto interactive tug toys designed to enhance play, training, and bonding.

So, Danny, welcome to the Yappy Hour. I’m so excited to have you here. How are you doing?

Yeah. Thank you for having me. I’m really great today. Yeah. All, all all, all, all good. Thank you.

Good. You’re getting ready for crafts, aren’t you? You said earlier, so,

Yes.

yeah.

definitely. I was going to mention that, but I thought, I don’t know whether when this is going out, so, so yeah.

No worries.

Yeah, crafts is definitely been in full swing now for since probably about November planning for us. It’s a

Okay,

major event. And it kind of is really great because it kicks off our year and kind of gets us in a good, good good, good place to, to push forward into 2025.

brilliant. Yeah, so I’ll let you know. When it’s going up. We’re hoping to get this out quite soon because people like to sort of binge on podcasts and stuff. So hopefully it’ll be out and, you know, in the next few weeks or so. So Danny, for those, I don’t know how, who might not be familiar with Tug E-Nuff can you share a little bit about the company’s story and what inspired you to create these interactive toys?

So yeah, so talking off was started by my mom back in 2009. So my mom, Teresa, she is agility mad. So she’s been competing in agility. I don’t know, probably at least 20 years now. And she had a dog called Indy a farm collie back when she first started, who wasn’t really interested in, in playing.

And, and as everybody probably knows when you want to compete in agility, you kind of want to get your dogs really motivated and riled up as I. As I like to say so Indy was like really focused on food. So mom made a the food bag. So it was one of our very first toys. So it was a little food pouch with a handle on it. She made that for herself first of all, and some of her friends saw it.

Oh,

didn’t last very long. and yeah, so we’ve been going since two, I said since 2009.

Still for small family run. Business. We’ve got about,

that’s

nine employees here who or team members, I should say who help craft the toys, but yeah, we’ve evolved since then really. So we don’t even make the food bag anymore. So once

Okay.

that started looking at different Scents and textures that we could bring into the type of toys so things like the sheep fur that we use And then looking at all the ways that we can evolve the toys to make them Fit for lots of different purposes.

But yeah, that’s that’s kind of where we started

Yeah.

to where we are now.

Definitely. That’s lovely. And I love that it’s still sort of family run and you’re all involved that that’s where that must make it even more special for you.

Yeah, definitely. It’s really it’s good to I mean being honest She doesn’t she’s has a she has a lot of leisure time now, but but but he

she

it. He deserves it

deserves it. She’s worked hard so she can take a bit of a backseat and hand it over to you to To sort of run and stuff. Oh, brilliant. I love, I love the history and the, I didn’t know like some of the story behind it. So it’s always good to know what inspired the company and how you got running, how you got started.

So your tagline is play, train and bond. And that really sort of stands out. I love that tagline. Can you explain what that means and why it’s so important,

Definitely. So I think we’ve been championing champion. I can’t say that word championing championing. We’ve been interactive play, you know, for more than 15 years now. So last year we just our 15th birthday. So we’ve been doing this

Oh, congratulations.

And you know, it’s that kind of interactive plays is we champion it. jumping it for a good reason. I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s definitely helps kind of build that bond between you and your dog. Bond it’s really great for training. So it’s a really great positive reward for, you know, for training. So when you’re looking at training, some kind of behaviour, so whether that’s recall or. Or anything really, to be honest, a game of tug is a really great reward and it is kind of that team game. So actually you’re kind of

With your dog again. And

yeah.

that we do is all about being fun and you’ll see that a lot in a lot of the messaging that we’ve put out there. We try and be as fun as we possibly can be. So that’s kind of where that came from. Really looking at the, those key things about why you would want to play tug with your dog. Consolidated into those three words and that’s what we really live by.

Yeah, that’s brilliant. I love that. This really helps strengthen that relationship between you and your dog. And you know, who doesn’t love playing with their dogs? So yeah, I really love that. Thank you, Danny. So we’re going to be moving on to our next section now, which is the importance of play in dog training.

So many dog guardians, pet parents think of play as just for fun,

Okay.

But it’s so much more than that. Can you explain why why play is such a valuable training tool?

