A friend posted the question on another website, how do you tug? I thought this link to Susan Garrett's blog was interesting.
My two are very different. Lexi just tugged the day we brought her home, I think. I think she can get over the top very easily, so I make tugging a fun interactive game with an element of control. We do tugging, give, take, back up, wait, catch, sit, down, take, fetch all at the same time. I made sure to teach her to tug by using her back legs to pull rather than her front/neck. That's the main reason we do so much tugging while she backs up. She rocks back and powers from the rear.
I've also found that tugging really centers her before an agility run. But, once we get into the building and right up close to the ring (which we only do right before her turn) she doesn't want to tug anymore. She wants to run, end of story. After her run she wants her cookies, and then we go outside for more tugging and fetching.
Bentley, on the other hand, doesn't get it. I sort of taught him to tug just to see if I could, but it's not fun for him so I don't have him do it. I think it confuses him and he doesn't find it rewarding. I find it better to build drive just by pushing him around--he doesn't need the tug.
Just to illustrate the difference between them--if Lexi "wins" a game of tug, she kills her toy. Bentley just looks confused and immediately drops it :)
And just for fun, a video of Lexi's new trick (in progress)--weaving between my legs. Oh, and then her "bang" at the end:
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