Pulling and tugging

On this day in 1978,  a St Bernard was awarded the title as the World's strongest dog, pulling a 2909-kg  (5055 lb) load.  Since then, people still do this form of competition with their dogs, but it has been controversial.  Some people say it can be very hard on a dog and can cause serious injuries.  The proponents compare it to human powerlifting and strongman competitions.  I'm not so sure. 

Mind you,  Velcro dog and I could probably pull that amount of weight if you put a food bowl in front of us.  And just think how we were able to pull the Hulk during the whole duck fiasco.  And then we have pulling a cart - which Paxton used to do.  That's quite different than weight pulls- as draft dogs are not pulling  something the weight of a Volkswagen. 

The pulling topic kind of goes along with the fact that according to the crazy calendar, today is also National Tug of War Tournament day.  I LOVE to play tug.  But it is ALSO another controversial practice.  Some people argue that if you allow your dog to tug, he will become aggressive.  My human feels that as long as your dog is trained to release the toy on command, tugging CAN be fun.   And good exercise.  Even for the human.  Velcro dog is a good tugger and as SOON as my human says "stop" he does.  I'm not QUITE that willing to give up the tug toy.  But I will.  Especially if enticed by a treat.  Treats make my world go round.

The other thing that we dogs are good at is pulling and tugging on human heartstrings.  We excel at that!

Well excuse me while we go out for our morning constitutional.  And I promise not to pull.  Maybe...