Yeah, sure. Of course. And, and I think it’s really for when you think about this, it’s about about motivation and behind you know, just like us humans, dogs need to be motivated to, to, to

Absolutely,

that we, that we want them to do. You know, whether that’s in, you know, in dog sports or just in day to day life. So I always think about it in that kind of you know, we, if we, if we, as humans feel motivated to do our jobs or do, you know, even go to the gym or something like that, then we’re more likely to actually want to do those things

yeah,

reward at the end for us. So, you know, I can’t really think of a reward at the end of the gym, but you know what I mean?

yeah, well, you feel good, you look good, maybe.

supposed to, yeah,

Yeah, takes a lot of hard work. Yeah, I mean, I’m not a gym person at all, so.

No, I’ve just started going and it’s not it’s not, it’s hard work.

Oh, bless you. Yeah.

So looking at the reward that you’re going to give your dog. So that game of tug is a really great way of, of, that bond. And you know, it is, it is fun, definitely, and it should be a fun game for the dog, for sure. But there’s also a lot of, of behind playing that, that, that game of tug, for sure. So, you know, it can help, you know, improve your results, especially in dog sports and things like that because

Yeah.

dog on side.

Yeah. Brilliant. Love that. Thank you so much. How does interactive play help dogs to stay engaged and motivated during training? Yeah.

Yeah, so again, it always come comes back to that bond. It really, really does. And actually the stronger bond between you and your dog, likely you are to experience things the eagerness to learn get that that recall really solid. So our chaser toys are really great for recall training.

And actually, you know, if you can get if you can, if you can give your dog a reason to come back to you, that’s better than I don’t know, chasing another dog in the distance or sniffing something in the, in the hedge, then, you know, that’s going to really help win and get, get the dogs engaged and motivated in the game of tug.

Yeah, definitely. Brilliant.

also

Things are keeping those and keep mixing up as well. So

yeah,

always different rewards. So, you know, maybe sometimes actually not. Use the game of tug, maybe use some treats, but then mix it up the next time, especially with recall when you’re calling the dog back using that tug of war game as a, as a, as, as a, as a reward.

yeah. We want to be keeping it exciting and for the dog to not get bored and stuff. So, brilliant. So, do you think that enough pet parents, guardians incorporate play into their training routine or is it often just overlooked? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

And that’s really what we would advocate because, you know, because of those reasons that we’ve already discussed, you know, the benefits to, to doing it. And, and because actually they can really help.

Sky skyrocket your your successes really in training. but it’s really important. It’s a game. It’s a team sport again. So again, it helps kind of help you talk your dog’s language, which is which is, which is difficult to do sometimes. So actually, if you can have that game, that’s really, really great. And again, it’s always back to bond. I think every question is always going to be back to bond. But back to the bond that you have with your dog and building that for using excitement through play. So we would always get, we would always encourage dog owners or guardians to get out there and play more.

And not always the same game, not always a game of tug. There’s loads of games that you can play with, with our toys. You know, we’ve got a whole section on our website about games that you can play. So things like hide and seek are really great. Got a game called Oh, I can’t remember what’s called now.

Recall, recall rally. That’s it. So actually getting your job to do different behaviours and then call you back, call them back and see how quickly they can do that. But yeah, if you search for recall rally, it’s a really great fun game to play. Yeah.

brilliant. Yeah, definitely have a look at that one. Brilliant. Thank you so much.

So we’re just moving on to our next section of strengthening the human to dog bond through play. So we often hear that play helps strengthen the bond between guardians, but how does structured play improve that communication and trust?

Yeah. So, I mean that the, the trust is really the foundation really of, of. Of getting success with dog with between you and your dog definitely for sure

Yes.

trust you then Then then you’re not going to get anywhere. You’re not really going to get those results that you’re looking for so actually building playing playing with them whether that’s tug or other games Really helps kind of cement that relationship again.

So it all goes back to bond and how you can Again, put your dog’s language. So playing Playing with structured games are really important.

Yeah.

what we always say with our toys is look at the way that you can you can keep the games really short to keep your dog wanting. So they want to keep playing with you.

It really helps build that, that, that what we call value in the toy. So actually we want to

Yeah.

into the toy. And that’s why we always say all of our products should be used for, with super supervised interactive play only, because if you leave them lying around and the dog’s got access to it all the time, it’s like anything with. with us. If, if we can have something all the time, it’s not, it’s not a treat.

