Puppy and flirt pole!!!

[fr4nnie]

Hello, hope you are all doing well.

I have a little question about exercising staffy puppies. Hope you can help me with exercise ideas.

Dash is 5 months and I am scared I can overdue exercise and cause him harm, so I wanted to ask what you think about flirt pole for puppies?

He is crazy for it, and will run unstop. I only do it a few minutes but he goes after the rope full speed, too fast for a puppy, and also tends to jump somewhat high. I keep the end of the pole low to avoid jumps, but many times it does not work out that well. I just started two days the flirt pole game but I am thinking about stopping and waiting until he is 1 year old.

Please do you think it is a healthy exercise? Should I avoid it? Maybe once a week?

Any other suggestions for fun games with him in the yard?

[r1balla]

im no expert, just talking from experience.

when Roxy was 6 months i built her a spring pole and a flirt pole. i kept both low, almost at tugging height. as she got stronger and larger, i went higher and higher. its a great workout. just dont let all four extremities off the ground. thats dangerous. i mean, jumping for it is one thing if its not too high, but actually swinging it from it (and potentially falling) can be dangerous.

Until Roxy is about 2, i just do both poles, wrestle, tug, and run/sprint her. I built some small ledges at this field by my house to have her jump over them. just doing as much as i can while she is young that wont cause harm. she can pull a large truck tire, but ive only done that once and wont train her with that until she is older.

[r1balla]

also, at night time, get a laser pointer and see if your dog will chase it. great workout!

[Curly_07]

also, at night time, get a laser pointer and see if your dog will chase it. great workout!

No on the laser. Lasers cause MANY issues with dogs. Please do some research on it if you use them.

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[AllisonPibbleLvr]

also, at night time, get a laser pointer and see if your dog will chase it. great workout!

No on the laser. Lasers cause MANY issues with dogs. Please do some research on it if you use them.

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x2 My best friends dog is a textbook example of what can happen when you use a laser pointer up entertain a puppy. She is completely neurotic still, at 7 years old, when it comes to light and shadows.

[r1balla]

so pointing it at the ground 5 feet away from her is bad for the eyes....?

[Curly_07]

It causes major OCD in dogs. It has been known to cause OCD to the point they can't live healthy lives due to the obsession. There are other issues associated with lasers too, but OCD is the biggest and should be enough for any dog owner to steer clear.

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[creiter]

I can attest to this from personal experience. My parents cat plays with the laser pointer and it was laying out so we saw if Duke would play. While it was hilarious and Duke was having a blast, after putting it away he would not stop looking for it. At this point it was a rule not to use it again, luckily I was intuitive about that or I really could have hurt the psyche of my poor dog. For a couple of weeks after, everytime he was in that room at my parents he would obsess over looking for it for around 5 mins before he would finally settle down. Now he has finally moved past it and can be in the room without looking, and he ignores other shadow/lights completely, but I shudder to think what would have happened had we continued that activity. Do NOT do it!! I know it seems weird but learn from other's mistakes. Much better to use a ball to play with!

[r1balla]

when my dog (roxy) was 6mo old, i built a spring pole (kept very low for the time) and a flirt pole. for the flirt pole, i attached a tennis ball about mid rope and a toy duck at the end of the rope. for the first month i kept the duck on the ground and made her chase it in a circular motion, then go the reverse direction...etc. she would go after the rope as well, but thats ok. as long as she works for it.

[jamielvsaustin]

I like the idea of the flirt pole for an adult dog (maybe even teenager too) but not sure about a puppy. I'm worried about jumping, lost teeth, landing bad...etc. OP, if I were you, I'd put it away for a while. It's great to know when the time is right your dog will love it...but it seems too risky now.

What about fetch, obedience training, chase, swimming (even a kiddie pool can be fun)? Oooo what about some sort of body awareness? Put your foot here...back your butt up here kind of thing?

We used a laser light before we knew better. Neither of our dogs became neurotic over it, but we couldn't play with it in the house-when they got along and were allowed to interact-it would cause a fight. Bailey would resource guard it. We moved it outside at night, because it was an easy way for us to tire them out without much effort from us. Then we learned about how bad it could be a decided to stop doing it. It's too the point now if we want (and we haven't in years) to play with it with the cats we have to put the dogs up.

After a bad experience with a spring pole I'm also very cautious about recommending them. If you decide to use one, make sure your dog is old enough, has a good "out" and it's low enough to the ground that the dog's back feet can touching. Our girl Bailey broke her foot a couple years back swinging on one-she let go and landed badly. There's also another member here-Leslie I believe who's dog had a bad experience with one-broken teeth maybe?? (can't remember)

[Leslie H]

Yes, Xanny at age 8 cracked her two lower canines thrashing and spinning around on a springpole. I didn't even know till they fell out. My own fault, for being ignorant, and not making sure we used it correctly.

[HappyPuppy]

also, at night time, get a laser pointer and see if your dog will chase it. great workout!

I absolutely do NOT recommend those laser pointers to anyone - not worth the risk of unfixable OCD !!!