Flirt Poles

[hopenfox]

After enjoying the easy training/focusing of Hope & Fox using toys, I've been struggling to find something to motivate and reward Link.

At last I've discovered he's quite interested in a long, zipping, moving tug rope, but using it exhausts me! So I'm looking at getting or making a proper flirt pole so I can stand there and flick and move the toy and also play tug with him with it.

I would love to use this to train him in drive or at least to teach him to tug so I can gradually move to a smaller tug toy.

Has anyone used a flirt pole to train their dog? How did you go about it? And has anyone made their own and if so how?

I was looking at getting one of these.

[cramet]

you can make them out of just about any thing mine is a wooden broom handle cut down to 1m drilled a hole in one end and ties some 6mm nylon cord to the end about 1.5m long then i tie a soft leather rag (u can use a bit of towl or some hessan or old potato sack) to the end to start with then when the dog is up to the next level i tie the tug toy im going to use

when u use it just think of the rag as a rabbit and the dog has top nail it and when ur ready let the dog win the rag by keeping the cord tight give the dog a pat every now and again and praise the crap out the dog

when ur ready to end the game make the toy go limp (the prey has been killed) get the dog to relase how ever its been trained and start the game again

only do it for short burst at first to teach the game

and once the dog has been shown whats expected you can make it longer and longer

Edited November 17, 2010 by cramet

[corvus]

I made one out of a thin plastic stake from Bunnings and some rope and a toy. Cost me about $5. We just have fun with ours, and practice self-control. Erik lies down and I try to tease him into breaking the down. He gets to chase it for showing self-control and holding the down.

[Sandra777]

Cheap lunging whip from a horse place works well too. My dogs go nuts for their flirt pole!

[hopenfox]

Thanks for the comments. I bought a short whip yesterday and will be trying it out as soon as I've found a suitable 'prey toy' to tie to the end. Can't wait to start using it!