Well,

not special.

it loses its value, doesn’t it? So there’s no point in just having it lying around.

Definitely. So, you know, taking that, that, you know, having that toy is your special toy. And I know it sounds, you know, when I try and explain this, some people, some of my friends, they don’t really understand why, why a dog toy, why, why the dog toys, why would the toys that we sell are so different to any toy that you can pick up anywhere else? But that’s essentially it. It’s really about building that value into the game. By limiting the access that your dog has to the toys and then they want to play with that toy with you, rather than just

Yeah.

kick it up in the air, or throw it around, or tug with another dog with it.

Yeah.

it’s helping to cement that bond.

And

big on sort of like making sure something’s deemed high value for the dog and it’s put away when they’re not using it and you bring it out and then if you’re sort of only using it for sort of those special times then the dog knows, ah, great. So the really good, exciting things coming out now and this is where we’re going to play and I’m going to read dog.

them up. Sets them up, for sure. And that’s very much really where, when I think back to the story of the start of the business with Mum and Indy That’s really what it, what it was about. Indy knew that when that toy came out, that’s it. It’s game on. We’re now,

That’s what you want.

ring.

Or, you know, it might be different things, but if you can build those expectations. Dogs are really, really clever at pairing things. So actually, you, you know, if you can pair that when the toy comes out, it’s game on. It’s time between me and, and my, you know, my guardian. really, it’s really powerful.

Yeah, that’s it. Brilliant. I bet you get loads of these sent in too, but can you share any success stories where play has made a real difference in a dog guardian relationship? Is there one sort of story that sticks out at all?

Well, I mean, going back to India again, definitely. I mean, that’s the biggest success story really of all of, of all of this. I mean, I me and my partner during lockdown, we rescued a dog called Bob.

Oh, did you?

yeah, yeah, he,

lovely. Yeah,

he’s, he’s, he’s, he’s he’s very special, but I’m sure everybody’s

this one’s very special. It’s, yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah.

unsure of the, of the situation that he, he found himself in. So, you know, we don’t really know a lot about, about him and I’m sure before we had him But we used play a lot. So we used tug, obviously, you know, we’d be having lots of toys lying around that we’d made. We used that a lot to to build his confidence and get him bond, you know, to actually get to trust us, you know, these two new people plus an extra dog. So we already had a dog called tiddly. So try and get to try and get, get Bob to trust us and, and. And one of the things I do remember that he’d obviously never been up a set of stairs or a flight of stairs before and he couldn’t, he couldn’t work out what on earth was going on.

So we used, know, play, you know, once he got up a step, you have a little bit of a play with him, you know, obviously not halfway up the step so he could fall back down again. But,

Yeah.

know, we used, used play as a really great way to build his confidence. Now he’s he’s a, well he’s a rock solid dog to be honest and

Oh wow.

Very soon have a toy named after a tug and off toy named after him.

Really? Called Bob?

called Bob. Yeah, so

I love that. Perfect.

Bob, Bob, the, the, the new toy launched at Crufts this year.

Well, I’m actually going to Crofts for my first time this year, so I will certainly be looking out for you and Bob.

Yes, definitely. Bob won’t be there. Bob the dog won’t be there, but Bob the

no, but Bob, Bob the tourer, yeah, that’s fine. He’s a little mascot, so he’s representing Bob. And I love that you rescued a dog fair play. That’s no mean fee and you know they can take up to six months to fully decompress for a rescue job.

We don’t know their history so you know and obviously like you say that play helped build that confidence and again takes us back to bond so help build the bond between you all. That’s lovely.

We hear these stories, we do hear stories all the time from customers and every year we we run our play survey just so that we can kind of see, make sure that we’re on track with what we’re, what we’re putting out there into the dog training world or dog, dog guardianship world,

Yeah, that’s, that’s

survey, almost half of owners that we that we surveyed said that playing with a toy helped them tackle a training or behaviour issue with the dog.

So we do know,

amazing.

Yeah, that it’s, that it is really, really important play. Whether that’s with a token of toy or any other toy, you know, I probably shouldn’t say that, but you know, it is really, really important.

No, tug E-Nuff, tug E-Nuff.

Yeah.

that’s brilliant. That’s really good to know. And yeah, brilliant. That’s great that you’re getting that feedback. If, if there was like some guardians where their dog wasn’t interested, would there be any advice to those guardians to, you know, if their dog wasn’t interested in play at all?

play. Yeah. Sometimes it takes, it takes, it takes a little bit of work to spark that, that play drive, but once you’ve got it, it really, you can really harness it. to your own to to to what I was going to say to your own benefit, but it’s not really. It’s kind of help that bond again, really.

Yeah.

of toy is really, really important as well.

So it’s looking at sometimes looking at breed traits. So finding

Yeah.

going to be more appealing to different breed traits, I guess, really, to be

Yeah.

things like, so some of our real fur toys are really great for those terrier breeds because actually they really, you know, what, if you think what they’ve been bred for, you

Yeah.

those, those real animal sense are going to really get them wound up

That’s it. Yeah.

but, you know, not one old toy, not all, not, not all Not every toy is going to be suitable for every dog, so it’s about finding it and also mixing it up again.

So always, you know, using a different toy, maybe a sheepskin on one and then mixing up with a powerball toy on another game. So yeah, definitely. So you know, if your dog has a strong hunting instinct, those chaser toys are probably going to be really useful because you can leap into that chase, that prey

That’s

get

it. Yeah.

sure.

Oh.

know that it’s difficult to choose the toy, choose, choose toys. So that’s why. we have on our website, our toy quest toy quest quiz, so you can answer a few questions about your dog and then we’ll narrow down the selection for you so that it comes up with, with three or four choices that you, that were going to be more, that are probably going to be better. You’re going to know that they’re going to be more suitable for your dog for sure.

Yeah, oh, that’s perfect. Oh, thank you. Thank you for that. So we’re going to be coming on to choosing the right tug toy for your dog and I’m going to mention one of the ones that my dog likes. the minute. But so, you know, you’ve got lots of different toys that you, you know, you do yourself. So you know, nice little plug going into this part here, but there’s so many different toys on the market at the moment.

What would you say makes Tug E-Nuff toys unique?

So I think the thing that really makes us unique and different is the the education and help that we put into in, into the buy, into the decision process. So again, going back to that, the

absolutely.

definitely that really helps a lot of our customers decide what, what’s the best way if.

You’re still not sure. You know, we were always here, so you can always reach out and we’ll be able to help you. But aside from that, we’ve also got our power of play course. So that’s a free course. Anybody can sign up for regardless of whether you’ve

Put in.

that’s what I think really sets us apart is that we, we, we try and, and help the help the guardian. Do more with the toy than if

Yeah.

me offer, you know, off

Just off the shelf. Yeah. Yeah.

it’s really important to us that we provide all that support and advice and help,

Yeah.

for lots of different things. Yeah,

really good. It’s, to me, it sounds like it’s about education and support. Like you say, if you just bought it off a supermarket shelf, you wouldn’t necessarily get that. But with yourselves, you’re getting that extra support and education. I love that. Thank you. How can guardians choose the right tug toy for their dog’s personality and play style?

Would that be where your, your quest questionnaire comes in?

would be a yeah, a really great place to start for sure.

Yeah,

what that that will do is it will take into consideration the things that you’re looking for looking to achieve and then we’ll we’ll narrow down that selection. But the other things to think about again is the breed trait.

So, you know, if if you are looking at what you’re trying to achieve, so if you’re looking to

yeah.

And the chase, you can’t really go far on with a chaser toy and they’re really versatile. So they’ll always have a big long handle, like a meter and a bit long

Yeah.

behind you, get your dog to chase you rather than something else.

And I always say to people, it doesn’t mean you have to run up the other end of the field while your dog is in the other, you know, you don’t have to sprint, but it’s just making sweeping movements with those chaser toys to actually,

Yeah,

like prey. So, you know,

yeah,

does go back to that prey drive.

And

yeah,

what we’re simulating when we’re playing tug.

absolutely,

are those natural behaviours that the dog’s going to

yeah,

So if you always think about what you’re doing, then it’s really easy to them. about what you might want to

yeah

yeah,

definitely that toy crust is a really great place to start. And you know, we also, you know, again, this is just very much about tugging off, but you know, if

That’s fine.

if you do choose the wrong toy for whatever reason, if you contact us within 45 days, we’ll replace it. No questions asked. So,

Oh, really? No, you plug Tug E-Nuff all you want. This is what this episode’s about. It’s about you and Tug E-Nuff, so that’s, you know, just, that’s another good

blog, blog posts on our website. So, you know,

Yes.

free information that we put out there you know, whether that’s from talking about I think we’ve got blogs about man trailing through to

Oh, wow.

I think there’s even some first aid stuff, so it’s a lot of, a lot of stuff that isn’t necessarily always about play, but there’s

Yes.

on there that we try and

Good.

guardians with.

That’s brilliant. No, I mean, this is all about yourself in terms of plug away and it’s great that you’ve got all these different sort of options available to dog guardians. So is there any common mistakes that guardians make when introducing tug toys to their dogs? Yeah.

That’s the, yeah, for sure. you know, that’s one of the, the things, golden rules that we say is that it should always be supervised, interactive, fun play, and because we are mimicking prey with, with the,

Yeah.

With the game or with the toys. So if you have that game of tug and you leave the toy with, with the dog, don’t be surprised to come back to a, a a chewed up toy, but providing you you’re using it as For, for that supervised game of of play, then, then you can reap loads of rewards from actually building that bond and that relationship with your dog for sure.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

so if you, and we kind of talked about this just a little on, but it’s about that spark, sort of sparking that play drive is really

Mm.

other thing is a lot of people will maybe try and force the game onto

Oh, okay. Yeah.

shove the tug toy in their face, which is, which is, can be a bit intimidating for some

Yeah. You weren’t like it shoved in your face. That’s for sure.

So so definitely going with look, letting the initially letting the dog lead that, that, that,

Mm. Yeah.

and it’s over.

It’s, it’s, it’s about stopping that game and building that value into the toy before your dog’s Got bored of it really because the again, putting it away after you finish the game builds that value

Transcription by CastingWords

for the dog.

Yeah,

and then also really helps you build that that that relationship again.

yeah, definitely. That’s brilliant. So I think it’s important probably to mention here as well that you’ve obviously got your partner program. So you partner with a lot of dog trainers, behaviourists groomers maybe, but dog trainers can partner with yourself. And they, they can basically have your toys to then sell on to their clients and stuff.

So

yeah. Did you want to?

program, which is which is our affiliate program for dog, dog

Yeah,

yeah, you’re right. Dog

yeah.

Behaviourist groomers lots of different things. So if you, if you’re a dog professional. You can definitely join so it’s It’s it’s an affiliate program whereby you can get your clients a discount on buying products and Then we pay you a commission for referring

Yeah.

to us So we’ve got about 2 000 dog trainers.

So currently in

Wow.

in the

That’s a lot.

Yeah, yeah, it is. Yeah. Yeah, and and it’s that’s over a prolonged period of time that we’ve that we’ve done that but It’s it’s really good and we’re just relaunching it So if you join now you get the opportunity to upgrade to a paid membership, but you get free toys as, as part of that paid membership.

So you’ll get 120 pounds worth of toys sent to you in the post.

Yeah.

so yeah, it’s a really great thing. And we really like working with dog trainers because, or dog

Yeah.

because they can really, going back to the educational piece again, that’s something that they. that they can do one on one with clients that we

That’s right.

do one to many. So, you know, our videos and all that kind of stuff really help with that on the internet. But actually if you’re in a dog training environment and you know, a client comes to you with a particular problem and you can go, well, actually. You know, if you use play, play can be a really great in this situation. Then actually you, you can refer the client to them. They’ll get a discount and then you’ll earn a little bit of commission as well for, referring. So yeah, it’s a really, I really enjoy working with the dog trainers. It’s really, it’s

No, it’s good. ’cause I met you at the PACT conference last year, and I think I might have upgraded to that program that you’re mentioning. And I’ve sent, I’ve sent out my little code to all my, I don’t do a lot of in-person training now, but I’ve got a, a dog walking business with quite a lot of clients.

I’ve sent out my code, I’ve got my leaflets with my little QR code on.

you go. That’s the one. Yeah.

But yeah, they’re all being given out to them. So but I got the bag of of of toys and my one, I wanted to mention it. One of my little toy poodles, he loves the clam, absolutely loves the clam. So, no, we haven’t talked about the clam.

So Yeah, I don’t know if you want to maybe just touch on, on the clam because I know you said like not to leave them out and all the others are not left out because I use them for my own dogs, but they’re not left out. But the clam we do sort of leave out and obviously pop treats in it and stuff.

He literally just loves the clam. He could keep them busy for hours.

Yeah, again, the clown was another toy that was developed really purely for agility. First of all, so it was for when you needed to reward you don’t get a distance and maybe the at the end of a set of of jumps or, or, or weaves that you could put that one or two treats inside it. So it’s like a, I haven’t got one here actually, but I, it’s like a, a clam

Yeah, mine’s downstairs, yeah. Okay. Brilliant.

turned it into, into a life of its own really, to be honest.

So you can play it for lots of hide and seek games. So put a few treats in it, hide it in the, you know, behind the sofa or something, get your dog to come in and sniff it out and find it. A lot of customers actually, although it definitely was never designed for this, but use it for retrieve. So the dog will bring it back to the guardian to open up to give the treats rather than get it out themselves. But yeah, it’s been a really It’s a really, it’s definitely one of our, whenever we go to Crufts it’s the best seller at Crufts, we sell so many of

Oh, wow.

because it’s so versatile and you can use it for lots of different things,

Yeah,

yeah it’s a

that’s brilliant. Yeah.

that one out on, on the website.

Definitely. Well, I was so happy to get the clown because like I say, he loves the, he loves his clown. Brilliant. So how can, well, actually we’re going to be moving on to our next section now, which is around enrichment beyond the tug games. So tug play is a great form of enrichment, but what other activities can complement it for, for a well rounded enrichment retain?

Definitely, so, actually, thinking about the clan would be really good, so you could definitely use that tug of war game for one thing, and it’s, then maybe use the clam for rewarding something else, but it is about mixing up and keeping the dog guessing what’s going to happen

As we mentioned before, dogs are really good at pairing things and you know, you want to the more keep them guessing, especially if you’re looking to train different different Different behaviours and and things like that.

So definitely mixing up the play styles trying a different game with the tug toy. So look at one of those games that we’ve got on our website. And, you know, one of the ones that we just did games that we just finished filming some new games with Chelsea, who again I haven’t mentioned, but Chelsea fronts all our videos and she’s a really really great dog trainer and behaviourist.

I don’t know.

So one of the games that we’ve just done is actually hide and seek. So actually you go and hide, get somebody to restrain your dog, you go and hide with the tug toy, your dog find you, and then you have a game of tug. So it’s just about thinking about different games that are not just play a game of tug, which is great, but you know it’s the same if we do the same things all the time we get bored of them.

So

Yeah.

it, especially with with them with your dog, it’s really really powerful.

Yeah, brilliant. Thank you. What does, what role does enrichment play in helping dogs with behavioural challenges such as anxiety or frustration?

Yeah. So it gives them an outlet for some of those, some of

Of those things

definitely.

So especially we say, I say a lot to people that have never heard of the brand before. So if they come up to us at an event and they’ve never heard of us before, you know, the things that I always say, and they’ll say, what are these for?

You know, I’ll say, you know, training definitely, but also just getting rid of some of that excess, excess pent up energy for sure.

Yeah,

so actually using that game as a great way to, to let the dog let off some steam. Is really,

yeah.

Really cool. And important. Yeah, definitely.

Brilliant. Okay. Do you have any go to enrichment ideas that are easy for guardians to implement at all?

Yeah, so I would definitely say that one of the games or things that I do quite a lot is hide the toy. So, again,

Yeah.

engaged in the game, so not leaving it out and finding it. And kill it but hide the toy, get them to find it and bring it to me and have a game of tug. So Tiddly, my, my miniature poodle cross, he he loves finding the, the, the sheepskin chaser.

He’ll bring it over and then we’ll have a game of tug of war.

Oh, wow.

mixes it up. It’s, it’s a different it’s a different different game, different environment, and I’ll move it around the house. I’ll be in different places and, and kind of get him to, to, to, to find it and, and. And and then we have a good game, good game title. He’s,

Yeah.

he’s 11 now and he still, still, still loves it. Still loves it.

I love that you’ve got a poodle cross as well. I’ve got four toy poodles, so I’m a bit of a poodle fan.

Yeah.

Brilliant. Thank you so much. We’ve literally sailed through all my questions and this episode, so we’re going to start. wrapping it up for the sort of last five to eight minutes or so. Now there’s just a couple of final questions.

Danny, what’s one thing that you hope our listeners take away from our conversation today?

Yeah. I think it’s just about, about those three words. Play, It’s really great train. It’s really, you know, keep training, you know, it’s never over. Keep going.

It isn’t,

and, and that bond is really, really important with the way that with

yeah, yeah,

really kind of helps strengthen that thing.

Strengthen the, the, the, the, the relationship between you and your dog. So

yeah,

play train bond for sure. But have fun with it really. That’s the

yeah,

be, there’s a lot of really great things that you can train through play. but it needs to be fun, definitely for you

yeah,

Not, not, you know,

yeah,

your dog. You need to be fun and engaged in the game as well. Let’s see other things. So,

yeah,

because it’s a really fun, cool thing to, to see. Especially

yeah.

it’s got Bob and, and, and. Seeing him change through play and that’s really what it was, you know, that’s the only

Must be really rewarding as well.

yeah, definitely that we managed to get him out of his shell and, and, you know, he had, he, he had some, some difficult behaviours to, to begin with.

So actually, you know, it was, it was, it, it, I look back now with Rose Tintagos, but I think it was very, it was a very difficult time, you know but using play really helped me help us, adapt or help him help us to help him adapt to the new situation that he found himself in.

he’s called Bob, by the way. I might have said that already. It’s such a cool name for a dog. Danny, if someone is feeling unsure about incorporating more play into their routine, where would you say is a good place to start?

So I think a good place to start would be number one to have a, to enroll in our free power of play course, because actually it gives you, it’s really comprehensive, but it’s not, not long. It’s not a, it’s not a huge investment of time, but it really helps you understand from the, from the beginning. Why play is important, what, how to choose that toy for your dog and and right through to then those, as all those things that you can play with, with, with it. And, and you know, I can’t remember the number, but I, you know, we, we’ve definitely, there’s been, you know, thousands of thousands of people that have been through that course and, and, and I’ve turned into customers at the end.

So

Oh, wow.

place to start.

Yeah, that’s brilliant. I think I kind of know the answer to the next question, but your favourite personal story of how play has transformed a dog’s behaviour. I think we can obviously say about your own dog, Bob because you said he had some challenging behaviours, so it’s just to be expected.

And obviously your mum’s dog, sorry, her name has settled right over my head. What was your

Teresa.

Yeah, oh yeah, your mum’s dog’s name, what was her name again?

Indeed.

Indy, I know, too easy, yeah, so Indy. So I think they’re probably two, you know, probably main stories for you, aren’t they? Yeah, how it’s all really

you know, I speak to also one of the things I really enjoy about about the business is speaking to people and, and, and listening to their stories and hearing how they’ve play. You know, to, to, to to enrich their, their, their lives or their relationship with their dog. but yeah, so many, there’s so many to choose from, to be honest. But though, you know, obviously those personal stories are really, really

powerful,

memory. Yeah, definitely for sure.

yeah,

but yeah, there’s so many so many different stories that I’ve heard that are really great. Great examples of why you should give it a go.

If you haven’t, you should definitely give it a go.

yeah. I mean, what I’ve taken from it is that obviously you know, don’t leave the toys out because you need them to remain, you know, they need to remain their value, their high value and obviously also about tapping into the dog’s natural breed, specific traits and their instincts and stuff. And you’ve, you know, you’ve got toys for that.

So I think that’s really important, but you know, who doesn’t want to have fun with their dog? Who doesn’t want to, who doesn’t want to play, you know, play, having fun. You know, I’m often, I’m big on sort of saying that training is for life. So it doesn’t just stop when they’re a puppy. You know, I’ve, I’ve trained older dogs that are 12, 13, 14 years old, but, you know, training is for life.

And, you know, Have, have fun with your dog, play, have fun, strengthen that bond. You know, it’s great. And your toys and your business help people do that. So I think it’s fantastic what, what you’re doing. Danny, could you please tell our listeners the best way to find out more about Tug E-Nuff?

I think, well, the best way first of all is to go on to the, to the website. So if you just search tug E-Nuff, on Google, you’ll, I’m sure you’ll find us. Definitely for sure. And then we’re also on the socials. So

Yes.

and Instagram. We are on Tik TOK, but. I’m trying to get involved in that too much, but but,

Me neither. Yeah. Yeah.

so definitely online our power of play course, so definitely take that one or, or watch those videos and these new games that we’re, the games videos that we’ve, that we’ve launched, and we’ll also be at a lot of shows this year,

Yes. Yes.

We are going to, where else are we going? We’re going to Good Wolf. We’re going to,

great.

where else? We’re going to the London. So there’s a new show starting the London Pet Show

Oh, okay.

there. and then for the dog professionals, we’re also going to a lot of professional events this year.

So we’ll

Oh, great.

we’re actually going to a few in, in, in the States this year. So, so it’ll be at the clicker Expo in March.

Don’t

be at, I forgot. There’s another one that we’re going to, but I forgot,

worry.

so many, we’ve got an events page on our website. So if you

I’ll put it here.

they’re all on there and we keep them updated.

Yeah.

and yeah, so,

And Are you do you have like a shop? I know you’re based down in Devon, aren’t you? So can customers come to the, the venue or?

so are yes, they can. So are we don’t have a shop here. so

No, no.

but this is where we manufacture a lot of the products and we do a lot of logistics from here.

Yeah.

can pop in and, and, and buy

Oh, brilliant.

got an option on the website as well for you to pay and then collect from us.

So if you’re

Oh, brilliant.

on the website and then come and

I was wondering.

Yeah,

Oh, brilliant.

this year, if we’re going, if this goes out before crafts, we’re also going

Yeah.

click and collect option for craft.

Excuse me.

can place their orders before crafts and then come and pick it up from us at the show.

Oh, that’s amazing. So yeah, I did wonder whether people could come to where you were based. And yeah, that’s really great. So I’m going to put you on the spot now because you may not know about this question, but

Okay.

The Yappy Hour is invited lots of different experts from the canine professional field.

I actually interviewed Clara from the Muzzle Movement Recently, and that episode actually goes out live tonight and I said to her, yeah, I said to her, who should I get on to the, I asked her the same question, who should I get on the API? And she said yourself. So I was like, ah, a little reveal for our clients.

Danny is coming on soon. So she mentioned, she mentioned yourself to come on and how you’ve helped them out loads. And she also mentioned someone from Perfect Fit as well. But is there anyone in the industry? without putting you on the spot too much that you think that we should invite on to the yappy hour.

I mean, yeah, I would have probably have said Clara, but she’s got in there, got in there before me. I mean, there’s a couple of people, definitely for sure. So Sarah from My Anxious Dog, she’s really, really passionate about about about reactive dogs. Awesome. Dogs are labeled reactive. she’s really, really great.

And then also from our kind of partner network, Nikki Nikki French. She’s really

Perfect.

really really, we do a lot of stuff with her. So yeah, definitely. It’s

Ah,

of people there for sure.

brilliant.

that I would suggest,

So, so

Ah,

three times now, so she was on my list of contacts. So you Andrew Howe and Sarah have now mentioned Nikki. So she’s definitely on my list to, to get on, but we’ve already had an episode come out with Sarah from My Anxious Dog, so that’s great. She’s been on, but Nikki keeps getting mentioned, so I definitely need to reach out to her.

Danny, thank you so much for taking the time for joining me today on the Yakker. I know you’re very busy, you’re preparing for crafts and stuff, so it’s been great just to hear more about, obviously, your journey and the business’s journey and I found it really interesting. I know our listeners are going to take a lot.

away from this conversation. So thanks again, Danny, for joining me on the Yappy Hour today, powered by Yappily, and we’ll see you next time.

Thank you so much for having me. It’s been really great.

Thank you.

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